A dirty dozen of food service places from South Miami-Dade to Palm Beach County — including a Coconut Grove restaurant and the employee cafeteria at Burger King headquarters — comprise this week’s Sick and Shut Down List.
We remind you that we don’t choose who gets inspected, nor do we do the inspecting. The inspections are done by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation (DBPR) either by routine rotation or customer complaint. To file the latter, visit the DBPR website.
DBPR-inspected restaurants are closed after a failed inspection and have to pass a re-inspection, also called a “callback inspection,” before reopening. Usually, that occurs the following day. If otherwise, it’s noted below.
In alphabetical order…
Blue Anchor, 804 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach
Complaint inspection, 16 total violations, five High Priority violations
Blue Anchor’s 256 rodent droppings put it on the Sick and Shut Down List in February, then would’ve been back for its March 2 inspection had the list not been on vacation that week.
So, this Delray Beach joint completes a 2026 hat trick with only 43 pieces of rodent regularity, 10 of which were in a storage room and 13 of which were under a chest freezer. Another three were under the dishwasher.
Speaking of the dishwasher, the inspector saw an “accumulation of lime scale” inside of it and a complete lack of sanitizer being used by it.
One roach died under the beer taps, and 30 flies played in the air next to the beer taps.
A cook had “no hair restraint while engaging in food preparation.”
The walk-in cooler wall was “soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and a mold-like substance.”
That cooler contained a cottage pie date marked Feb. 8. This inspection was Monday. That’s 36 days or five times as long as the seven-day limit.
Campi Italian Grab & Go, inside The Ray Hotel, 233 NE Second Ave., Delray Beach
Routine inspection, 10 total violations, two High Priority violations
Six roaches were seen “running behind the wall between a column and a walk-in cooler wall.” Loner roaches were under a cookline prep sink and the ice machine.
Raw mushrooms weren’t washed before being used on the cookline.
The front counter handwash sink got used for dish storage. And that sink lacked any way for a hand washer to dry his hands.
Then, there was the cook who “put a hat on, washed his hands in the prep sink without soap, then proceeded to handle clean dishes.”
China Kitchen, 6484 Lake Worth Road, Greenacres
Routine inspection, five total violations, five High Priority violations
Somebody went from washing floors to handling containers of food while skipping the handwashing step.
The inspector estimated 58 flies occupied the establishment. Ten of them landed on a bag of unpeeled onions. A dirty dozen landed on the kitchen door and another 12 landed on sealed sauce containers in dry storage. About 20 were under the three-compartment sink.
It’s a violation to have “raw animal food stored over or with ready-to-eat food in a freezer” when the food products aren’t commercially packaged to prevent cross contamination. In the reach-in freezer, the raw chicken and the french fries were too close.
DiCrespo Steakhouse, 13772 SW 152nd St., South Miami-Dade
Routine inspection, 37 total violations, 12 High Priority violations
DiCrespo Steakhouse, 13772 SW 152nd St., near the Country Walk area of South Miami-Dade. DAVID J. NEAL dneal@miamiherald.com
Earlier this week, we told you about DiCrespo’s abysmal handwashing, bad habits (wiping a clean plate with a dirty cloth) and food that had been around for nobody knew how long.
READ MORE: Roaches crawling on potatoes. Mold on flan. A bad Miami restaurant inspection
During the callback inspection, the inspector saw over 10 roaches had died on the cookline floor and one expired on the prep table. One roach crawled near his dead buddy and three raised a reach-in cooler with food across from the cookline.
Three was the magic inspection number for DiCrespo, which reopened after passing the third inspection.
Georgie’s Alibi Monkey Bar, 2266 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors
Complaint inspection, nine total violations, one High Priority violation
Tuesday, one rodent left a poo piece in the main bar, another left one in the Times Square bar. Maybe they just wanted to mark their territory before the St. Patrick’s Day festivities, unlike their pals that dumped under the dishwasher (three pieces), under the three-compartment sink (two), at a prep station (three) and between a kitchen cooler and wall (two).
