How to check restaurant health inspections in Calgary

Most of the time, choosing a restaurant is about food, price and atmosphere. But if you want to know how a restaurant does on food safety, Calgary diners can look it up. Alberta Health Services, the provincial health authority, inspects food businesses across the province and publishes inspection results online. Here is how it works and how to read what you find.

Who inspects restaurants in Calgary?

Public health inspectors from Alberta Health Services (AHS) inspect restaurants, cafés, food trucks, grocery stores and other food facilities in Calgary and the rest of Alberta. They check things like food storage temperatures, cleanliness, pest control, handwashing, and how food is handled and prepared. Inspections can be routine, or triggered by a complaint.

How do you look up a restaurant inspection in Calgary?

AHS publishes food facility inspection results on its website. You can search by the name of the business and the city to see recent inspections and any violations found. Look for the public health inspection reports section on the AHS site.

What do Alberta inspection reports show?

What you will see	What it means
Inspection date	When the inspector visited
Type of inspection	Routine, follow-up or complaint
Violations	Unsafe practices the inspector noted
Orders	Formal orders, including closures, when issued

An important detail: the online summary lists the violations found, not every safe practice observed. So a report with no violations is not a full description of the inspection, and a report with one minor violation is not necessarily a bad sign.

How should you read a violation?

Not every violation is equal. Some are minor and fixed on the spot, such as a missing thermometer or a cleaning schedule not posted. Others are more serious, such as food held at unsafe temperatures, signs of pests, or poor handwashing. What matters most is the pattern:

1. Is the violation serious or minor?
2. Was it corrected? Look for a follow-up inspection.
3. Does the same problem keep appearing over several inspections?
4. Has the business ever been ordered to close?

What does a closure order mean?

AHS can order a food business to close when there is a serious health risk, such as a pest infestation or no hot water. The business cannot reopen until the problem is fixed and an inspector allows it. A past closure is worth knowing about, but many businesses fix the problem and run well afterwards; recent inspections tell you more.

What is the difference between a routine and a complaint inspection?

A routine inspection is a scheduled visit that every food business receives; how often depends on the type of business and the risks involved. A complaint inspection happens when a member of the public reports a concern, such as suspected food poisoning or a pest sighting, and an inspector visits to investigate. A follow-up inspection checks that problems found earlier have been fixed. Seeing a complaint inspection on a report does not mean the complaint was justified; the result of the visit is what counts.

Should you avoid a restaurant with violations?

Not automatically. Busy kitchens can pick up minor violations, and inspectors are there to catch and correct problems. A single minor issue is rarely a reason to stay away. Repeated serious violations, or a recent closure, are worth weighing.

What can you notice yourself as a diner?

• Clean washrooms, often a sign of how the kitchen is kept.
• Staff washing hands and handling ready-to-eat food carefully.
• Hot food served hot and cold food served cold.
• Clean tables, floors and food displays.

How do you report a food safety concern in Calgary?

If you believe you got sick from food or saw an unsafe practice, you can report it to Alberta Health Services, which investigates complaints. Contact details are on the AHS website. If you feel unwell, contact a health professional or Health Link at 811 for advice.

What does a health notice on the wall mean?

In Alberta, restaurants are overseen by Alberta Health Services, and many display a permit or similar notice where the public can see it. Such a notice shows that the business is approved to operate, but it is not a grade or a rating.

To learn how a restaurant actually does on inspections, look up its reports online. A notice on the wall tells you the restaurant is allowed to operate; the inspection history tells you how well it has kept to the rules over time. Both are worth a glance if food safety is a concern for you.

Do other Canadian cities publish inspections?

Yes. Toronto has DineSafe, and Vancouver's health authority, Vancouver Coastal Health, publishes inspection reports too. Each system works a little differently.

Inspection reports tell you about safety; they do not tell you whether the food is good. For that, you need people who ate there. On Mosey you can rate the places you ate at and the dishes you ordered, and see where people actually ate, which is the other half of choosing well.

More guides to read next:

• A food day trip from Calgary to Canmore and Banff
• Alberta beef in Calgary: how to order a great steak
• Stephen Avenue and downtown Calgary: where to eat in the core

More in the Canadian food guides and the ranked lists of places.