The Department of Health is responsible for regulation of food service establishments in Tennessee. State law, regulations, and the inspection program are designed to help ensure that food service establishments are safe places to eat. The law requires that restaurants have an unannounced inspection at least once every six months to determine if they are in compliance with applicable rules and regulations at the time of inspection. In addition to routine inspections, unannounced inspections are conducted in response to individual complaints.

Tennessee uses a 44 item inspection sheet with a maximum of 100 points. Thirteen of the items are considered critical. Critical items, found out of compliance, must be corrected within ten days. Follow-up inspections are conducted to determine compliance on critical items. Failure to correct critical violations or imminent health hazards result in closure of establishments until corrections are made. Serious or repeated violations may result in revocation of the establishment's permit.

Below is a link to the states web site with all restaurant inspection scores. You can search by several criteria. The easiest way to find all local restaurants is to search by zip code.