Roaches in pasta, dead rodent among South Florida’s 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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Eateries in hotels, a mall cinema and some repeat offenders are among the 11 restaurants on this week’s Sick and Shut Down List of South Florida failed inspections.
Restaurants failing inspection by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation are closed until they pass a callback inspection, the first of which is usually the next day. Notify the DBPR via the website to file a complaint about a restaurant.
In alphabetical order, starting with two restaurants inside Hilton hotel chain properties:
Breezes Cafe, inside the Bahia Mar Fort Lauderdale Beach hotel, 801 Seabreeze Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
Routine inspection, five total violations, three High Priority violations
The flies have it here, the inspector counting about 20 of them, seven of which were landing on the bar beer cooler and another seven “landing on lights above foods stored at the self-service bar.”
But, the 70% of the flies didn’t do as much damage as the other 30%. Three flies landed on the deli meat platter at that self- service bar. Another three landed on cut pineapple and honeydew there. As those flies landed, so did Stop Sale Orders on all that food that got thrown in the garbage.
BT’s Oceanfront aka Beach Terrace, inside the Embassy Suites, 950 Ocean Dr., Deerfield Beach
Routine inspection, 15 total violations, five High Priority violations
The inspector “observed approximately 12 live insects crawling on packaged dry pasta” on a dry storage shelf and “approximately 20 live insects inside boxes of Barilla pasta.” The inspector dropped Stop Sales on all that pasta.
Four roaches survived inside a cookline oven while seven of their friends crawled on the cookline floor. Two dead roaches were the cookline floor.
Ten flies “rested on the wall and cleaning equipment at the kitchen mop sink,” and two flies chilled on a kitchen shelf.
“Heavy and old food debris was under the kitchen cookline.”
The “ceiling tiles and vents were soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance throughout the kitchen and prep areas.”
Cask & Shaker Craft Bar & Kitchen, in CMX Cinemas at The Mall at Wellington Green, 10312 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Wellington
Routine inspection, six total violations, four High Priority violations
The place that calls itself “Wellington’s go-to gastrobar” got zapped by the most basic of problems: water.
As in, water not hot or not hot enough for sanitization. When the dishwasher water couldn’t reach 160 degrees, the dishwasher was removed from active duty. Backup, manual sanitization had to be done in the three-compartment sink.
Water problems in the kitchen came from “wastewater backing up from the floor drain in front of the handwash sink and vegetable wash sink. The area cannot be isolated, and employees were stepping in grey water.”
Next to the water problems, six flies and kitchen air conditioning vents “soiled with an accumulation of debris” counted as annoyances.
READ MORE: Here’s why an inspector shut down all food equipment at a Hialeah supermarket
Habana Vieja Restaurant, 2475 SW 37th Ave., Miami
Routine inspection, 18 total violations, five High Priority violations
Earlier this week, we told you about the cleanliness, standing water, flies and dead roaches at this 40-year-old favorite of families and senior citizens in east Coral Gables and the Coral Way area.
MORE: What’s that smell? A 40-year-old restaurant near Coral Gables fails inspection
Iron Sushi, 9030 SW 72nd Pl., Kendall
Complaint inspection, 26 total violations, three High Priority violations
In July, Iron Sushi managed to fail a first inspection, then three callback inspections when roaches showed up in places such as chopsticks or a rice cooker.
This time, of the five live roaches, the least shy sashayed across the floor in front of the cookline and crawled under a dining area table.
Two roaches died behind a dining room seat. Another four perished in exposed insulation under the ice machine. Eight were hidden under the cookline or behind kitchen equipment. One corpse sat exposed “on a metal table outside the restroom.”
The exterior of the kitchen freezer, ice machine, the front counter reach-in cooler’s gaskets and, most disturbingly, the front counter handwash sink all got described as “soiled.”
Knives sat directly on that “soiled surface of the ice machine.”
“Ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents were soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or a mold-like substance.”
Rice and oil sat directly on the kitchen floor.
Oh, you want to wash your hands in the kitchen handsink? No soap for you!
A live roach crawling on a frying pan ruined the first re-inspection. Three dead roaches were spotted elsewhere. Also spotted: Raid, the household bug killer that’s not designed to be used in restaurants. The inspector dinged Iron Sushi on that during the original inspection, but instead of throwing it out, staff just moved it to under the front counter cash register.
