Denny’s flies and Taco Bell roaches among South Florida restaurant filth
Flies and rodents dominate this week’s Sick and Shut Down list of restaurants that failed inspection in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
So, let’s get to it. In alphabetical order:
A1A Hospitality, aka McSorley’s Beach Pub & Rooftop, 837 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
Routine inspection, 15 total violations, three High Priority violations
During the inspection, the manager “exterminated” five roaches under a chest freezer in the kitchen. Another two roaches escaped harm under the cookline prep table.
Five flies were at the three-compartment sink. One landed on a clean plate.
The main bar’s two soda guns and the holsters were “soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime.”
Those who wanted to wash their hands at the sinks at the cafe’s front counter? No soap. Maybe that’s why the inspector saw “a cook washed hands with no soap.”
If the cook did it at the cafe front counter handwash sink, it became a drip-dry operation, without paper towels or mechanical blower.
Asador Patagonia, 675 Royal Palm Beach Blvd., Royal Palm Beach
Complaint inspection, six total violations, three High Priority violations
The inspector found 11 dead roaches, including two at the serving station.
Thirty rodent droppings were found “on shelves with bottles of alcohol and drink mix.
No paper towels or mechanical hand drying device at the handwash sink at the outside bar.
Aan of mixed fruit was dented badly enough to get hit with a Stop Sale.
Brandon Asian Cuisine, 6417 Stirling Rd., Davie
Routine inspection, five total violations, one High Priority violation
Rice was kept on the floor in a dry storage area between the kitchen and dining room.
Live roaches were found on a wall near the dry storage area, on a bin in a storage room and in a sink.
Cacique Lunch, 112 W. Flagler St., Miami
Complaint inspection, 38 total violations, six High Priority violations
Of the 16 roach corpses, half were under storage shelves at the back of the kitchen. Two roaches canoodled inside a hole in the wall. One roach crawled on the floor by the prep table. Another was under a shelf at the front of the kitchen.
The inside of an ice machine was “soiled with mold-like substance,” and there was an “accumulation of lime scale on the inside of the dishmachine.”
“Soiled” also described the the ceiling tiles and vents over the cookline, prep area and dry storage.
The cutting boards at the cookline and deli area had “cut marks and are no longer cleanable.”
The inspector saw an “employee touch a soiled shirt and handle a cleaned utensil at the cookline without washing hands.”
Two cafeteria area employees doing food prep worked without hair restraint.
Cutting boards at the cookline and deli area were “soiled with old product residue.”
Chicken, beef, and cheese empanadas were uncovered in the cookline chest freezer.
The cookline walls were “soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust.”
China Lane, 6619 Boynton Beach Blvd., Unincorporated Palm Beach County
Routine inspection, eight total violations, three High Priority violations
A violation promenade: a hole in the wall across from the dish machine and six pieces of rodent poop on top of the dish machine.
Employees washing their hands at the kitchen handwash sink couldn’t dry their hands without paper towels or a blower.
Denny’s, 3850 SW 137th Ave., West Miami-Dade
Routine inspection, 19 total violations, one High Priority violation
Only an approaching hurricane or an inspector could close a Denny’s, and the Atlantic was clear Monday when the inspector pulled up to this location.
And the inspector found Amityville Horror Denny’s.
Think about how big a swarm 10 flies can seem. Now, imagine, seeing overhead, “approximately 30 dead flies on the ceiling by the walk-in cooler.”
Or the clean glasses just run through the dishwasher becoming the playground for 30 flies. The air around the mop sink was choked by 20 flies. Another 10 flies were “landing on the office glass window near the warewashing area.” Under a kitchen prep table, 10 flies congregated. Four flies landed on the ice buckets on top of the ice machine. Another six flies were flying around the front counter soda machine.
The “wall was soiled throughout the cookline with accumulated grease and food debris.”
Also soiled was the floor under cookline equipment with “debris accumulation between the tile cracks on the floor all throughout the kitchen and warewashing area.”
The inside of the microwave’s door had “burn marks and a hole.”
