Rodents at a country club and bugs at Pollo Tropical among worst restaurant inspections
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Miami-Dade’s Wretched Restaurant Row
Eight restaurants along Northwest 167th Street/Northeast 163rd Street, from just west of North Miami Beach through the heart of the city, have failed state inspection, usually quite spectacularly since December 2023.
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Rodents ran and pooped like they were on spring break, shutting down South Florida restaurants after failing inspections
The “Sick and Shut Down” list covers restaurant inspection failures in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. Inspections are done by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation. If you want to complain about a restaurant, talk to the DBPR.
Most of these restaurants re-opened following a next-day re-inspection. Some did not, as noted.
In alphabetical order:
Cucina Italiana, 17 S. Pointe Dr., Dania Beach: Routine inspection, 17 total violations, five High Priority violations.
“Open bags of flour in rear kitchen.”
That’s not good when you’ve got flies pretty happy to land on food, such as the two that landed on the raw chicken breast sitting on a prep table. Another five got around “open bags of unwashed carrots and onions.” About 10 were landing on the wall “above the storage of open bags of flour in the rear kitchen.”
The inspector counted another eight flies and two roaches moseying on the floor under a condiment storage rack.
With all that insect activity, you want your dishwasher to clean and sanitize properly. Instead, this dishwasher came up tiny on sanitizing, measuring only 15 parts per million. It should be 200 ppm.
There was no probe food thermometer, a basic for any restaurant to make sure food is cooked to a level to eliminate foodborne bacteria.
The paper towel dispenser at the front counter handwash sink couldn’t execute its raison d’etre, dispensing paper towels.
The floor had a “buildup of old food residue.” Where? The “entire rear kitchen, food storage area, dry goods storage area, stairs to the upper level, the upper level, below the ice machine, the soiled floor and the drainer.”
At the callback inspection, five flies landed on the wall over the flour bags and 10 were around a bar area soda nozzle.
Deluxe Restaurant & Grill, 996-998 SW 81st Ave., North Lauderdale: Routine inspection, six total violations, two High Priority violations.
The bucket in the kitchen handwash sink and the soiled wiping cloth on the cookline prep table? Those violations count as inspection filler compared to “one live rodent running under three-compartment sink in the kitchen.”
Passing one of those Broward Friday-same-day-reinspections got Deluxe open for weekend business.
MORE: Recalled frozen food meals sold by Walmart, Publix, others might have wood
Green House Boba Tea & Pho, 721 Village Blvd., West Palm Beach: Routine inspection, five total violations, five High Priority violations.
Eight roaches danced their way on or under the kitchen exposition line.
An “employee entered the kitchen from the dining room, put on gloves and began preparing food for customers without washing hands.” Yes, you have to wash your hands before you put on the gloves.
Someone else “touched (his) face and then handled clean equipment, utensils and dishes to prepare and serve food to customers without washing hands.”
Mayacoo Lakes Country Club, 9697 Mayacoo Club Dr., Unincorporated Palm Beach County: Routine inspection, one violation, one High Priority violation.
The only violation had legs, a tail and left 16 pieces of rodent poop near the front counter, under dry storage shelves and the reach-in cooler.
Mike’s Wings & Seafood, 2968 S. Jog Rd., Greenacres: Routine inspection, eight total violations, three High Priority violations.
The inspector saw about 50 ketchup packets “that have been chewed open and eaten.”
Over 100 pieces of rodent regularity got dropped “in the kitchen, under cabinets and on top of open boxes of single service utensils.” Five were in the kitchen next to containers of frying oil. Four were on top of a reach-in cooler.
A “heavily grooved and no longer cleanable” kitchen cutting board was being used to cut chicken wings.
In the reach-in freezer, non food-grade bags were directly touching raw chicken.
There’s no online record of a passed re-inspection.
Pollo Tropical Express, 7401 W. Fourth Ave. (Red Road), Hialeah: Routine inspection, five total violations, two High Priority violations.
We told you earlier this week about the bug problem that brought this Pollo Tropical Express to a Palmetto-at-103rd Street halt.
READ MORE: Roaches, flies and a Hialeah Pollo Tropical inspection failure
Sang’s Chinese Food, 1925 NE 163rd St., North Miami Beach: Routine inspection, 18 total violations, three High Priority violations.
Here we have either the latest addition to North Miami Beach’s Wretched Restaurant Row, the eighth restaurant to fail inspection since December 2023, or we have the return of what could be counted as the list starter — Sang’s sung blue on an inspection in May 2022.
Rodents take a starring role in the restaurant inspection failures along or just off the Northwest/Northeast 167th Street-Northeast 163rd Street corridor, and Sang’s continues the trend.
There were over 35 rodent droppings by dry storage where rice, flour and sugar sit; over 15 on a shelf with clean plates; another 15 by a hot water heater; over 10 on the single service item (takeout plates and utensils) storage room floor; and 10 under the three-compartment sink.
A dozen roaches decorated the floors.
You’ve got rodents, you’ve got roaches (they were alive at some point), you probably shouldn’t have a “bag of onions and sauces stored on the floor in the walk-in cooler.”
Standing water joined rodent dung under the three-compartment sink and under the handwash sink.
The floor under those sinks, the dishwasher, the cookline and in the storage room were “heavily soiled.”
An “accumulation of debris” on the exterior and interior of the warewashing machine.
All the cutting boards “have cut marks and are no longer cleanable.”
The inside of two reach-in coolers and a reach-in freezer have an “accumulation of soil residues.”
The inspector also dropped Stop Sales on 51-degree chicken balls, 51-degree spring rolls, 51-degree raw chicken and 52-degree wontons. All needed to be at or below 41 degrees.
The callback inspection kept Sang’s closed after the inspector counted one dead roach, two rodent droppings under the dishwasher, three rodent droppings on a soy sauce container and over 10 droppings on the floor in the single service goods storage room.
Three was a magic number for Sang’s as they passed the third inspection.
Thai Moon by the Sea, 3026 E. Commercial Blvd., Fort Lauderdale: Routine inspection, seven total violations, two High Priority violations.
Last restaurant on the list has a common violation: “Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine in the kitchen.”
Three live roaches ran under the cookline. Six were in side the wheels of a reach-in cooler. One crawled up the side of a kitchen flip top cooler.
“Ceiling tiles and vents were soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance throughout the kitchen and prep areas.”
A bag of frozen chicken thawed at room temperature on a prep table. That beckons bad bacteria.
The dishwasher sanitizer measured zero.
Ruining the re-inspection were “four live roaches in the storage container with cleaned utensils stored at the cleaned utensil storage rack in kitchen.”
The re-re-inspection put the glow back on the Thai Moon.
This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 7:49 AM.