The inspector saw an “accumulation of brown-like substances buildup on the can opener holster” and an “accumulation of old food residue buildup on the can opener blade.”
“Food stored on floor.” What? Where? “Various food items stored on the dry storage floor.”
Bags of shrimp thawed in standing water at a prep station instead of a cooler or refrigerator.
“No paper towels or mechanical hand drying device provided” at the cookline handwash sink.
Kay’s Island Grill, 18587 NW 27th Ave., Miami Gardens
Routine inspection, 14 total violations, three High Priority violations
Judging by the roach count, dead and alive, Kay should’ve asked some exterminator about his business.
About 15 roach corpses were found behind a reach-in cooler. Three died inside a reach-in cooler next to the cookline. Six dead roaches were in the kitchen three-compartment sink, which calls into question how often that sink gets properly used. Another six dead roaches dotted kitchen area light shields. Six more died on a hallway floor outside the kitchen.
A trio of roaches scurried in that hall. A dozen living roaches were on wooden spatulas above the aforementioned three-compartment sink. One was in a utensils container above that triple sink. Three were living in an oven. Two were on a rice bag. Another pair were crawling on a kitchen prep table. Six roaches hung out in reach-in cooler gaskets.
There was “water damage throughout the establishment” and “dust accumulation” of the ceiling or ceiling tiles.
Corn in the reach-in freezer was in direct contact with non food-grade bags.
The inspector noted a “food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime,” but not which one.
Wash your hands at the kitchen handwash sink, and good luck finding a way to dry them.
Loretta & The Butcher, 3195 Commodore Plaza, Miami
Routine inspection, 16 total violations, three High Priority violations
Tongs sat on the handwash sink splash guard.
Two dead roaches lay under a cookline convection oven. Three roaches were “coming out of a paper towel dispenser above the cookline handsink.” One roach crawled out of a trash can. One live roach “walked across an open kitchen floor.” Two “crawled out of a wall covering above the kitchen entrance.”
The inspector saw more than 10 roaches living their best lives “behind wooden shelves attached to a wall above the prep table.”
Roach droppings dotted the wall above a kitchen prep counter.
A pot of cooked ground beef sat on the floor under a prep table. Containers of hot marinara sauce and mashed potatoes sat uncovered on a shelf.
The dishwasher sanitizer measured zero parts per million.
No paper towels or blower graced the cookline handwash sink.
“Throughout the kitchen” the walls had a buildup of grease and dust.
When the inspector returned for the callback inspection, there were six dead roaches and seven live roaches.
The second callback inspection got things done.
Origen, 10000 Stirling Road, Cooper City
Routine inspection, 10 total violations, five High Priority violations
This week’s biggest failure by number of inspections failed. DiCrespo had 37 violations, but got things in order (enough) by the third inspection. Origen failed one inspection Tuesday, two on Wednesday and two on Thursday.
Three roaches died in an employee restroom. Two dead roaches went legs up in front of a hallway glass cooler.
A foursome of roaches partied under a cookline cooler.
A Stop Sale landed on duck that came in reduced oxygen packaging, then wasn’t handled properly.
“Employees in kitchen were working with food without hair restraints.”
The dishwasher was working without any sanitizer, which is a no-no.
Whether the chicken or the egg comes first, you need to wash your hands between handling raw chicken and a container of cooked eggs. The manager didn’t.
Inspection No. 2: The cookline remained “soiled with grease.” A cookline cooler was the site of four dead roaches and two live roaches.
Inspection No. 3: Four dead roaches, including one on a storage shelf. The manager killed four roaches, two of which were on the floor in front of the cookline.
Inspection No. 4: One dead roach and three live roaches, each of which the manager killed.
Inspection No. 5: One dead roach and two live roaches, each of which the manager killed.
