A Miami Beach restaurant’s 54 problems included kitchen roaches, a ‘mold-like substance’
Roaches running in the kitchen and dishes not getting sanitized were just two of the violations a state inspector found at a Miami Beach delivery and pickup restaurant last week.
A customer complaint brought an inspector to AKO Prime, licensed under ArtisanKO and located in the Carriage Club North condominium at 5005 Collins Ave., and that inspector found nine High Priority violations among a whopping 54 violations.
Here’s some of what the inspector found Wednesday:
“Food stored under a dripping water line” as in “packaged beef stored under an air conditioner that was dripping water above the food.”
Five dead roaches were on the kitchen floor and near an unused walk-in cooler. Those areas had “10 live roaches crawling on the floor around the walk-in cooler and one by the dishwashing area, both locations inside the kitchen area.”
That same area around the walk-in had roach excrement.
The chemical line on the dishwasher, which had lime scale inside of it, wasn’t properly connected, including the sanitizer. This led to “observed employee washing dishes, but not sanitizing them.”
So, it wasn’t surprising that “new employees working at the dish area weren’t able to explain the correct procedure to wash, rinse and sanitize dishes.”
Hopefully, this got explained as AKO started manual sanitizing in the three-compartment sink.
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“Observed mold-like substance around the top of the interior surface of the reach-in freezer.”
“Insect control device installed over food preparation area.”
“Tracking powder pesticide used inside the establishment.”
The ovens had “an accumulation of food debris.”
“Observed employees touching dirty containers and, then, grabbing the clean ones without washing hands in between.”
“Multiple cutting boards” had an “excessive accumulation of marks.”
“Employee with no hair restraint while engaging in food preparation.”
Dusty ceiling vents “throughout the establishment.” Also, “ceiling paint was peeling off in the protein walk-in cooler.“
“Multiple wet ceiling tiles with broken pieces were falling on top of preparation tables and different cooking utensils and equipment on those tables.”
Meanwhile, on the floor “throughout the establishment,” floor tiles were “missing and/or in disrepair” and the “floors were not maintained to be smooth and durable.”
There was an “accumulation of food debris underneath and behind equipment.”
Salad container boxes sat on the kitchen floor, not a good place with the roach issue.
“Multiple equipment gaskets were soiled and the exterior of the refrigeration units was splashed with food residue.”
Frozen salmon was thawed at room temperature in violation of basic food safety that dictates it be done in refrigeration.
There was an “excessive accumulation of unused equipment on premises, not allowing for proper cleaning.”
Even when AKO reopened after Thursday’s re-inspection, it did so with 32 violations, four of which were High Priority.
