Himalayan Kitchen, the Encinitas Nepalese and Indian restaurant that has built a devoted following along the Encinitas Boulevard corridor, was ordered closed by county health inspectors following a routine inspection on April 22, 2026. The closure — recorded by the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality — comes as a jarring setback for one of North County's most celebrated South Asian dining destinations, a spot that has appeared on regional best-of lists as recently as last fall.
What Inspectors Found
The April 22 routine inspection flagged six violations across several categories. Two were classified as Major — the threshold that triggers an immediate closure order under county health regulations. According to records on SD Food Info, those major violations were Proper Cooling and Vermin. Accompanying them were a Minor holding temperatures violation and three Out of Compliance findings: Food Storage, Equipment/Utensils/Linens Storage and Use, and Premises/Personal/Cleaning Items/Exclusion Measures. No score or grade was recorded for the inspection.
The Proper Cooling violation is particularly significant from a public health standpoint. State food safety law requires cooked food to be cooled from 135°F to 70°F within two hours, and then to 41°F or below within four additional hours. Failure to meet those time and temperature benchmarks allows dangerous bacterial growth — including pathogens such as Clostridium perfringens and Bacillus cereus — and constitutes an imminent health hazard under San Diego County's inspection framework, according to county inspection guidelines.
The Vermin violation is the second Major finding and independently sufficient to require closure. What makes the picture more troubling is the simultaneous Out of Compliance finding for Premises, Personal/Cleaning Items, and Exclusion Measures — the structural category that covers the physical barriers meant to prevent pests from entering a facility in the first place. As Hoodline noted in its coverage of the recent Pizza Port Ocean Beach closure — which carried an identical pairing of violations — when a facility fails on both active vermin presence and physical exclusion infrastructure simultaneously, it suggests a lapse in preventive maintenance rather than a chance encounter with a stray rodent.
A North County Favorite Caught in a Countywide Surge
The timing is striking given the restaurant's recent visibility. As recently as October 2025, Eater San Diego included Himalayan Kitchen in its updated roundup of the best Indian and South Asian food in San Diego, highlighting its Himalayan chicken soup and a Nepali specialty featuring eggplant and chicken cooked with spices. The restaurant's catering program — known for tandoori and biryani dishes alongside traditional breads and desserts — has also helped build its profile across North County.
Himalayan Kitchen has been a fixture at 1337 Encinitas Blvd. since at least 2017, when The Coast News ran an early review of the spot, describing the family-run kitchen's Nepalese menu, copper-bowl service, and prayer-flag décor. The executive chef, Ram, and his business partners built the restaurant after previously working at "A Taste of the Himalayas," according to that early account. On Yelp, the business carries nearly 700 reviews and a business owner's note — still pinned — pledging to do their best "to be here for you and your family in the safest way possible."
The closure lands during what has become a relentless wave of vermin-related enforcement actions across San Diego County. As SanDiegoVille documented in a year-end report published in January 2026, more than 300 food facilities countywide were either ordered temporarily closed or downgraded in 2025 alone, with vermin violations appearing "repeatedly and overwhelmingly" as the dominant driver of closure orders. The pattern has continued into 2026, with establishments ranging from neighborhood sushi bars to iconic craft beer destinations facing the same enforcement outcome.
Many pest control operators and restaurant owners have pointed to California's AB 2552 — the Poison-Free Wildlife Act, which took effect January 1, 2025 — as a complicating factor. The law bans the use of nearly all anticoagulant rodenticides, which had historically been the most effective urban pest management tool, according to OB Rag. Without access to those chemical controls, operators face greater pressure to rely on structural exclusion and sanitation — and where those measures fall short, county inspectors are increasingly finding the consequences. The Himalayan Kitchen inspection, with its Out of Compliance finding on Premises and Exclusion Measures, fits that pattern directly.
What Comes Next
Under San Diego County's inspection system, a facility ordered closed must remain shut until written authorization to reopen is issued by the Department of Environmental Health and Quality. According to county guidelines, all major violations must be corrected — or a suitable alternative implemented — before a passing reinspection can be scheduled. For vermin findings, that typically means eliminating the pest presence, addressing any structural entry points, and completing pest control service before county inspectors return. The cooling violation would require demonstrating that refrigeration and cooling protocols meet the required time-temperature standards. Most establishments that address violations promptly are cleared within a matter of days; the timeline here will depend on the scope of the vermin activity and what structural repairs may be needed.
Hoodline has reached out to Himalayan Kitchen for comment and will update this story when a response is received. The restaurant's current inspection status can be verified at SDFoodInfo.org. The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality can be reached at (858) 505-6900.
