A look at which restaurants failed inspection
Restaurant workers handling dead roaches and not noticing enough rodent poop to fill a human toilet lowlight this week’s Sick and Shut Down List of South Florida restaurants failing inspection.
Inspections are done by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation. If you have a complaint about a restaurant, file it with the agency.
In alphabetical order:
Angry Moon Cafe, 2401 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens
Routine inspection, 16 total violations, five High Priority violations
The dead roach count was six here, led by four behind the reach-in freezer. A pair of roaches crawled on containers of seasoning. A trio of roaches got together on the wall behind a reach-in freezer. One roach strolled solo under a handwash sink.
One employee wiped his face and, without washing hands, handled utensils that had been cleaned and sanitized. Another employee took cardboard off the floor and didn’t put soap on the hands before using the spatula to pull food off the stove.
Up at the front counter wine bar handwash sink, you could get your hands wet, but you couldn’t get them dry (no paper towels) nor could you wash them (no soap).
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Blue Anchor, 804 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach
Routine inspection, 12 total violations, seven High Priority violations
When “objectionable odors” by the walk-in cooler and in the dry storage room next to the dining area aren’t the worst thing on the inspection, you’re in for a spectacular fail.
Now, let’s talk about the 256 rodent droppings, which are the result of either being ignored by staff for days or a whole bunch of laxative-pounding mice.
About 70 of them were in the kitchen under a shelf, reach-in coolers and cooking equipment. Another 60 pieces of poop were under another shelf, between the wall and a reach-in cooler. About 50 were in the smelly dry storage room next to the dining area.
Under the bar equipment and ice bins, the inspector counted 20 droppings. The floor under the dishwasher and three-compartment sink was decorated with another 20.
A few icky singles: one piece of rodent regularity in a slicer; one in the kitchen food runner window; and one near the kitchen handwash sink faucet.
Rodent rub marks decorated the walls and ceilings. A Stop Sale came down on ground beef in the walk-in cooler that the rodents apparently got into.
With the Pixie & Dixie Family Reunion pooping all over the place, it’s really a problem that the dishwasher’s sanitizing measured zero parts per million.
Standing water in the bottom of a kitchen reach-in cooler doesn’t seem so bad after all of that.
Sixteen flies were counted.
And Stop Sales came down on all the following food for temperature abuse for not being kept at or under 41 degrees despite being in the reach-in cooler: mushrooms, sautéed onion, blue cheese, coleslaw, potato balls, beans, shredded cheese, sausage, chicken, chicken wings, fish, roast beef, and pasta.
Blue Anchor stayed closed for a week, then went through re-inspection on Tuesday. Flies and 32 rodent droppings kept the anchor down.
Wednesday was a repeat, with flies and rodent poop ruining the callback inspection.
As of Thursday afternoon, there wasn’t a successful re-inspection posted online.
Bojo’s Seafood Kitchen, 731 Dr. MLK Jr. Blvd., Pompano Beach
Routine inspection, 11 total violations, two High Priority violations
Five live roaches were crawling on the wall inside of the walk-in freezer.
There was “standing water on the floor in front of the ice machine and the three-compartment sink.”
Bojo’s didn’t have a probe thermometer for measuring food temperatures.
Brunia’s Caribbean Take Out Restaurant, 3630 N. State Rd. 7, Lauderdale Lakes
Routine inspection, 16 total violations, four High Priority violations
Four roach corpses, two of which were seen inside a kitchen oven. Of the 10 living roaches, six were “crawling on pieces of wood to the left side of stove.” Another two were crawling behind a prep table.
The kitchen had standing water behind the reach-in coolers.
Also in the kitchen, a “bucket of frozen seasoning was stored uncovered.”
Despite being in a cooler overnight, cooked rice measured 58 degrees and cooked beans measured 60 degrees when they needed to be at or under 41 degrees. Stop Sale and Stop Sale.
Also getting a Stop Sale was bottled juice in the front beverage cooler that lacked proper labeling.
No soap, paper towels or blower were at the handwash sink next to the three-compartment sink.
Island Grill, 5096 Forest Hill Blvd., West Palm Beach
Routine inspection, three total violations, two High Priority violations
One roach died in a cabinet and another on a kitchen shelf.
Inside a walk-in freezer, about 20 live roaches congregated.
An “employee touched a dead roach while rubbing/smashing it with his fingers, then touched food storage containers, clean utensils and clean equipment used to prepare food.”
Mickey’s Downtown Bistro, 4331 N. Ocean Dr., Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
Routine inspection, nine total violations, five High Priority violations
The ice cream in a cookline freezer wasn’t covered.
“Clean utensils” — in this case knives — “were stored between pieces of equipment” (flip top coolers).
Cookline cutting boards had “h cut marks and are no longer cleanable.”
“Cook entered the cookline, put on gloves and began working with ready to eat food without first washing hands.”
And there were about 106 rodent droppings — about 50 in a “storage room open to the kitchen,” about 30 along a wall, 20 on a cart with cleaning supplies and six on a shelf with paper towels and toilet paper.
This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 5:05 PM.
Miami Herald
Since 1989, David J. Neal’s domain at the Miami Herald has expanded to include writing about Panthers (NHL and FIU), Dolphins, old school animation, food safety, fraud, naughty lawyers, bad doctors and all manner of breaking news. He drinks coladas whole. He does not work Indianapolis 500 Race Day.