Rodent droppings near the kitchen stove, flies landing on a coffee pot and inside a to-go container and roaches crawling near the front counter led state inspectors to temporarily close four South Florida restaurants last week.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel typically highlights restaurant inspections in Broward and Palm Beach counties from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. We cull through hundreds of restaurant and bar inspections that happen weekly and spotlight places ordered shut for “high-priority violations,” such as improper food temperatures or dead cockroaches.
[ FULL DATABASE: See Florida restaurant inspection reports from the last 30 days ]
Sun Sentinel readers can browse full Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade county reports through our state inspection map, updated weekly (usually Mondays) with fresh data pulled from the Florida DBPR website.
Any restaurant that fails a state inspection must stay closed until it passes a follow-up. If you spotted a possible violation and wish to file a complaint, contact Florida DBPR here. (But please don’t contact us: The Sun Sentinel doesn’t inspect restaurants.)
1313 W. Boynton Beach Blvd., Suite R5
Ordered shut: Sept. 13; reopened Sept. 14
Why: Inspectors reported 10 violations (five high-priority), led by more than 40 rodent droppings “under shelf next to stove,” “on shelf under prep table” behind the kitchen’s cook line, “on top of water heater in [dishwashing] area” and “behind floor mixer next to walk-in cooler.” They also found three dead cockroaches “on shelf next to [dishwashing] machine” and near a grill, which the operator later cleaned and sanitized. One inspector noted an employee’s personal cellphone sitting atop a clean cutting board, which was later removed. Finally, the restaurant was ordered to stop selling and trash its ham, meatballs, turkey, ground beef, chicken, coleslaw and hot dogs “due to temperature abuse.” The state red-flagged one more major issue during its next-day inspection but let the restaurant reopen.
Ordered shut: Sept. 15; reopened Sept. 16
Why: The report indicates 15 violations (two high-priority), including about 30 flies around “bananas, walls, boxes with to-go sealed cups” in the dry storage area, “around floor at front counter” and around clean “pans and utensils and on unwrapped paper towels.” Inspectors also found multiple instances of poor sanitation, including “accumulated food debris” on the ceiling, limescale deposits inside the dishwasher, “standing water under” the front counter and buildup of a mold-like substance” under the dishwasher. A reinspection the next day found one major and one basic issue, but Chill-N was cleared to reopen.
Ordered shut: Twice on Sept. 12; reopened Sept. 13
Why: The state found two issues (one high-priority), including more than 40 live flies “landing on utensil dispensers in dining room,” as well as on a coffeepot, the “walls of dining room,” in “front of open refrigerated display case,” and on “closed cases of single-use items in kitchen.” There were also 20 live flies seen “on walls of bagel kitchen” and inside “open clamshell to-go container” in kitchen (which the operator later discarded). The bagel shop’s fly issues were unresolved during the state’s reinspection that day, with more insects seen “landing on coffee dispensers in dining room,” on the dining room soft-drink machine, and on the walls of the bagel-making area. The state green-lit its reopening on Sept. 13 after a third inspection showed no issues.
Ordered shut: Sept. 12 and Sept. 13; reopened Sept. 13
Why: Ten violations were cited (six high-priority). These included seven live cockroaches found crawling “in seal of chest freezer” near the dry storage area and on the floor in the dishwashing area.” The restaurant was ordered to stop selling and toss its raw chicken and raw pork, which “were prepped at the same time on the same prep table and cutting board,” due to “food not being in a wholesome, sound condition.” The buffet was ordered shut again when its next-day reinspection found more live roaches, but a third inspection found zero new issues and cleared the buffet to reopen. (The restaurant was ordered shut in July 2021 for similar roach woes.)
Ordered shut: Sept. 14 and Sept. 15, reopened Sept. 16
Why: Nine violations (one high-priority) included four to five cockroaches discovered crawling “on back plate of hand sink at front counter” and behind the front counter’s “upright glass door cooler by hand sink.” Ordered shut a second time the next day, again because of roaches, the Peruvian restaurant was cleared to reopen on Sept. 16 when a third inspection revealed a handful of intermediate and basic violations.