FLORIDA. Two restaurants, one in Lake City and one in Homestead, each accumulated 13 high-severity violations during a single inspection the week of July 9, 2026, tying for the worst performance in the state during one of the most alarming seven-day stretches recorded this year.
The Worst of the Week
La Fiesta Tacos and Tequila on West US Highway 90 in Lake City drew the most alarming cluster of violations this week. Inspectors cited the restaurant for having no person in charge present or performing duties, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing by food employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from an unapproved or unknown source, and inadequate shell stock identification records, among 13 high-severity findings total.
That list is notable because almost every violation compounds the others. Without a manager present, there is no one to enforce handwashing. Without a health policy, sick workers have no formal obligation to stay home. Without adequate handwashing infrastructure, the technique violations become inevitable. The food sourcing citation adds a separate layer: product from unapproved sources carries no federal inspection trail.
Mayamex Restaurant on North Krome Avenue in Homestead matched La Fiesta's 13 high-severity count with a different but equally serious mix. Inspectors cited Mayamex for food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition or adulterated, inadequate shell stock identification, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, in addition to management and illness reporting failures.
The parasite destruction citation at Mayamex is particularly specific. Fish served raw or undercooked requires documented freezing at precise temperatures for set time periods to kill parasites including Anisakis. Without records proving that process was followed, there is no way to verify the fish reaching customers was safe.
Rico Chino Asian Cuisine on South Semoran Boulevard in Orlando logged 12 high-severity violations, including food contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, inadequate shell stock records, and failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, alongside the management and illness reporting failures found at several other locations this week.
El Fogon Dreams on Davie Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale also drew 12 high-severity violations. Inspectors found inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition or adulterated, inadequate shell stock identification, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and the same management and illness reporting gaps seen across the week's worst performers.
Southern Pig and Cattle Co II on Southwest Highway 200 in Ocala reached 12 high-severity violations with a set of findings that included food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, food from unapproved sources, inadequate shell stock records, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, improper handwashing technique, and employees not reporting illness symptoms. The undercooked food citation stands out at a barbecue-focused restaurant: Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cilantro Asian Bistro on West State Road 84 in Davie also accumulated 12 high-severity violations. The inspection documented inadequate handwashing by food employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shell stock identification, and failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, on top of management and illness policy failures.
Shois Restaurant on Northwest 112th Avenue in Miami drew 11 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations, the highest intermediate count on the week's list. Inspectors cited the restaurant for inadequate handwashing, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition or adulterated, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and the full cluster of management and illness reporting failures.
Big Crazy Taco on North Krome Avenue in Homestead drew 4 high-severity violations: inadequate handwashing by food employees, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. The consumer advisory citation means customers who are pregnant, elderly, or immunocompromised had no warning that certain menu items carried elevated risk.
Cuba Lives Restaurant on West 12th Avenue in Hialeah was cited for 4 high-severity violations including no employee health policy, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food. Chemical storage violations are among the most immediately dangerous findings in a food service inspection: a mislabeled cleaner stored near food is a direct poisoning risk.
Perkins Restaurant and Bakery at Del Prado Boulevard South in Cape Coral rounded out the list with 3 high-severity violations, including food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and failure to follow required procedures for specialized processes. The specialized process citation typically applies to techniques like smoking, curing, or reduced-oxygen packaging, all of which require documented procedures because they create conditions where pathogens can thrive if controls fail.
What These Violations Mean
The single most repeated pattern this week was the combination of no person in charge, no employee health policy, and employees not reporting illness symptoms. Seven of the ten facilities on this list were cited for at least two of those three violations. That cluster matters because it describes a workplace where a sick employee has no written obligation to disclose symptoms, no manager present to notice the problem, and no enforcement mechanism to send the worker home.
Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads through exactly that gap. An infected food handler who does not report symptoms and is not sent home can contaminate food for every customer served during a shift.
The shellfish traceability violation appeared at La Fiesta Tacos and Tequila, Mayamex Restaurant, Rico Chino Asian Cuisine, El Fogon Dreams, Southern Pig and Cattle Co II, and Cilantro Asian Bistro. Six of ten facilities on this list could not demonstrate complete records linking their shellfish to a licensed harvester and harvest date. Oysters, clams, and mussels are filter feeders that concentrate pathogens including Vibrio and norovirus from surrounding water. If a customer becomes ill after eating shellfish and the restaurant cannot produce the tag, there is no way to identify the harvest location, pull the product, or alert other buyers from the same lot.
The parasite destruction failures at Mayamex, Rico Chino, Southern Pig and Cattle Co II, and Cilantro Asian Bistro represent a separate, documentable risk. Serving fish intended for raw or undercooked preparation without verified freezing logs means parasites may not have been killed before the food reached the table.
Cuba Lives Restaurant's toxic chemical storage violation sits in a different category from the others on this list. Most of the week's violations describe conditions where contamination is possible over time. Chemicals stored improperly near food can cause acute poisoning in a single meal.
The Longer Record
Several facilities on this week's list carry inspection histories that add context to what inspectors found. La Fiesta Tacos and Tequila in Lake City holds state license number SEA2200589, a designation that places it among established permit holders with a multi-year inspection record in the system. Accumulating 13 high-severity violations in a single visit at a location with a documented prior history is a different finding than the same count at a newly opened restaurant.
Mayamex Restaurant and Big Crazy Taco are both located in Homestead and both appeared on this week's list, with Big Crazy Taco also on North Krome Avenue, less than a mile from Mayamex on the same road. Two restaurants within a short stretch of the same street drawing high-severity violations in the same week is the kind of geographic concentration that inspectors and public health officials track when looking for systemic problems.
Shois Restaurant in Miami drew the week's highest intermediate violation count, six, alongside its 11 high-severity findings. Intermediate violations typically involve food handler knowledge, equipment maintenance, and record-keeping. A high count in both categories at the same facility suggests the problems documented are not isolated to one area of operations.
Perkins Restaurant and Bakery in Cape Coral is a chain location, which makes its specialized process citation worth noting. Chain restaurants operate under corporate food safety programs that include documented procedures for exactly the kind of specialized cooking methods flagged in this inspection. Finding that required procedures were not followed at a chain location raises the question of whether the corporate protocols are reaching the kitchen.
The Pattern Across the Week
Ten facilities. Eighty-six combined high-severity violations in seven days. The dominant theme is not pests, not temperatures, not equipment failure. It is management absence and illness policy collapse, documented at seven of the ten worst-scoring restaurants in the state during the same week.
Southern Pig and Cattle Co II in Ocala was the only facility on this list cited for food not reaching required cooking temperatures without also appearing in the management failure cluster, a distinction that makes its undercooked food finding harder to explain away as a one-time lapse.
The week's most unresolved detail belongs to La Fiesta Tacos and Tequila in Lake City: 13 high-severity violations, food from an unapproved source, and no documentation linking its shellfish to a licensed harvest, with no person in charge present when inspectors arrived to find any of it.