The walk-in freezer door had “pink mold-like substance buildup.” The ice bin filters were covered with “dust accumulation,” which also described the paper towel dispenser at the cookline handwash sink.
During Tuesday’s re-inspection, five fruit flies were landing on the soda machine and nozzles. The manager sprayed the soda machine to kill the flies, then cleaned the nozzles. There was a similar slaying of the fruit fly on an office window.
Wednesday’s re-re-inspection got Denny’s back in 24-hour business.
Flare House, 407 Northwood Rd., West Palm Beach
Complaint inspection, 12 total violations, five High Priority violations
If restaurants buy commercially processed reduced-oxygen packaged fish that has a label saying keep it frozen until use or remove it from the packaging before thawing, they need to follow the instructions. There’s a reason for the warning. Thawing while still in the packaging creates a bacteria breeding environment.
That’s why 30 pieces of reduced-oxygen packaged raw salmon thawing in the walk-in cooler got hit with 30 Stop Sales and tossed in the garbage.
In the kitchen, there were “objectionable odors.”
Only one live roach and one live fly were spotted, but in the kitchen, “approximately six rodent droppings under the employee locker in the clean dish storage area.”
In front of the deep fryer and kitchen handwash sink, the “floor has a puddle of standing water.”
Just water, instead of water with sanitizer, filled the wiping cloth sanitizer bucket.
Le Genie Restaurant, 178 NE 167th St., North Miami-Dade
Routine inspection, 30 total violations, seven High Priority violations
With 100 pieces of rodent poop and 42 violations in March 2024, Le Genie joined the North Miami-Dade/North Miami Beach Wretched Restaurant Row that runs along Northeast/Northwest 167th Street and Northeast 163rd Street from the Golden Glades Interchange to Biscayne Boulevard.
READ MORE: A Miami-Dade restaurant has 42 problems and rodent poop is one
This time, on the upside, no rodent dung on shelves. On the downside, the air exploded with flies.
Over 100 flies in the storage room were “landing on top of whole vegetables like yams, habanero peppers, dried spinach, malanga and green plantains. In another storage room, over 150 flies “landing on single service items, like foam containers and napkins.” More than 50 flies landed on shelves with mojo and seasoning containers.
Two questionably effective bug zappers were over whole vegetables and soda cases in the storage room.
Standing water covered the dishwasher and prep area floors.
Raw pork sat on the kitchen floor.
Cooked turkey and cooked chicken in the walk-in freezer weren’t covered.
A kitchen cutting board “has cut marks and is no longer cleanable.”
The walk-in cooler, which should be keeping food at or under 41 degrees, measured 68 degrees, nearly room temperature. The walk-in freezer measured 48 degrees. That’s too warm to be even a walk-in cooler.
No surprise that Stop Sales came down on salted pollock, chicken sauce, pork sauce and raw shell eggs that had been stored in the walk-in cooler.
And the kitchen handwash sink didn’t have paper towels or hand drying devices.
Montserrate Restaurant, 9545 NW 41st St., Doral
Routine inspection, 21 total violations, one High Priority violation
The roach count: one dead on a dry storage shelf, five living and moving in three different places.
The dishwasher had “lime scale buildup” inside.
Not a sheet of Saran wrap? Among the food left uncovered: raw chicken in a reach-in cooler; empanadas in a reach-in freezer; raw pork chops in the walk-in cooler; and raw pork, raw chicken and raw beef on the floor of the walk-in freezer.
“Multiple” kitchen employees worked in food preparation without hair restraints.
Inside both microwaves were “soiled with food debris.”
A pan was “heavily soiled with excess grease buildup.”
Cutting boards had deep cuts like a Quentin Tarrantino movie and could “no longer be easily cleaned.”
The wiping cloth chlorine sanitizing solution measured only 10% of what it should, coming in at 10 parts per million, well below the proper measurement of 100 parts per million.
