C’s may get degrees, but would you still eat at your favorite restaurant if it got an average grade on its health inspection?
Rock & Reilly’s was forced to shut down October 10 after a routine inspection by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH) found live cockroaches in the dishwashing area.
This led to the restaurant receiving an “imminent health code violation,” according to an emailed statement from the LADPH. Rock & Reilly’s was directed to “discontinue operation for a minimum of 48 hours to effectively eliminate the cockroach infestation.”
The violation didn’t stop students like Macarthy Mahoney, a senior majoring in computational neuroscience, from returning after the restaurant’s reopening.
“I’ve never seen a cockroach here,” Mahoney said. She described the environment as “clean” and a great place to do schoolwork.
Rock & Reilly’s reopened on October 12 with a grade of C after a reinspection found the vermin problem had been fixed.
A statement from the LADPH said that “after the public health permit was reinstated on 10/12/25, the operator of Rock & Reilly’s… requested an Owner Initiated Inspection (OII) so they may have an opportunity to improve their letter grade.”
The OII was conducted on October 21, and the restaurant scored an A with one minor violation.
Freshman public policy major Valerie Chun thinks the regrade will help the restaurant maintain its customer base.
“I know it’s very popular, so I think the fact that they were able to fix it [means they] won’t see a drastic change,” Chun said.
Many students visit the restaurant and bar on game days to eat, drink and watch the football game with friends.
Junior music industry student Kaylie Wu recently visited Rock and Reilly’s to watch the football game against Notre Dame and received some mixed reactions from her friends.
“The first thing they said was, ‘Oh my God, did you hear about the rats?’” said Wu. “I was definitely more hesitant when I was there and did not order any food.”
Despite speculation from students, the report from the LADPH indicated the presence of cockroaches in the restaurant, not rats.
But not all students are poised to return.
“That’s nasty,” said Nay’lani Gainer, a sophomore communications major. “I won’t go back now.”
Rock & Reilly’s management declined to answer any questions regarding the reinspection and new grade, citing their previous statement to Annenberg Media.