The French Corner @ Houston Methodist received a score of 22 during a May 19 reinspection, placing the Medical Center cafe 65 points below Houston’s citywide average score of 87.
The restaurant, located at 7550 Greenbriar, was cited for 17 violations during the inspection, including five critical violations, three major violations and nine minor violations. Six items were corrected on site.
The French Corner is a Houston food business opened in 1985. The company operates catering services, a bakery and grab-and-go cafes in the Houston area, including locations in medical and college facilities. Houston Methodist lists The French Corner as a dining option in Scurlock Tower.
The May 19 score was the lowest listed for the location since 2024. It also continued a downward trend in the inspection record, which shows violation counts rising from about five violations per visit to closer to 11 in recent inspections.
The critical violations listed May 19 included food held at improper hot or cold temperatures, expired or improperly marked ready-to-eat food not discarded, an inadequate backflow prevention air gap, food listed as unsafe, adulterated or misrepresented and improper hand-washing procedure.
Three of those critical violations were corrected on site, including the temperature violation, the unsafe or misrepresented food violation and the hand-washing violation.
Temperature control has been one of the most persistent issues in the cafe’s inspection history. Records show refrigerated storage or cold-holding issues were cited multiple times since January 2024, including Jan. 8, Aug. 28, Sept. 12, Oct. 22 and Oct. 31, 2024. The latest inspection again cited food held at improper temperatures.
Those violations can be significant because certain foods must be kept cold enough or hot enough to limit bacterial growth. Food safety rules generally require cold foods to be held at 41 degrees or below and hot foods at 135 degrees or above. Foods that need those controls, often called TCS foods, can include meat, dairy products, cooked vegetables, sauces, rice and other prepared foods.
The May 19 report also cited expired or improperly marked ready-to-eat food that had not been discarded. Date marking is used to track how long prepared or opened food has been held under refrigeration. Without proper date marking and disposal, food can remain in service longer than allowed.
Inspectors also cited evidence of pests or inadequate pest control, equipment or utensils not clean, cleaned equipment or utensils stored improperly, physical facilities not in good repair and equipment not in good repair or proper adjustment.
The major violations included unlabeled toxic material containers, no sanitizer test kit and a person in charge not controlling unsafe operations. The toxic-material container violation was corrected on site.
Sanitizer test kits are used to measure the strength of sanitizing solutions used on food-contact surfaces. Without a test kit, a restaurant may not be able to verify whether sanitizer is strong enough to work properly or too strong for safe use.
The inspection also cited an inadequate backflow prevention air gap. In food service, an air gap is a plumbing safeguard meant to keep contaminated water from flowing back into the clean water supply. The violation does not say contamination occurred, but it shows the required safeguard was not adequate at the time of inspection.
The May reinspection followed a history of repeated concerns. On Sept. 4, 2025, inspectors gave the location a score of 64 and cited nine minor violations, including refrigeration thermometer issues, no temperature measuring device for food, no sanitizer test kit, hand-washing sink water below the required temperature and missing hand-washing signage.
On April 17, 2025, the location scored 67 after inspectors cited eight minor violations. Those included ready-to-eat food date-marking issues, refrigeration thermometer issues, no food temperature measuring device, missing hand-washing supplies and maintenance concerns.
The location scored 78 during an Oct. 31, 2024, reinspection. That report cited five minor violations, including food not in sound condition or safe for human consumption, TCS food not maintained at 41 degrees in cold storage, equipment and utensils not made of safe or easily cleanable materials and floors not kept clean.
A complaint inspection on Oct. 22, 2024, resulted in a score of 74 and six minor violations. That report also cited cold-storage temperature issues, cleaning-frequency problems and single-service items not protected from contamination.
Earlier inspections in 2024 also showed temperature and storage issues. On Sept. 12, 2024, inspectors cited cold-storage problems, ready-to-eat food date-marking issues and hot food to be transported not held at 135 degrees or above. On Aug. 28, 2024, inspectors cited cold storage, hot storage and equipment maintenance issues. On Jan. 8, 2024, inspectors cited multiple refrigerated storage issues, including date marking, cold holding and thermometer placement.
The location’s highest listed score since 2024 was 90 during a Jan. 24, 2024, reinspection, when inspectors cited two minor violations.
The May 19 inspection report does not state that the restaurant was closed. Restaurant inspections reflect conditions observed at the time of inspection and may not represent current conditions.
