450 rodent droppings among the worst South Florida restaurant inspections
On this week’s list of 10 restaurants that failed inspection, you’ll find national chains, local chains and independent businesses in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Inspections are done by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation and are either routine (it’s that restaurant’s turn or a follow-up from a previous failure) or by a complaint filed by a customer with the agency. The Miami Herald doesn’t control who gets inspected or how strictly. We just report the results on our Sick and Shut Down List.
Restaurants failing inspection are closed until they pass a re-inspection or callback inspection, which usually happens the following day. Some re-inspections happen later the same day.
In alphabetical order:
Artie’s Sportsmen Lounge, 2218 N. Federal Hwy., Hollywood
Routine inspection, nine total violations, four High Priority violations
A proliferation of roaches put Artie’s on this list back in May. But both the roaches and the inspector returned.
Two roaches lived inside a control device near the three-compartment sink with five dead roaches. Four roaches lived with nine dead brothers inside a control device next to a kitchen water heater. Another two died next to the water heater.
The inside of the toaster oven and the microwave had an “accumulation of grease/food debris.”
Cooked scalloped potatoes in a cooler for six hours dipped to 51 degrees. They needed to be down to 41. Stop Sale on the potatoes.
Blue Anchor, 804 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach
Complaint inspection, 18 total violations, seven High Priority violations
The “soda gun surface was soiled with mold-like substance or slime.”
A “mold-like substance” decorated “all walls in the walk-in cooler and walk-in beer cooler.”
Also in the walk-in cooler, raw pork and cooked beef sat “in soiled containers.”
But when you see “hole in the wall in the walk-in cooler, under shelving” and “hole in wall in the bar area, next to the (food exposition) window,” you know what probably came through that hole...
The little critters who left over 450 pieces of poop around this joint. Let’s break that down.
- Two on a shelf by the kitchen rear door.
- Three in a bucket.
- Three under a dry storage shelf.
- Four under the dishwasher.
- Six under the kitchen table with the microwave.
- Eight under a sheet pan by a kitchen mixer.
- Ten under a steam table.
- By the kitchen liquor room door sat 15.
- About 30 under the shelf on the right side of the liquor room.
- About 30 inside the outside ice machine, which didn’t have any ice at the time.
- About 70 droppings in the walk-in cooler.
- And, on the dry storage floor, in boxes of napkins, plastic forks and plastic knives, about 300 pieces of rodent regularity.
Defrosted mahi-mahi remained in its reduced oxygen packaging. Fish in that packaging either need to be used frozen or removed from the packaging before thawing. That creates a fertile ground for bad bacteria. Stop Sale.
There was also a “buildup of food debris/soil residue” on the handwash sink handles and all the reach-in cooler door handles.
The cookline handwash sink didn’t have paper towels.
“Cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable.”
In returning for the callback inspection the next day, the inspector found the rodents dumped faster than the Blue Anchor staff could sweep.
Nine rodent droppings near the soda gun area of the bar. About 10 droppings on the bar and another 10 under the bar’s soda boxes. Eleven by the refrigerator and seven on a table where the soup warmer is stored. Six droppings got under a cookline freezer and two were on the dry storage shelves by the rear door.
The Anchor passed the second callback inspection on Monday.
Cajun Boil Plantation in Broward Mall, 8000 W. Broward Blvd., Plantation
Routine inspection, six total violations, two High Priority violations
The mop closet is about 50 feet from the kitchen. That’s where the ice machine and a water heater sit.
Why do you need to know this?
Because that’s where the inspector found a dead rodent in a mop closet drain and 20 droppings near the water heater.
Despite the caked-on dirt, grease and crumbs that pile up in the slivers of space between kitchen equipment, the inspector saw three “in-use knives stored in cracks between pieces of equipment.”
Denny’s, 404 S. State Rd. 7, Hollywood
Routine inspection, eight total violations, four High Priority violations
We told you earlier this week about the rodent problems that brought about that which is feared by senior citizens, munchie seekers and the hungover — a closed Denny’s.
READ MORE: What can close a Denny’s? Four-legged, furry vermin
El Coyote Club, 5748 Washington St., Hollywood
Routine inspection, nine total violations, four High Priority violations
The 21 roach corpses were split between 11 on a kitchen shelf next to dry spices and, in another part of the kitchen, 10 on aluminum trays on a shelf above the three-compartment sink. Four living roaches also sashayed around those aluminum trays.
The other living roaches were living their best lives under and around a kitchen chest freezer (10 of them) and crawling on a kitchen wall (three). Four roaches were in a kitchen paper towel dispenser.
