By Michele Evans / NYweeklyRecord.com / Date: 8/30/2026
Category: NYC Criminal Courts / Public Health / Building Safety / Accountability
NEW YORK CITY, NY –
The public cafeteria inside Manhattan Criminal Court is closed after city health inspectors repeatedly found evidence of mice and other serious food-safety violations at one of New York City’s busiest courthouses.
Inspection records cited by the New York Post show the cafeteria at 100 Centre Street failed reviews on July 1 and July 23. Inspectors reported evidence of mice or live mice on both visits. The July 1 inspection also cited food held at unsafe temperatures and workers eating, drinking or using tobacco or electronic cigarettes while on duty.
The records matter because the cafeteria is open to the public and operates inside the building that houses Manhattan Criminal Court. Defendants, victims, witnesses, court employees, attorneys and families move through 100 Centre Street every day. They should not have to wonder whether a government building can meet the same basic sanitation rules imposed on private restaurants.
The cafeteria nevertheless retained a B grade, according to the published inspection data. The city’s grading system assigns violation points, with lower scores producing better grades. A passing letter grade does not erase individual violations or the repeated evidence of rodents.
The Department of Citywide Administrative Services told the Post that the cafeteria is closed for work involving the building’s plumbing and drainage systems, not because of the health inspections. The agency did not provide a firm reopening date.
That explanation leaves a central accountability question unanswered: What corrective work is being done to eliminate the conditions inspectors documented, and who will verify the cafeteria is safe before it reopens?
Former cafeteria workers and courthouse sources described recurring rodent problems, including allegations that mice also enter nearby holding areas. Those claims have not been independently confirmed by Michele Evans News. City inspection data does confirm a prior mouse finding in April 2025 before the problem was marked corrected at a later review.
The Health Department says restaurant inspections are unannounced and that inspectors check compliance with food-safety rules. Yet the repeat findings at 100 Centre Street raise a broader question about whether courthouse facilities are being maintained before problems become public-health hazards.
Courts cannot demand compliance from the public while tolerating preventable breakdowns inside their own buildings. The next test is whether city agencies disclose the repairs, the pest-control work and the inspection results that will determine when the cafeteria can safely serve the public again.
Sources
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Food Establishment Inspections
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