By Adam Nichols
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — More than 800 city restaurants have been found trying to hide health inspection grades.
The New York Post reported that eateries with poor cleaniness grades are failing to post them prominently for customers to see, as required by law.
Of the 800 offenders found by the city's health department, 404 had received a sub-par "C" grade, while 229 were graded a "B," the Post said.
Each violator faces up to a $1,000 fine.
"It's willful," Dan Kass, the city's deputy commissioner for environmental health, told the Post.
"If it was really about ignorance of the law, we'd expect proportionate results."
Of the restaurants that were graded "A," only 23 failed to brag of their achievements to their customers. Those restaurants also face fines.
The grading law came into effect last July. The grades have to be shown within five feet of an entrance, and four to six feet off the ground.