Roach stuck on wall, swarming flies, stink in a restaurant near Coral Gables
Roach excrement and roach corpses on walls and employees not knowing when or how to wash their hands were among the reasons a popular West Miami-Dade Japanese restaurant failed inspection Wednesday.
Matsuri’s is at 5759 Bird Rd., in the Red Bird Center strip mall across Red Road from Coral Gables proper. If they needed, now management has something besides Red Bird Center rent to talk about with next door neighbor Milam’s Market, which failed its state inspection the week before.
READ MORE: Ancient food among the inspection problems at a Milam’s Market near Coral Gables
But, where Milam’s is a supermarket, thus inspected by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Matsuri is a restaurant, so it gets inspected by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation. A failed Ag Department inspection isn’t an automatic shutdown. A failed DBPR restaurant inspection gets you put in restaurant time out, as Matsuri was before passing re-inspection on Thursday.
What follows are some of the lowlights from the 34 total violations and 12 High Priority violations listed by the DBPR inspector on Wednesday’s inspection of Matsuri’s.
The inspector “observed the interior of the ice machine with black, mold-like substance.”
A dead roach was “stuck on the wall in the back dry storage area” along with some roach excrement. Another dead roach was “stuck on wall next to the ice machine.” Another was “stuck on the wall near public restrooms.” A fourth roach died on the floor near the public restrooms.
Only two live roaches were spotted, one on a wall in the back dry storage area and another on a chest freezer.
Also in that busy back dry storage area, over 20 flies swarmed, “flying around and landing on food contact surfaces.” There were over 10 flies “flying around the kitchen area, landing on clean dishes and utensils.”
Despite the roaches, there were “buckets of soy sauce on the floor near the sushi prep area.”
That back dry storage area also had a can of sliced bamboo shoots dented enough to draw a Stop Sale from the inspector.
READ MORE: McDonald’s, rodent-riddled Wendy’s among Miami to Palm Beach worst restaurant filth
There was standing water in the ware washing and dry storage areas.
The inspector smelled a “strong, objectionable odor coming from the grease trap near the dry storage area.”
Wet wiping cloths that should’ve been in a sanitzing solution sat on sushi prep area cutting boards.
“Soiled cardboard on the floor at the cookline area.”
Now, for the handwashing problems.
A server brought dirty dishes to the ware washing area “and immediately began touching clean plates without handwashing.”
A female employee washed her hands for less than 15 seconds near the kitchen prep area.
An employee “washed hands near the kitchen prep area with cold water.” The water is supposed to be at least 85 degrees.
Another employee “washed hands, then closed a soiled faucet handle with clean hands.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 3:49 PM.