La Fonda Restaurant, 1855 South State Rd. 7, Unincorporated Broward County
Routine inspection, 16 total violations, seven High Priority violations
It doesn’t feel like a list until we see an “accumulation of black, mold-like substance buildup inside ice machine.”
Six flies landed on a clean food prep table and a clean meat slicer.
The refrigerator drawers on the cookline weren’t too cold for 20 live roaches. Five roaches hid underneath cooking equipment.
There was an “accumulation of grease buildup on the walls throughout the kitchen.”
Whatever cooler housed cooked ground beef, steak and chicken for the previous two or three days couldn’t do its one job, and all of that food got hit with Stop Sales for being too warm (thus vulnerable to bacteria buildup).
La Mulata, 1443 Washington Ave., Miami Beach
Routine inspection, 11 total violations, three High Priority violations
There was an “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”
At the bar, “the straws provided for customer self-service not individually wrapped or in an approved dispenser.”
The bar’s soda gun nozzles were “soiled.”
Rice and dry spices live in dry storage, logically enough, but had to share their living space with 20 live roaches.
Mainland China Bistro, 2445 N. University Dr., Coral Springs
Complaint inspection, nine total violations, three High Priority violations
That the “back ice bin contains mold-like substance” probably didn’t draw the complaint that begat this inspection.
The inspector counted about 53 pieces of rodent poop, including 20 in the kitchen under a storage rack and 15 in a storage area under the ice bin and storage shelves and another 15 under a flip-top cooler. The remaining three dotted the area under a dish rack.
At the wait station handwash sink, users had to wait for their hands to dry — no paper towels.
Malakor Thai Cafe, 425 25th St., West Palm Beach
Routine inspection, four total violations, one High Priority violations
“Approximately five live roaches were found in the dishwashng area, on the wall under the shelving.”
In the sushi station, “the low boy cooler gaskets are torn and soiled.”
Pink Cafe, 701 N. Federal Hwy., Hallandale Beach
Complaint inspection, six total violations, two High Priority violations
Household spray cans of bug killers aren’t allowed in restaurants. Restaurants can, however, set up versions of the old Black Flag Roach Motels (”Roaches check in, but they don’t check out.”). But, when doing that, workers must remember follow through and throw out the little Bates Motels when they’re full.
Otherwise, inspectors ding a restaurant for “30 dead roaches in a control device under a reach-in cooler” and “20 dead roaches in a control device on the ground behind the ice machine.”
Both of those were at the front counter. Another five roaches lay dead under the front counter espresso machine. Eight corpses were on the floor of kitchen dry storage. Five died under a kitchen flip-top cooler.
As for the 14 living roaches, they spread out, perhaps hoping to draw less notice in smaller numbers. Three actually survived in the control device under the reach-in cooler. Two were inside the door frame to kitchen dry storage.
One live roach sat on a water filter behind the front counter ice machine. One was “on a paper towel taped to a beverage cup holder next to the espresso machine at the front counter.”
The dishwasher sanitizer measured a zero point zero in sanitizing chlorine.
The wiping cloth sanitizer bucket also measured nothing as it hadn’t even been made.
Sang’s Chinese Food, 1925 NE 163rd St., North Miami Beach
Routine inspection, 18 total violations, three High Priority violations
One of the more hardheaded members of the Northwest/Northeast 167th Street-Northeast 163rd Street Wretched Restaurant Row, Sang’s completed the rare calendar year hat trick of failed inspections with its third visit to the Sick and Shut Down List in 2025.
But Sang’s did show improvement in rodent violations, going from 85 rodent droppings in March to 10 pieces of rodent regularity in July to none this time around.
“Observed a dead rodent on the floor under the sink in the food prep preparation area.”
Baby steps.
Still, with rodents about the place, probably best to not leave an “onion bag and rice bags on the floor by the exit door.”
“Multiple food containers (were) cracked.”
A cutting board had a “mold-like substance.”
“Heavy grease” caked the surfaces of storage shelves in front of the cookline.
Thawing duck and already thawed raw pork and raw beef sat in the three-compartment sink instead of the refrigerator.
“Food items in the walk-in cooler, reach-in coolers and reach-in freezers not covered.”
The hot water valve of the kitchen handwash sink didn’t work.
This story was originally published October 10, 2025 at 5:59 AM.
