Roaches in rice bin among the worst South Florida restaurant inspections
Roaches and recidivism hog the spotlight on this week’s Sick and Shut Down List of South Florida restaurants that have failed state inspection.
Fourteen restaurants in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach are on the list.
We don’t do the inspections. We don’t choose who gets inspected. That’s up to the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation and customers who complain.
Most of the following restaurants passed re-inspection the next day to reopen, and noted if they didn’t.
In alphabetical order:
ASB Piman Restaurant, 6025 Kimberly Blvd., North Lauderdale
Routine inspection, 11 total violations, four High Priority violations.
About 20 roaches in the dry food storage area found only death under the storage rack. Five met the same fate under a kitchen prep table.
Living better were the five roaches on a food prep table, in cases of unopened soda bottles, under a microwave, crawling under a refrigerator — and one in a reach-in cooler that also held plantains.
“Throughout the kitchen all food contact surfaces, shelves and counters” were “soiled with food debris.”
A handwash sink next to a reach-in cooler lacked paper towels.
As for food cooled and stored at proper temperatures to keep away the bacteria, ASB failed and the inspector showered items with Stop Sales. Into the garbage went cooked salt fish, cooked turkey, cooked collard greens, cooked pork, chicken and cooked plantains.
All but the plantains needed to be cooled from 135 degrees to 41 degrees or under within six hours. The plantains, sitting at 81 degrees, had been left out of any temperature control for six hours. They couldn’t be reheated to 165 degrees for 15 seconds inside of two hours.
The callback inspection died on another three dead roaches on the dry storage floor and six live roaches in the kitchen.
ASB passed the second callback inspection.
Cococabana Bar and Grll, 2944 S. Jog Rd., Greenacres
Cococabana failed inspection in April with rodent droppings and ice machine mold among other problems, then failed another inspection in May.
This time, the restaurant failed two full inspections, one last week and one on Wednesday.
Last week’s was a Routine inspection with five total violations and three High Priority violations.
One or several of the local rodents marked its territory under the kitchen dry storage shelves (one dropping), in front of the cookline reach-in cooler (two droppings), under the three-compartment sink (three), and under a table next to the deep freezer (five).
The three-compartment sink had to be used for sanitizing by hand because the dishwasher’s chlorine sanitizer measured zero.
Both the reach-in cooler gaskets and the bottom of the reach-in freezer were “soiled with food debris.”
A same-day re-inspection got Cococabana back open on July 29 with a “Follow-Up Inspection Required.” That follow-up was Wednesday when the inspector found five total violations, all of which were High Priority violations.
The inspector found 40 of the 62 poop pellets “in the customer dining room, under a booth next to the DJ stand.” One dropping sat on a lid to a kitchen storage container with uncooked beans. Nine others were under a rack with canned goods. Another one was under a kitchen dry seasoning storage rack.
A roach crawling in front of that rack didn’t make it. The inspector pointed the bug out to the manager, who then killed the roach.
Chicken stock measured 50 degrees despite overnight cooling. That’s not 41 or below. Stop Sale. Trashed.
Culinary Affairs, 2400 Griffin Rd., Dania Beach
Routine inspection, 11 total violations, four High Priority violations.
“Sewage on the ground from a failed septic system in the back of establishment. Sewage running in front of the back door, down into a storm drain.”
But the sewage didn’t stay there, picking up a ride from “employees using the back door stepping on sewage.”
Wiping cloth sanitizer solution should be 100 parts per million, max. This solution came in at dishwasher strength, 200 ppm.
A swarm of over 40 flies landed on boxes of beef ravioli, diced chicken breast, beef taco filling, diced carrots and mixed vegetables sitting on the floor in front of a freezer. One fly made it to the prep table. Another one got into an open box of green beans.
“Vents in the prep and cooking area are soiled with dust and a mold-like substance.”
“No paper towels or mechanical hand drying device” supplied the men’s room’s handwash sink. .
No lights at the warewashing area’s three-compartment sink.
Kalalou Caribbean Bar and Grill of Fort Lauderdale, 7041 Commercial Blvd., Tamarac
Routine inspection, 21 total violations, 10 High Priority violations.
“The establishment was operating with no potable running water. The water was turned on during the inspection.”
No water means you can’t sanitize so “only use single-service items to serve food to customers until sanitizer is available for warewashing.”
That’s especially true when you have over 100 “dead flies throughout the establishment on clean dishes, on shelves and floors.”
