MIAMI, FL. A Homestead restaurant accumulated 13 high-severity violations in a single inspection last week, more than any other South Florida facility inspected between July 9 and July 15, 2026, with inspectors citing unapproved food sources, missing shellfish records, and no procedure in place to destroy parasites in fish or pork.
The Worst of the Week
Mayamex Restaurant on N Krome Avenue in Homestead drew 13 high-severity and 5 intermediate violations. Inspectors cited food in poor condition, food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, no shellfish identification records, and no procedures in place to ensure parasite destruction in fish or pork. There was no person in charge present or performing duties, no written employee health policy, and no employees reporting illness symptoms.
The violations at Mayamex also included food from unapproved or unknown sources, a finding that inspectors flagged alongside the shellfish traceability failure. Both violations appeared in the same inspection.
El Fogon Dreams on Davie Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale was the week's second-worst facility by high-severity count, with 12. Inspectors documented no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, handwashing facility deficiencies, improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition, missing shellfish records, and unclean food contact surfaces.
Cilantro Asian Bistro on West SR 84 in Davie also reached 12 high-severity violations. The inspection documented a complete breakdown in hand hygiene: no adequate handwashing facilities, employees not washing their hands adequately, and employees using improper technique when they did wash. Missing shellfish records and parasite destruction failures were also cited.
Both El Fogon Dreams and Cilantro Asian Bistro are in Broward County, making them the two Broward facilities among the 15 flagged this week. The remaining 13 were in Miami-Dade.
Miami-Dade's Concentration of Risk
Sushi Sake on SW 42nd Street in Miami drew 11 high-severity violations. Inspectors found food from unapproved sources, no employee health policy, no person in charge, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing, improper technique, unclean food contact surfaces, and a failure to properly use time as a public health control. That last citation means food was held in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, without documentation or a proper written procedure.
Poke and Tea on Old Cutler Road in Cutler Bay also reached 11 high-severity violations. The inspection cited food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, no shellfish records, no parasite destruction procedures, improper handwashing technique, and unclean food contact surfaces. No employee health policy was in place and no employees were reporting illness symptoms.
Shois Restaurant on NW 112th Avenue in Miami matched that count with 11 high-severity violations of its own. Inspectors cited food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting symptoms, handwashing failures at multiple levels, and unclean food contact surfaces. The facility also drew 6 intermediate violations, the highest intermediate count of any facility this week.
Happy's Stork Lounge and Rasoi Indian Kitchen on 79th Street Causeway in North Bay Village accumulated 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors noted food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, a finding that raises direct concern about pathogen survival in poultry and other proteins. That facility also had no handwashing facilities, employees not washing their hands, improper technique among those who did, no person in charge, no employee health policy, food from unapproved sources, and missing shellfish records.
Maison Valentine on 15th Street in Miami Beach drew 10 high-severity violations. The facility is in a tourist-heavy corridor, and inspectors cited food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, missing shellfish records, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper technique, no employee health policy, and employees not reporting illness symptoms.
Fiore Caffe on SE 1st Street in downtown Miami reached 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited food not cooked to required minimum temperature, time as a public health control not properly used, parasite destruction failures, missing shellfish records, food in poor condition, handwashing failures, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
D'Lite Bistro and Bakery on Crandon Boulevard in Key Biscayne drew 9 high-severity violations. The island location, which serves a residential and tourist community, was cited for no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper technique, food in poor condition, missing shellfish records, and no parasite destruction procedures.
Bonsai Sushi Bar Restaurant on NW 58th Street in Doral reached 9 high-severity violations. Inspectors flagged food from unapproved sources, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, no employee health policy, no person in charge, handwashing failures, and unclean food contact surfaces.
11 Street Diner on Washington Avenue in Miami Beach also drew 9 high-severity violations. The diner sits on one of the most visited stretches of South Beach and was cited for food from unapproved sources, parasite destruction failures, time as a public health control not properly used, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items, no employee health policy, no person in charge, inadequate handwashing facilities, and improper technique.
Cuba Lives Restaurant on W 12th Avenue in Hialeah drew 4 high-severity violations, including toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, no employee health policy, unclean food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Big Crazy Taco on N Krome Avenue in Homestead, less than half a mile from Mayamex, drew 4 high-severity violations including inadequate handwashing, parasite destruction failures, unclean food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Porto Alegre Brazilian Grill Restaurant on E 8th Avenue in Hialeah drew 1 high-severity violation, for no person in charge, along with intermediate citations for improper sewage or wastewater disposal and inadequate ventilation.
What These Violations Mean
The most repeated high-severity violation this week, appearing at eleven of the fifteen facilities, was the absence of an employee health policy combined with employees not reporting illness symptoms. At Mayamex, El Fogon Dreams, Cilantro Asian Bistro, Sushi Sake, Poke and Tea, Shois Restaurant, and others, inspectors documented both failures simultaneously. When a food worker comes in sick with Norovirus and there is no written policy requiring them to report symptoms or stay home, every plate leaving that kitchen is a potential transmission event. Norovirus is responsible for roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and food workers are a primary vector.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, cited at Mayamex, Sushi Sake, Poke and Tea, Shois Restaurant, Maison Valentine, Happy's Stork Lounge, Bonsai Sushi Bar, and 11 Street Diner, means the supply chain for those ingredients has no regulatory oversight. If someone becomes ill after eating at one of those restaurants, there is no paper trail to trace the ingredient back to its origin. That traceability gap is what turns a single sick customer into an unresolved outbreak.
The shellfish traceability failures documented at Mayamex, El Fogon Dreams, Cilantro Asian Bistro, Poke and Tea, Maison Valentine, Happy's Stork Lounge, Fiore Caffe, D'Lite Bistro, and 11 Street Diner compound that risk. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently consumed raw. Without the required shellfish tags and receiving records, there is no way to identify the harvest location, the harvest date, or the dealer if a contamination event occurs after the fact.
Parasite destruction failures at Mayamex, Big Crazy Taco, Cilantro Asian Bistro, Poke and Tea, Fiore Caffe, D'Lite Bistro, and 11 Street Diner are particularly acute for the sushi and poke concepts in this week's list. Raw fish served without documented freezing protocols can harbor Anisakis, a parasitic roundworm that causes severe abdominal pain and requires endoscopic removal in serious cases.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for the facilities in this week's roundup, which limits the ability to place each facility's current violations in a cumulative context. What the record does show is that several of these locations are operating under inspection numbers that suggest they are not newly licensed establishments. Mayamex, with 13 high-severity violations in a single visit, and El Fogon Dreams, with 12, both carry inspection identifiers that suggest established operating histories, not first-year businesses still learning compliance requirements.
The two Miami Beach locations, Maison Valentine and 11 Street Diner on Washington Avenue, are worth noting separately. Washington Avenue draws millions of visitors annually. A diner on that strip citing food from unapproved sources, parasite destruction failures, and time control failures in the same inspection is not a minor administrative matter. It is a facility serving a high-volume tourist population without the basic traceability or temperature controls that would allow investigators to act quickly if customers became ill.
Bonsai Sushi Bar in Doral and Poke and Tea in Cutler Bay both serve raw fish as their primary product. Both were cited for food from unapproved sources and parasite destruction failures in the same inspection. Neither had a consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, meaning customers eating there last week had no way of knowing the food they were eating carried risks the facility had not mitigated.
Happy's Stork Lounge and Rasoi Indian Kitchen on the 79th Street Causeway was the only facility this week cited for food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, a finding that goes beyond sourcing or paperwork failures into the moment of service itself.
