Rats drop in on 15 South Florida restaurants

Rats picked a diverse lot of restaurants to visit in the last 30 days, judging from the 11 Miami-Dade and four Broward establishments cited by state inspectors for rodent activity.

They like chain pizza (a Dominos in Hialeah), chain fast-food hamburgers (a Burger King just north of the Palmetto Expressway), cheesesteak (Spanky’s Cheesesteak Factory in Margate), Greek (Fort Lauderdale’s Greek Spice Grill). And they loved the word “Gourmet” — The Kid Gourmet, Gigi’s Gourmet Catering and Kiddie Catering Gym Gourmet.

READ MORE: Go to the Dining Adviser for reviews and inspection reports

The Kid Gourmet, 8025 W. 21st Ln., was shut down after its Feb. 15 inspection with five High Priority violations, four of which involved rodents. The rodent bait wasn’t kept in a covered tamper-resistant bait station. The inspector found where the rodents made a comfortable home with insulation and fabric materials under the stairs in a dry storage area. And over 60 rodent droppings dotted the kitchen area, including under food prep tables.

But the biggest sign of rodent activity was the dead rodent under a staircase in the dry storage area.

An inspector spotted 10 rodent droppings around the washing machine or dryer at a Hialeah Dominos, 437 E. 49th St, on Feb. 2. There also was a live rodent in the sticky trap next to the dry storage area underneath shelving.

Spanky’s, 309 N. State Road 7 in Margate, got spanked with a close order after its inspection on Wednesday. Inspectors cited “three moist rodent droppings in the front counter service station” as well as 22 live roaches.

In Little Havana, among the 43 violations Thursday at Orgullo Catracho, 2300 SW Eighth St., were 50 rodent droppings, about a dozen of which were fresh.

Las Palmas Cafeteria, 209 SE First St., which gets four stars on Yelp, was shut down for the day after its Feb. 6 inspection, when over 20 droppings were spotted under the front counter bar area and over 40 in the storage and food prep area upstairs.

This story was originally published February 28, 2017 at 2:37 PM with the headline "Rats drop in on 15 South Florida restaurants."