Why has this Kendall sushi place been closed by inspectors 4 times since July?
A sushi spot in Kendall had failed state inspections three times in 2025 before hitting a grand slam of failures since last week.
The doors at the Downtown Dadeland Iron Sushi, 9030 SW 72nd Pl., have been closed since Nov. 17 with the front door adorned with a big orange sign from the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation declaring, “This establishment is CLOSED to protect public health and safety.”
As of Monday afternoon, that sign hasn’t moved as Iron Sushi flopped re-inspections on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Friday (yes, two in one day) and Monday. The orange jumpsuit-colored sign contradicted a management sign underneath (“We’re planning to reopen Monday”) as Iron Sushi remained in inspection jail.
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In July, a clogged toilet and too many roaches took the very vincible Iron Sushi out of action for four days. Roaches and no soap at a handwash sink helped close Iron Sushi in September. Roaches and an employee using the restroom, then returning to food prep without washing hands sidelined the restaurant earlier this month.
The original inspections in September and November came from customer complaints, as did the Nov. 17 inspection that found 20 total violations and four High Priority violations.
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That first inspection from earlier this month featured an olfactory assault by malevolent funk and the Nov. 17 inspection also mentioned “Objectionable odors...in the kitchen area, under the three-compartment sink and at the floor drain.”
One live roach and 10 roach corpses were spread around the restaurant. One roach died inside plastic to-go lids in the kitchen. One fell out of a wet mop. Three reached their end “inside exposed insulation of the ice machine.”
“Throughout the kitchen” the “ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents were soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or a mold-like substance.”
“Food-contact surfaces not sanitized after cleaning and before use.” The inspector saw an employee washing pans with soap and water, but not following up with any sanitizing step.
“Pots and pans under the cookline are wet nesting....The salad spinner was wet nesting on the kitchen area dry food rack.”
The inside of the microwave had an “accumulation” of food debris.
Pipes leaked under the three-compartment sink and the ice machine.
Now, on to the callback inspections for which inspectors found five to seven of the original inspection’s violations repeated but Iron Sushi was given the grace of “Time Extended.”
But, for roach violations, dead or alive, there is no grace, only the purgatory of remaining closed.
Callback inspection No. 1: Three dead roaches expired in kitchen chest freezer gaskets. Another dead roach lay next to the front counter margarita machine.
Callback inspection No. 2: A dead roach lay on the kitchen floor in front of the cookline. Another two roaches died inside the leg of the ice machine.
Callback inspection No. 3: It only takes one, such as a live roach “crawling on top of the lowboy reach in cooler” in the kitchen.
Callback inspection No. 4: One roach died “on the front counter next to bowls and plates.” Another suffered a chest freezer gasket death.
Callback inspection No. 5: One dead roach was in the mop sink and another was behind the kitchen ice machine, in a crack of cove molding.
Callback inspection No. 6 (Monday): A live roach was “inside the toaster on a dry food rack.” Dead roaches were in a reach-in cooler, under a rice cooker, under rice inside a reach-in cooler, inside an ice machine and on top of a soy sauce container in the kitchen.
This story was originally published November 24, 2025 at 5:09 PM.