Naked Taco at The Falls, 8888 SW 136th St., South Miami-Dade
Routine inspection, 24 total violations, six High Priority violations
Monday: No soap, paper towels or mechanical hand drying device at the dish-area handwash sink and no hot water at the handwash sinks in the cookline or kitchen prep area.
Four dead roaches under a prep table and one that died on top of a flour container. One live roach on a wall.
Over 25 flies zipped about the dishwasher area, landing on clean plates.
Standing water in the kitchen under a rack.
A bag of ice sat on the floor of the walk-in freezer and an ice bucket sat on the floor of the dishwasher area.
Tuesday: The inspector observed one roach crawling on a kitchen prep area wall, and two flies ruined the callback inspection.
Wednesday: The inspector saw one dish area fly and a dead roach inside a reach-in cooler just taking up space, unable to cool anything. Failure No. 3 for the hat trick.
Thursday: One live roach in the kitchen prep area, a live roach and dead roach on the cookline kept this place from reopening.
Palm Beach Bagel, 1200 Yamato Rd., Boca Raton
Routine inspection, 13 total violations, eight High Priority violations
There were over 40 flies counted, 10 of which were “landing on walls above dining tables.”
“Employee with no hair restraint while engaging in food preparation.”
An “employee moved dirty dishes to the dishwasher then proceeded to handle clean dishes without washing his hands.”
And this employee who did head for the handwash sink “washed hands for five to eight seconds before engaging in food preparation.” The minimum time is 10 to 15 seconds.
“Wiping cloth sanitizer solution exceeds the maximum concentration allowed.” Yes, you can have too much. The sanitizer measured 200 parts per million and got brought down to 100ppm.
Parrillada Casa Amigos, 4469 S. Congress Ave., Palm Springs
Routine inspection, 16 total violations, three High Priority violations
This place Googles as “Maricos Casa Amigos.”
By any name, the rodents found it well enough to leave 11 droppings.
Ten flies landed on the counters and walls of the bar.
In the walk-in cooler, cut melon and cooked sauces weren’t covered and boxes of oysters and chicken sat directly on the floor.
No paper towels at the kitchen or bar-area handwash sinks.
In-use utensils should sit in water that’s at least 135 degrees. These sat in water that measured 70 degrees.
Quesillos Guiliguiste, 11323 W. Flagler St., West Miami-Dade
Complaint inspection, 17 total violations, seven High Priority violations
Monday, we told you about Quesillos and the unfortunately placed flies the inspector found last week.
READ MORE: Flies inside cheese and other bad places at a Miami restaurant, inspection says
Sticky Rice and Sushi, 5885 Lake Worth Rd., Greenacres
Routine inspection, four total violations, three High Priority violations
Violation: After handling a broom and possibly touching the broom head, an employee “without washing his hands, handled clean and sanitized Bowls.”
Inspection failure violation: About 60 pieces of rodent dung on top of the kitchen dishwasher and six under the adjacent ice machine.
Taco Bell, 640 NE 125th St., North Miami
Complaint inspection, three total violations, one High Priority violation
Seven dead roaches under a steam table in the kitchen and five live roaches under a kitchen reach-in cooler were enough to get this Taco Bell canceled for the day.
The Victoria Park Hotel, 855 NE 20th Ave., Fort Lauderdale
Routine inspection, seven total violations, four High Priority violations
Treating the Victoria Park Hotel restaurant like their own Airbnb, these rodents moved in to the extent of “rodent burrow or rodent nesting materials present behind the glass reach-in cooler at the bar.”
They also left two pieces of rodent regularity behind that cooler, two under a bar handwash sink and another 60 behind reach-in refrigerators.
The inspector also saw a single-serving cereal container with a gnawed-through package.
Butter pats in a reach-in cooler overnight measured 48 to 50 degrees, way too warm for safe-keeping. Stop Sales on the butter pats.
Though the rodents seemed to be all but getting mail at the Victoria Park, what with the living space and bathroom, the hotel passed a same-day re-inspection and were back open for Friday, Saturday and Sunday business.
This story was originally published September 12, 2025 at 1:23 PM.