An “employee came in from the outside and began to prepare food without washing hands” and a co-worker “handled soiled dishes and pots, then engaged in food preparation without washing hands,” and, , they couldn’t wash their hands because they were working in the Kalalou desert of no running water.
“The handwash sink in the warewashing or food preparation areas had no running water.”
That whole no-water thing almost drowns the disgust of over 50 “rodent droppings in dry storage, along wall of the back kitchen.” So, with those rodents running around, the restaurant left “bags of flour, sugar, dry pasta stored uncovered” in the kitchen.
There was no water at the handwash sink or for the dishwasher, but the back kitchen area had water — underfoot. “Floor areas covered with standing water.”
Thank you bags are for carryout containers. They aren’t food-grade material that should be “used in direct contact with cooked rice.”
Commercially processed, reduced-oxygen packaged fish have directions to not thaw in the packaging due to bacteria risk. . The retaurant did, and that’s why the inspector hit this thawed fish with a Stop Sale.
During the re-inspection, the inspector saw five dead flies on a counter at the back of the kitchen and 11 rodent droppings.
Inspection No. 3 got Kalalou back open.
La Toretta 2 Ristorante & Piz, 380 Indian Trace, Weston
Routine inspection, 19 total violations, seven High Priority violations.
Inspectors noted an “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin?”
Along with that kitchen problem in the ice machine, the cookline wall made the inspection for being “soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust.”
An employee “dried his hands on clothes/apron/soiled towel after washing.” Maybe he wouldn’t have done that if paper towels sat at either the handwash sink in the dishwasher area or the food expo area, where orders get set up to be taken to customers.
About 10 flies landed “on flour bags and dirty wiping cloths at the dishwasher area.”
Other wet wiping cloths sat on cookline salad and steam tables when not being used, instead of sitting in sanitizing solution.
Standing water covered the laundry room floor.
The soda dispenser at the food expo area counted as a “food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime.”
Magic Grill, 7795 W. Flagler St., West Miami-Dade
Routine inspection, 15 total violations, five High Priority violations.
“Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine.”
The inspector saw “a hole in the wall near the handwash sink” in the prep kitchen, so it was no surprise the inspector also saw “one live rodent hiding between the wall and the standing reach-in freezer” in the prep kitchen.
The rodent couldn’t hide himself or the eight rodent droppings also occupying the same space.
A roach died under a prep table.
The inspector saw “heavy soil accumulation on the floor underneath the kitchen stove, fryers, and the walk-in cooler.”
A walk-in cooler with the job of keeping food at or under 41 degrees couldn’t get under 62 degrees. No surprise, then, that a Stop Sale shower drenched cooked fried rice, cooked noodles, cooked breaded chicken and raw chicken wings.
Mr. Mack Island Grill, 2400 Okeechobee Blvd., Unincorporated Palm Beach County
Complaint inspection, eight total violations, two High Priority violations.
Nine dead roaches. Three live ones, one sliding between the wall and a steam table unit and the other two crawling under a stainless cookline reach-in cooler.
“Clean food containers soiled with food debris on a kitchen clean storage rack.”
“No soap at the handwash sink in the back kitchen.”
1-800-Lucky, 143 NW 23rd St., Miami
Complaint inspection, 12 total violations, two High Priority violations.
On Monday, we told you about the problems at this Asian food hall, which include the old standbys roaches and ice machine mold.
READ MORE: Standing water, crawling roaches in a Wynwood Asian food hall
.jpeg%201-800-Lucky%20entrance "IMG_956_fitted (1).jpeg 1-800-Lucky entrance")
Pita Pockets, 2727 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood
Routine inspection, eight total violations, four High Priority violations.
Rice stuffed grape leaves on the front cookline got hit with a Stop Sale. The live roach topping got the grape leaves tossed.
As for the other bugs, six roaches died at the scene, all of them in or around the kitchen prep area. Other than the grape leaves roach, 10 other roaches scurried about. Seven promenaded on the ground near the kitchen prep area back door.
The re-inspection got scuttled by four dead roaches and, next to a cookline handwash sink, three live roaches.
A third inspection got Pita Pockets going again.
Real Wok, 4640 Hypoluxo Rd. Unincorporated Palm Beach County
Complaint inspection, 25 total violations, 12 High Priority violations.
Guess what the ice bin at the bar had. Yep, an “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice bin.”
In the kitchen, two live roaches crawled on the lid inside a rice storage bin. Stop Sale on the rice.
Another live roach “crawled on top of canned water chestnuts.”
