Golden Chick #1250
8534 IH 35 S, San Antonio, 78211
Area: Southwest Side
· Metro Health licence 1783888
Weak record · rank 103 of 112
This inspection record is stale. The most recent inspection we can find is 555 days old, past our 400-day threshold. Old evidence is thin evidence, so the score below carries a 3.50-point evidence-depth discount and may not describe the business today.
Who publishes this, and what they sell. This guide is published by Viking Net, which sells technology services to restaurants — websites, apps, point-of-sale systems and card processing — including to businesses rated on this site. Every rating here is computed by a formula published in full from public records: health inspections, city 311 complaints, published awards, and the state sales-tax permit date. No business can pay to change its score, raise its rank, or have a low score removed, and none has ever been asked to. If that ever changes, this paragraph comes down first.
Latest health inspection
100/100 on Jan 28, 2025 (555 days ago)
Inspections start at 100 and lose points for each violation found. 69 or below is a failing inspection. A score describes one visit on one day — Metro Health says so itself — not the condition of the business today.
Inspection history — 3 on record
Open any inspection to see what the inspector actually found, in plain English, with the Food Code section it was cited under.
Jan 28, 2025 100 No violations recorded
✓ Metro Health recorded no violations at this inspection.
May 9, 2024 92 4 findings · 1 illness risk factor
Food was not held cold enough or hot enough
Between about 41°F and 135°F bacteria multiply fast. Food parked in that window for hours is the single most common cause of foodborne illness.
“Chicken tenders below warming lights and in hot hold unit temperature below 135F. Corrective Actions: Ensure hot holding temperatures for food is maintained at 135F. Or use time as Public Health Control - allowed 4 hours in temperature danger zone, discard food after 4 hours.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 3-501.16(A)(1) — Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food, Hot and Cold Holding · inspection item 3
Equipment or utensils were not clean
Split into two standards: anything that touches food must be clean to sight and touch, and everything else must be free of built-up grease, dust and debris. This is the most cited line in the whole code.
“Nonfood-contact surfaces of equipment shall be cleaned at a frequency necessary to preclude accumulation of soil residues.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 4-601.11(C) — Equipment, Food-Contact Surfaces, Nonfood-Contact Surfaces, and Utensils
Non-food surfaces had built-up grease or debris
Shelving, equipment exteriors, fryer sides and floor-level equipment. Build-up feeds pests and eventually falls into food.
“Ensure all nonfood contact surfaces such as flour bins, hand sink handles, walk-in cooler handles, etc are cleaned to remove residues.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 4-602.13 — Nonfood-Contact Surfaces · inspection item 42
The premises were not cleaned often enough
Floors, walls, shelving, the areas under and behind equipment. This is the finding for build-up in the places nobody wants to reach.
“Clean below steam table and fryer to remove food debris, trash, and grease.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 6-501.12 — Cleaning, Frequency and Restrictions · inspection item 45
Nov 30, 2023 95 7 findings · 3 illness risk factors
Ready-to-eat food was not date-marked
Once opened or made in house, refrigerated ready-to-eat food gets a maximum of seven days. With no date on the container, nobody in the kitchen knows which day that is.
“incorrect date markings for several food items in walk-in cooler and on steam table. **Manager stated that certain labels were not removed from container prior to use. Corrective Actions: Ensure all date markings are accurate. Remove old stickers from containers prior to use.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 3-501.17(A) — Ready-to-Eat, Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food, Date Marking · inspection item 28
Dishes were stacked before they had air-dried
Towel-drying and wet nesting reintroduce bacteria immediately after the sanitizer step, which wastes the sanitizer step.
“Ensure all dishes are air dried prior to storage, especially silver trays.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 4-901.11 — Equipment and Utensils, Air-Drying Required · inspection item 39
Clean equipment or single-use items were stored where they get dirty again
Clean plates stacked under an unfinished ceiling or beside a hand sink are re-contaminated before anyone uses them.
“Drying, Equipment and Utensils.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 4-903.11(B)(1) — Equipment, Utensils, Linens, and Single-Service and Single-Use Articles
Pests were present, or the premises were not kept free of them
Roaches, flies and rodents move directly between waste and food. A live sighting during an inspection means the population is well established.
“Removing dead or trapped birds, insects, rodents, and other pests.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 6-501.111(B) — Controlling Pests
Dead pests were not removed
Dead insects and rodents left in place are both a contamination source and a sign the problem is not being worked.
“rodent droppings in back room below wire racks. Manager stated that those droppings are relatively new. Corrective Actions: Remove rodent droppings daily. Check premises to remove trash from outdoor patio near restrooms and all outside trash bins must be emptied daily at end of each shift.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 6-501.112 — Removing Dead or Trapped Birds, Insects, Rodents, and Other Pests · inspection item 34
The premises were not cleaned often enough
Floors, walls, shelving, the areas under and behind equipment. This is the finding for build-up in the places nobody wants to reach.
“several food debris and container of putty below steam table. Corrective Actions: Remove all food debris and trash below steam table.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 6-501.12 — Cleaning, Frequency and Restrictions · inspection item 45
Something in the building was broken and not repaired
Broken tile, damaged wall, failing cooler seal. Damaged surfaces cannot be cleaned and they collect what everything else sheds.
“Repair pipe below 3 compartment sink to stop leak.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 6-501.11 — Repairing · inspection item 45
What these numbers do and do not mean
An inspection score describes one visit on one day. It is what one inspector recorded on one date at one address — Metro Health says so itself. It is not a standing condition, not a grade for the food, and not a prediction about your lunch. A kitchen that scored 88 in March may be spotless today, and one that scored 100 may not be.
A 311 complaint is a phone call, not a finding. The city records that a member of the public called. It is not a citation, not an investigation result, and not evidence that anything was wrong. The city files it against an address, so where two food businesses share one, neither the record nor we can tell them apart. We publish the count with its denominator and let you weigh it.
Awards are reported, not endorsed. Every recognition on this site carries its publisher, its year and a link to the page we read it on. We did not judge those contests and we do not vouch for them; where a publisher named a business rather than an address, the page says so.
Absence of data is never rendered as a finding. No inspection on record means no Bird Score — never a zero, never quietly ranked last. No award found means we searched 172 recognitions from 13 publishers and found none, which is a statement about press coverage and not about cooking.
If something here is wrong, we will fix it. Every figure links to the record it came from. Email us with the correction and we will check it against the source and correct it within 48 hours, whether or not you are a customer. How to request a correction.