MIAMI, FL. Las Tejas Restaurant on SW 26th Street drew 15 high-severity violations in a single inspection visit last week, the highest count among 15 South Florida restaurants flagged for three or more serious citations during the week of September 17 through September 23, 2026.
The 15 facilities span Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Twelve of them are in Miami-Dade alone.
The Violations
Las Tejas accumulated violations across nearly every category inspectors track. The restaurant had no person in charge present or performing duties, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, and inadequate shellfish identification records. That is eight distinct high-severity categories in a single visit.
Piccola Pizzeria Pinecrest on S. Dixie Highway drew 13 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited the absence of a person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, inadequate shellfish records, and a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures for fish.
Taqueria y Pupuseria Lupita on W. 12th Avenue in Hialeah logged 12 high-severity violations. The citations included food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper technique, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, and food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
China Lee Restaurant on SW 8th Street was cited for 11 high-severity violations, including food contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards, food from unapproved sources, inadequate shellfish records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and food not cooked to the required minimum temperature.
New York/Roma Pizza and Pasta on SE 2nd Avenue in downtown Miami also drew 11 high-severity violations. Inspectors found employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing, improper technique, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, inadequate shellfish records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and food not cooked to minimum temperature.
Two locations operating under the Rio Grande Churrascaria name appeared in this week's inspection data. Rio Grande Churrascaria on W. 46th Street in Hialeah drew 11 high-severity violations, including no person in charge, no employee health policy, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, inadequate shellfish records, improperly cleaned surfaces, and improper use of time as a public health control.
The second location, Rio Grande Churrascaria on SW 26th Street in Miami, also drew 11 high-severity violations and added 7 intermediate citations, the highest intermediate count in this week's data. That location was cited for no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing, improper technique, food from unapproved sources, inadequate shellfish records, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces.
Mitricolor on SW 152nd Street in Miami was cited for 11 high-severity violations, including failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, food not cooked to minimum temperature, improper use of time as a public health control, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Old Cutler Inn on Old Cutler Road in Miami drew 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors found no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing by food employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, food not cooked to minimum temperature, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Sticky Rice and Sushi on Lake Worth Road in Greenacres, one of two Palm Beach County facilities in this week's data, drew 10 high-severity violations. The citations included food from unapproved sources, inadequate shellfish records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, food not cooked to minimum temperature, improper use of time as a public health control, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine on NW 53rd Street in Doral was cited for 8 high-severity violations, including toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used, food not cooked to minimum temperature, improper use of time as a public health control, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Chow Time Grill and Buffet on W. Commercial Boulevard in Tamarac is the sole Broward County facility in this week's data. Inspectors found 4 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate violations, including toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
Pacifico on W. 29th Street in Hialeah drew 6 high-severity violations, including toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and inadequate cooling equipment.
Sushi Sake on SW 42nd Street in Miami drew 3 high-severity violations, including improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no allergen awareness demonstrated.
Sushi Kyu on Yamato Road in Boca Raton, the second Palm Beach County location, drew 2 high-severity violations: improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
What These Violations Mean
The most widespread violation category this week was the absence of an employee health policy, cited at Las Tejas, Piccola Pizzeria Pinecrest, Taqueria y Pupuseria Lupita, Rio Grande Churrascaria in Hialeah, Rio Grande Churrascaria in Miami, Mitricolor, Old Cutler Inn, Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine, and Pacifico. Without a written policy, there is no mechanism to keep a sick worker out of the kitchen. Norovirus, which causes the majority of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads through exactly this gap.
Food from unapproved sources was cited at Las Tejas, Piccola Pizzeria Pinecrest, Taqueria y Pupuseria Lupita, China Lee Restaurant, New York/Roma Pizza and Pasta, Rio Grande Churrascaria in Hialeah, Rio Grande Churrascaria in Miami, and Sticky Rice and Sushi. The problem is traceability. When a restaurant buys food outside the licensed supply chain, there is no inspection record for that product. If a customer gets sick, investigators cannot trace the ingredient back to its origin or determine how many other restaurants received the same contaminated batch.
Failure to follow parasite destruction procedures appeared at Piccola Pizzeria Pinecrest, Taqueria y Pupuseria Lupita, Mitricolor, and Old Cutler Inn. Fish served raw or undercooked, including sushi and ceviche, must be frozen to specific temperatures for specific time periods to kill parasites such as Anisakis. Skipping that step and serving fish that has not met those standards is not a paperwork failure. It is a direct exposure risk.
Toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used was cited at Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine, while toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled appeared at both Chow Time Grill and Buffet and Pacifico. Cleaning chemicals stored near food or mislabeled create the risk of acute poisoning, not gradual illness. A single contamination event from an unlabeled chemical can send customers to an emergency room the same day.
The Longer Record
The two Rio Grande Churrascaria locations present a notable pattern. The Hialeah location carries inspection record number SEA2318462, suggesting a longer operational history, while the SW 26th Street Miami location is catalogued under a different record number entirely. Both drew 11 high-severity violations in the same inspection week, and both were cited for overlapping categories: no person in charge, food from unapproved sources, inadequate shellfish records, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces. Two locations, same brand, same failures, same week.
Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine in Doral drew 8 high-severity violations including toxic substance misuse, a category that does not appear at most facilities in a given week. Its record number, SEA2335316, places it among the newer entries in the Miami-Dade inspection database, meaning it is accumulating serious citations early in its inspection history.
Chow Time Grill and Buffet in Tamarac, the only Broward County facility in this week's data, carries record number SEA1624494, one of the lower numbers in the dataset and consistent with a longer operational history in the county. Its intermediate violation count this week included improper sewage or wastewater disposal, a citation that points to infrastructure-level problems rather than procedural ones.
Sticky Rice and Sushi in Greenacres drew 10 high-severity violations despite being one of only two Palm Beach County facilities flagged this week. Its citations included food from unapproved sources and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, the latter a recurring gap at sushi-format restaurants across all three counties this week. Sushi Kyu in Boca Raton drew the same consumer advisory violation alongside improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and Sushi Sake in Miami drew it as well, alongside a finding that no allergen awareness was demonstrated by staff.