, Dead roaches littered the place, with five on a box with canned foods; seven on cans of water chestnuts; nine on the floor near an ice machine; seven in front of cookline cooler; and five next to clean cups at the server expo station, and one on a sealed sauce bottle.
Four flies hung around the three-compartment sink and walls.
A worker, “repeatedly wiped his face with hand and, without washing hands, employee handled multiple pans of food in walk in cooler.
It’s unclear whether this is the same person in the violation “employee washed hands in sink with no soap.”
Handwashing sinks must be empty, so the “soiled metal scrubbing pads” count as much of an obstruction as the obvious “attached water hose connection.”
The handles and the gaskets in the cookline reach-in coolers were considered “heavily soiled”
Come the re-inspection, the ice bin maintained an “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.” Also, there was a dead roach in front of the walk-in cooler and four live roaches “crawling on clean and sanitized dishes and the storage rack.”
Sang’s Chinese Food, 1925 NE 163rd St., North Miami Beach
Routine inspection, 17 total violations, four High Priority violations.
Another inspection list recidivist in March, Sang’s is a member of Miami-Dade’s Wretched Restaurant Row, restaurants along 167th Street/163rd Street that have failed inspection, often with an earth’s core deep level of disgusting violations.
Sang’s still keeps onions stored on a walk-in cooler floor. And they still have rodents, which left over 10 droppings under the dishwasher.
Also under the dishwasher were five dead roaches and two live roaches. Two live roaches idled at the front counter shelves that held the napkins while two dead comrades lay in the lobby. One dead roach was under a prep table.
A wooden whisk had “accumulated grease” and the dumpling steamer containers had “accumulated grease residue.”
“Heavy grease” covered the cookline floor. The floors under the dishwasher, the walk-in cooler and freezer all were seen as “soiled.”
The kitchen handwash sink didn’t have any way to dry hands.
When the inspector returned for the callback inspection, the onions were still on the floor and the rodents had left 25 signs of regularity by a draining pipe behind the dumpling prep station. Three live roaches mingled with the dead roaches, 10 of which were behind a reach-in cooler. Two died under the wok area.
Third time got it done.
Souvlaki Fast, 1741 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., West Palm Beach
Complaint inspection, 14 total violations, six High Priority violations.
Roaches and employees suffering from a “lack of general knowledge in performing their assigned duties” put Souvlaki on this list in July. Let’s see why we’re seeing them again.
“The interior of the ice machine has build up of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin,”
A fly landed on the rim of an open iced tea machine full of tea. Stop Sale on all that tea. But there wasn’t a stop sale on the tomato — 10 flies were splitting time between the soda syrup dispenser machine and a tomato that inexplicably sat on the floor.
Also on the floor were nine dead roaches.
“In the kitchen, approximately seven live roaches crawled on cleaned and sanitized dishes, the dish storage rack and the wall next to the dishes.”
No paper towels provided at handwashing sink.
An “employee handled a cash payment and, without washing hands, began to prepare soufflé cups of portioned sauces.”
“Employee handled personal cell phone, and, without washing hands, handled clean tongs for gyro meat.”
The wet cloth wiping solution measuring zero parts per million on the sanitizer got rectified when staff boosted it to 100 ppm.
During the callback inspection, there was too much of that same sanitizer (200 ppm). A live roach sat near the soft serve machine. Another one was over the microwave oven.
Souvlaki passed the second callback inspection Tuesday with “Follow-Up Inspection Required.”
Toojay’s Deli, 3013 Yamato Rd., Boca Raton
Routine inspection, five total violations, two High Priority violations.
Of the three live roaches under a kitchen table, one didn’t make it — “operator killed one of the roaches.”
The handwash sink nearest the cookline didn’t have paper towels.
A soiled wiping cloth sat under a cutting board.
Tower Deli & Diner, 2315 S. University Dr., Davie
Routine inspection, 13 total violations, seven High Priority violations.
Five flies on the cookline kept landing on a raw shell egg and cooked potatoes, so Stop Sales landed on the food. No Stop Sales for the cut vegetables that five front-counter flies landed on along with packaged bread.
Elsewhere, another quintet of flies landed on garbage and clean dishes in the prep area. About 10 flies landed on single-use items and cans in the dry storage area.
By the walk-in freezer, the “floor area was covered with standing water.”
“The menu does not identify which items contain raw or undercooked animal foods covered by the consumer advisory ... nova sandwich and lox or nova need to be identified on the menu as raw or undercooked.”
This story was originally published August 8, 2025 at 6:25 AM.
