9 South Florida restaurant inspection failures include 3 in Dadeland Mall
Roach violations in mall food courts dominate this week’s list of South Florida restaurants closed by state inspection.
Four of the nine Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach restaurants on the Sick and Shut Down List live in an indoor mall, three of them in one corner of one mall.
We don’t do the inspections, decide who gets inspected or how strictly they get inspected. That’s all the job of the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation, with whom you can file a complaint against a restaurant.
In alphabetical order:
Arepasmania, Sawgrass Mills Mall, 12801 W. Sunrise Blvd., Sunrise
Routine inspection, 10 total violations, 3 High Priority violations.
“Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine.”
“Employee washed hands while still wearing gloves, then continued working with cooked foods.”
And there was no soap at the kitchen handwash sink.
Five roaches moseyed up the wall next to that sink. Under the sink, there was a bin with cans of corn, cans of chickpeas and 20 live roaches. Another 20 living roaches were under a case of black beans.
READ MORE: This popular restaurant and bar from Canada is now open in downtown Miami
Burger King, 7955 W. Flagler St., West Miami-Dade
Routine inspection, eight total violations, zero High Priority violations
What’s up? Well, “ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance.”
What’s on the floor? “Wastewater overflowing from the floor drain located near the ice machine and the three-compartment sink. The overflow occurred during use of the three-compartment sink, resulting in wastewater discharging onto the floor while employees were washing and sanitizing kitchen utensils.”
Other plumbing problems included “standing water in the floor drain, near the ice machine during the restaurant operation” and water draining so slowly in the three-compartment sink as to be standing water.
Don Jediondo, Dadeland Mall food court, 7535 North Kendall Dr., Kendall
Complaint inspection, 13 total violations, two High Priority violations
The first, alphabetically, of our three Dadeland Mall food court residents had 12 dead roaches, two of which were under a prep table and one on the wall above a kitchen handwash sink.
Of the 15 live roaches, six moved alone. One crawled on a Tupperware container, another on a dish drying rack, both above the mop sink. One roach came out to the front counter and was “climbing above the reach-in cooler and chest freezer.” The other nine roaches were behind posters over the kitchen handwash sink.
Plates and containers were on “soiled shelves above the steam table.”
The hood system and the gaskets in “multiple coolers” counted as “non-food contact surfaces soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust.”
The kitchen wall and the ceiling tiles/vents were “soiled with accumulated food debris, grease or dust.”
Guaca-Mole, Dadeland Mall food court, 7535 North Kendall Dr., Kendall
Routine inspection, 15 total violations, three High Priority violations
We told you about this Dadeland Mall place earlier this week, and the flies, roach excrement and cleanliness issues that made it the second Guaca-Mole location in a Miami-Dade mall food court to fail inspection in two weeks.
READ MORE: Roach poop and a chain’s second Miami food court inspection failure in 2 weeks
Pei Wei Asian Express, Dadeland Mall food court, 7535 North Kendall Dr., Kendall
Routine inspection, 13 total violations, two High Priority violations
Completing the hat trick on this southwest segment in the Dadeland Mall food court, Pei Wei had similar cleanliness shortcomings, such as a kitchen wall “soiled with accumulated grease, food debris and/or dust,” a “heavily soiled” area under the cookline and a kitchen ceiling “soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance.”
Of the five dead roaches, one was “on the floor at the front counter.” Two of the six living roaches were on kitchen walls.
The steamer leaked onto a kitchen table.
Pulcinella Pizza & Pasta, 13035 SW 112th St., South Miami-Dade
Routine inspection, 12 total violations, five High Priority violations
Back in the dry storage area, the inspector saw “pesticide/insecticide labeled for household use only present.”
There were 10 roach corpses dotting the floor back there. Another 10 were behind a reach-in freezer. Three were inside a reach-in cooler. Five died at the mixer area in the kitchen. Six met their end behind the front counter.
The inspector counted 20 live roaches, six of them promenading on the kitchen floor, four playing inside the triple sink, five behind the triple sink and five behind cooking equipment.
Twenty roach droppings were on the soap dispenser at the kitchen area three-compartment sink. And there was no soap at the kitchen handwash sink.
Commercially processed reduced-oxygen packaged fish should be kept frozen until ready to use. The label states any thawing must be done out of the packaging to avoid the breeding of bad bacteria. But the restaurant thawed the fish in the packaging — so the inspector hit three pieces of salmon with Stop Sales.
Five live roaches and 18 dead roaches ruined the re-inspection.
Pulcinella got it together on the second re-inspection.
Subaba Subs, 4806 SW 28th Ter., Dania Beach
Routine inspection, six total violations, three High Priority violations
The roaches dominated here, specifically the 86 dead ones. Twenty were under the kitchen reach-in cooler, 10 under a prep area reach-in cooler and 20 under kitchen flip-top coolers. If you went to the restroom, you might have seen six roach bodies on the way and three once you were inside. One dead roach was on a soap dispenser.
Three live roaches were spotted. Also, a “buildup of roach droppings inside the gaskets at the door hinges of a three-door flip top cooler and a two-door flip top cooler” on the kitchen front line.
Tacos Y Antojitos Emanuel, food truck, Unincorporated Palm Beach
Routine inspection, four total violations, three High Priority violations
Inside the truck, 20 roaches were “crawling on storage shelves, walls ... and behind food preparation areas, under and behind equipment.”
After handling a customer’s payment, an employee put on gloves and engaged in food prep without washing hands.
“Spray bottle containing toxic substance (cleaning chemicals) wasn’t labeled.”
Wally House of Flavors Pancakes, 4711 NW 14th St., Lauderhill
Routine inspection, 12 total violations, three High Priority violations
The inspector saw that the cook “licked her hands with gloves on and handled clean equipment without washing hands and changing gloves.”
To be fair, there was “no employee washing hands due to no water throughout establishment.”
Besides no water, the kitchen handwash sink had no soap, and no paper towels or a blower for drying hands.
This story was originally published February 13, 2026 at 10:39 AM.