Osmow’s Mediterranean, in Sawgrass Mills Mall, 12801 W. Sunrise Blvd., Sunrise
Routine inspection, five total violations, one High Priority violation
Mass roach deaths occurred in a storage container on a kitchen shelf (10 roach bodies) and on the shelf itself (eight). They were mourned by three live roaches in a storage container with measuring cups and utensils and three living roaches on the shelf. A roach was in cutting gloves on that shelf, too. One roach made it onto a cart with cooking oil and chicken base
A food-prepping employee wore dangling bracelets. That’s a no-no.
Red Phoenix, 2401 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens
Complaint inspection, seven total violations, four High Priority violations
A rodent or rodents made it to the top of a two-door tall boy cooler in the middle of a kitchen and marked it as his territory with five droppings.
Flies filled the air around the server food expo station, where the food is put up before being taken to diners. About 17 of them were there, on walls and shelves with clean dishes. One fly was landing on clean dishes at the dishwashing area. Three were on cookline shelves. Seven played on soy sauce base sauces in dry storage.
Yet another dishwasher running with sanitizer measuring 0.0 parts per million.
There was no soap at the cookline handwash sink and no paper towels “at multiple handwash sinks.”
Restaurant Brands International, 5707 Blue Lagoon Drive, Miami
Routine inspection, 10 total violations, one High Priority violation
Which is worse? A Burger King, Popeye’s, Firehouse Subs or Tim Horton’s face-planting an inspection? Or the employee cafeteria in the chains’ corporate overlord’s headquarters flunking an inspection?
A fun question to banter after Restaurant Brands International’s employee cafeteria got closed by inspection on Tuesday.
And it was this inspection that brought us this week’s first list appearance of “Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”
It’s unclear if that’s the same ice machine behind which died four roaches. Two dead roaches were under a prep sink next to an oven. Six roaches died in the prep area. Seven expired in the dishwasher area.
As for the living roaches, two were crawling on a prep area wall, two moseyed under an oven and four were by a prep kitchen ice machine.
A case of oil was “on the kitchen floor (in the) Burger King area.”
The floor was “soiled” under kitchen equipment, in the storage area and dishwasher area.
“Soiled” also described the handwash sinks at the front line and in the back area.
The inside of the oven was “heavy soiled.”
Restaurants Brands International had a Wednesday statement:
“The on-site cafeteria, which is operated by a third-party vendor, was temporarily closed. The cafeteria serves employees only and is not open to the public nor does it operate as our restaurant brands. The closure lasted less than 24 hours, and the cafeteria has since resumed normal operations following the approval from the DBPR. We are reassessing our third-party provider in response to this.”
As of Friday morning, the successful Wednesday re-inspection hadn’t posted to the DBPR site.
Also, RBI wanted it noted “there is no prior history of any incidents.”
Most food service places that fail inspection don’t have a prior history of failed inspections. Most food service places don’t fail inspection in the first place.
White Horse Catering, 14440 Pierson Road, Wellington
Routine inspection, nine total violations, four High Priority violations
“Employee using electric bug stunning device not designed to retain insects.” The inspector told a manager to stop using a zap-with-no-trap in the kitchen.
Not that this place didn’t need it. Five flies were landing on kitchen food prep tables. One fly landed on a meat slicer. Four flies landed on one cookline rack and five on another with plastic-wrapped rays of bread and cookies. Seven flies hanging around on elecrical cords coming from the kitchen ceiling. About 12 flies were “on ceiling tiles throughout the kitchen.”
“At the buffet line, multiple food products displayed were not properly protected from contamination from consumers.” The inspector instructed management to put up sneeze guards.
One of the handwash sinks leaked water onto the floor.
Wiping-cloth sanitizer bucket was too weak.
Cooked pasta and cooked broccoli measured 54 degrees and 56 degrees, respectively, after more than 12 hours in a unit that should’ve cooled them to 41 degrees or less. Both got hit with Stop Sales.
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.