Rodent droppings on a shelf, flies on onions: restaurant filth from Miami to Palm Beach
It’s been a long, short week, so let’s get right to the Sick and Shut Down List of South Florida restaurants that weren’t up to snuff when the inspector made a drop-in visit.
READ THIS BEFORE YOU EMAIL US. PLEASE: What follows comes from Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspections in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. A restaurant that fails inspection remains closed until passing an inspection.
If you see a problem and want a place inspected, contact the DBPR. Do not call us. Do not email us. We don’t control who gets inspected nor how strictly the inspector inspects. Let us say that again — we do not control who gets inspected.
We don’t include all violations, just the most moving, whether internally or literally moving (because it’s alive or once was alive). Some violations get corrected after the inspector points them out. But, you have to ask, why do the violations exist in the first place? And how long would they have remained if not for the inspection?
We report without passion or prejudice but with humor icing.
In alphabetical order...
Betty’s Rest & BBQ, 601 NW 22nd Rd., Fort Lauderdale: Routine inspection, 16 total violations, six High Priority violations.
Pixie and/or Dixie clearly feel comfortable here, as they left 20 droppings on a front counter shelf. On that same front counter, the inspector saw a roach wing, possibly belonging to the dead roach, such as the one seen behind a front counter glass door beverage cooler.
The inspector dropped Stop Sales on cooked chicken, cooked beef and cooked pork, all still way too warm after a sleepover in the walk-in cooler.
The cookline handwash sink didn’t have any way to dry hands, which was fine because neither that handwash sink nor the front counter one had soap. Completing the Worthless Hunk of Metal hat trick, the cookline handwash sink didn’t have cold water. The prep area one didn’t, either.
Betty got it picked up for re-inspection the next day.
Blackbrick, 3451 NE First Ave., Miami: Complaint inspection, 14 total violations, three High Priority violations.
Of the eight live roaches spotted, one was on the food prep table next to the food mixer and another six were behind the ice machine. Wonder if that’s the roach smoking area.
We know where the roach restroom is — the top of the dishwasher, where “multiple roach droppings” were seen, along with a dead roach.
This place passed re-inspection on Saturday.
Bull Top Taste 441, 1241 N. State Rd. 7, Royal Palm Beach: Routine inspection, six total violations, one High Priority violation.
Bless the chef’s heart, he killed a roach crawling on top of a reach-in freezer, another roach that came from under a reach-in cooler and another roach under a dry storage shelf.
Inspectors don’t like to see employees, especially chefs, playing Terminator with the roaches. They see that and the “I’ll be back” is from the inspector because you’ll be failing this inspection.
Another six dead roaches were under the aforementioned reach-in cooler.
One handwash sink didn’t have soap. Neither handwash sink had a working paper towel dispenser, which is pretty weak considering how low-tech those can be (a metal box with a slit — we’re talking Lincoln Log-level here).
Bull Top got it together by the next day’s re-inspection.
Los Gallitos Tortilleria & Panderia, 3485 Lake Worth Rd., Lake Worth Beach: Routine inspection, eight total violations, two High Priority violations.
Three live roaches, one of them near the stove, were outnumbered by the two dead under the bakery area prep table, two dead near the three-compartment sink, one dead near the prep table on the cookline and 12 behind bakery area racks.
“Ceiling vents soiled with accumulated dust over cookline.” Ew.
This joint passed re-inspection the next day.
Yama Japanese Restaurant, 200 NE Second Ave., Delray Beach: Routine inspection, seven total violations, three High Priority violations.
The 80 flies darted and landed in the room with dry storage, ware washing and the walk-in freezer. About seven in the same area were “landing on unwashed onions.” Another 15 flies hung out on a wall outside the ware-washing room.
Two dead roaches were on a kitchen window sill.
“Interior of oven/microwave has accumulation of black substance/grease/food debris.” Nobody knows how to cover food when you stick it in the microwave?
Yama passed re-inspection the next day.