There was no soap at the kitchen handwash sink, which explains why the inspector saw an employee wash hands with no soap.
Emily’s Garden, 333 SW Second St., Fort Lauderdale
Complaint inspection, six total violations, three High Priority violations
The inspector counted about 40 rodent droppings under the kitchen dry storage rack and spotted two on top of the dishwasher in the kitchen.
“Under and around kitchen equipment, a grease buildup.”
The in-use ice scoop sat “in a soiled blue holder.”
Although rodents aren’t known for vacating the premises in just a few hours, Emily’s passed a same-day re-inspection. .
Hurricane Grill & Wings of Kendall, 15500 SW 88th St., Kendall
Routine inspection, 16 total violations, five High Priority violations
The “interiors of both kitchen ice machines were soiled with mold-like substances.”
There was an “accumulation of debris on the exterior of the warewashing machine” with no sanitizer inside the machine.
Crawling on top of where the sanitizer should have been on the dishwasher and on the wall were five roaches. Three dead roaches lay under the machine. Another two were under a dry storage rack with ketchup.
Nobody covered the ice cream in the walk-in freezer.
Lickie Stickie BBQ, 7794 NW 44th St., Sunrise
Routine inspection, nine total violations, four High Priority violations
One dead roach in a kitchen prep sink. One living roach “inside a knife collection bag” on a shelf. One living roach seen on the main kitchen floor, then “crawling into the wall.” Two other live roaches in handwash sinks.
About 30 flies were “throughout the whole establishment (except dining area), landing on walls, on cooking pots, prep tables, and boxes of single service items.”
The inspector “observed an employee wash dirty dishes and immediately touch clean equipment before washing hands.”
Maybe that’s because “all handwash sinks in the establishment are blocked.” A portable steam table blocked one handwash sink. Stacked boxes and equipment blocked another handwash sink.
The inside of the microwave was “soiled.”
Rodbenders Raw Bar and Grill, 20400 Old Cutler Rd., Cutler Bay
Routine inspection, 31 total violations, seven High Priority violations
“In-use knife/knives stored in cracks between pieces of equipment ... knives stored between preparation tables at the kitchen front line.”
More than 30 flies were “landing on the food preparation table and food equipment in the kitchen area” and another 10 flitted “in the air around the whole kitchen area.”
Combine 10 flies with “sliced tomatoes, french fries and sweet potatoes at the front line not covered” and you get a third violation when the flies start landing on the tomatoes. Stop Sale on the tomatoes.
The fries and sweet potatoes got hit with a Stop Sale, not from the fly contact, but from being at 61 degrees. That’s 20 degrees into “temperature abuse.” Trashed.
Into the garbage with them were four packages of tuna and 12 packages of mahi-mahi, all of which had begun thawing while still in commercially processed reduced oxygen packaging. That’s the packaging that has a “label indicating that it is to remain frozen until time of use.” Stop Sales on all.
Instead of bathing in sanitizing solution, “multiple” wet wiping cloths not being used sat “on preparation tables throughout the kitchen area.”
Someone with a beard didn’t have a “beard guard/restraint while engaging in food preparation.”
An employee donned gloves without washing hands first.
“Employee switched from working with raw food to serving water to customers without washing hands.”
The inspector “observed an employee handling an oyster with bare hands.”
The front line handwash sink went one for three — no soap, no paper towels, but there was water.
Both the oyster cutting board and the white cutting board on the front line were described as being “no longer cleanable” because of cut marks.
Rodbenders passed a same-day re-inspection and another inspection the next day.
Sal’s Italian Ristorante, 5500 S. State Rd. 7, Unincorporated Palm Beach County
Routine inspection, 12 total violations, six High Priority violations
The dead — two roaches expired in front of the front counter soda cooler — got vastly outnumbered by the living.
One roach skulked under a food prep table. Two roaches “running on soda syrup boxes on the soda rack.” Nine roaches “on a clean dish storage rack above the dishwasher.” And, “20 live roaches in the electrical box next to the dishwashing area.”
A “server entered the kitchen from the outside and, without washing hands, prepared to-go salad for a customer.”
A cook “wiped hands on a visibly soiled apron and a cloth used to wipe equipment down. Without washing hands, the cook handled clean and sanitized utensils to prepare a pasta dish.”
Someone dropped a marker onto the floor, picked it up and, without washing hands, handled trays of pasta.”
The walk-in cooler’s inside walls have “accumulated dust debris.”
Stop Sales came down on salmon and snapper that were thawing in reduced oxygen packaging.
This story was originally published December 12, 2025 at 6:55 AM.
