MIAMI, FL. Food that was not cooked to the required minimum temperature. Toxic chemicals stored near or improperly labeled around food. Shellfish with no traceability records. State inspectors cited Antigua Guatemala on W Flagler Street for seven high-severity violations on August 4, 2026, and the restaurant remained open.
The facility at 2741 W Flagler St has accumulated 402 total violations across 31 inspections on record. It has been emergency-closed once before. None of that history prevented it from continuing to serve customers after last week's inspection.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking violation is the one that most directly put customers at risk. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Inspectors documented that food was not reaching the temperatures required to kill those pathogens before it was served.
The chemical storage violation compounded the danger. Toxic chemicals found improperly stored or labeled near food create a direct contamination pathway. A mislabeled chemical container in a working kitchen is not a paperwork problem. It is a poisoning risk.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock identification records. Shellfish, including oysters, clams, and mussels, are high-risk foods. When the records that trace their origin are missing or incomplete, there is no way to identify the source if a customer becomes ill.
Two separate handwashing violations were cited: employees not washing hands adequately, and employees using improper technique when they did wash. Both were flagged as high severity on the same inspection.
The time-as-public-health-control violation adds another layer. When temperature control is replaced by a time-based system, food is permitted to sit in the bacterial growth range, between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit, for a defined window. Inspectors found that system was not being followed correctly, meaning food may have been held beyond safe limits with no temperature backup.
What These Violations Mean
Undercooking is among the most direct causes of foodborne illness. When poultry or other proteins do not reach required internal temperatures, pathogens that would otherwise be destroyed survive and are served to customers. There is no visible sign that food is undercooked to a dangerous degree. A customer eating at Antigua Guatemala on August 4 had no way to know.
The handwashing citations at this inspection are notable because there were two of them, covering both frequency and technique. Hands are the primary vehicle for transferring pathogens from surfaces, raw proteins, and contaminated areas to food that is ready to eat. An employee who washes hands but uses incorrect technique, not scrubbing long enough or not reaching all surfaces, can carry the same contamination load as one who skips handwashing entirely.
Mislabeled or adulterated food, combined with missing shellfish traceability records, means inspectors found food they could not verify as safe and shellfish they could not trace to a certified source. If a customer had become ill from shellfish served that day, investigators would have had no starting point for a trace-back.
Inadequate cooling equipment is the condition that makes temperature violations worse over time. If the equipment cannot hold food at or below 41 degrees, every food item stored in that unit is at risk, not just the ones inspectors happened to measure.
The Longer Record
Antigua Guatemala: Recent Inspection History
August's inspection was not an anomaly. The December 2025 inspection produced nine high-severity violations and two intermediate ones, the highest single-visit count in the recent record. The March 2024 and September 2024 inspections each produced eight high-severity violations. The facility has recorded four or more high-severity violations in six of its last seven inspections.
Across 31 inspections on record, the restaurant has accumulated 402 total violations. That averages to roughly 13 violations per inspection over its full history. The most recent run of inspections has stayed well above that average.
The one prior emergency closure came in March 2023, for roach and fly activity. The restaurant was back open the next day. In the inspections that followed, the high-severity violation counts climbed, not fell.
On August 4, 2026, inspectors documented undercooked food, missing shellfish records, improperly stored chemicals, two separate handwashing failures, and inadequate cooling equipment. Antigua Guatemala on W Flagler Street was not closed.
