NORTH MIAMI, FL. Inspectors walked into Caribbean Breeze Grill and Restaurant on NW 7th Avenue on September 30 and found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized, and employees not washing their hands correctly. By the end of the visit, the restaurant had accumulated seven high-severity violations and one intermediate violation. The state did not close it.
What Inspectors Found
The chemical violations are among the most immediately dangerous findings in the inspection record. Inspectors cited the restaurant twice for chemical-related issues: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Both citations point to cleaning agents or other hazardous materials kept in proximity to food or without adequate labeling, a condition that can result in direct chemical contamination of a meal.
The food temperature violation compounds the risk. Undercooking poultry, for instance, allows Salmonella to survive. The consumer advisory violation means customers ordering raw or undercooked items had no notice that their food carried that risk.
Inspectors also found food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, and food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. The intermediate violation, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, rounds out a picture of a kitchen where basic sanitation protocols had broken down across multiple stations and practices simultaneously.
What These Violations Mean
The chemical storage violations are not paperwork issues. When cleaning agents or pesticides are stored near food preparation areas without proper labeling, the margin between a normal meal and a poisoned one narrows to a misread bottle or a single spill. Acute chemical poisoning from contaminated food can cause symptoms within minutes and, depending on the substance, can require emergency medical treatment.
The handwashing violation is the mechanism through which most other contamination spreads. Hands that have touched raw protein, garbage, or a contaminated surface carry bacteria directly onto food, utensils, and the next surface touched. In a kitchen already cited for unclean food contact surfaces and improperly cleaned utensils, the failure to wash hands properly removes the last reliable barrier between bacterial contamination and a customer's plate.
The temperature violation at Caribbean Breeze is particularly pointed given what the restaurant serves. Caribbean cooking frequently centers on poultry dishes. Salmonella in chicken survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. A customer who ordered a cooked chicken dish on September 30 had no way of knowing whether that threshold had been met.
The food-in-poor-condition violation adds a separate layer of concern. Spoiled or adulterated food served to customers can cause foodborne illness independent of any temperature or handling failure. Combined with the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items, customers at this restaurant on that date were making choices without the information the state requires them to have.
The Longer Record
Caribbean Breeze Grill: Inspection History
The September 30 inspection is not a departure from the restaurant's history. It is a continuation of it. State records show 29 inspections on file for Caribbean Breeze Grill, with 231 total violations accumulated across those visits.
The restaurant has been emergency-closed twice. The first closure came in January 2016 for rodent activity. The second came in September 2024 for roach activity, and the restaurant was back open the following day. The inspection conducted the day after that roach closure still produced three high-severity violations.
The inspection from October 2023 is a direct parallel to the most recent visit: seven high-severity violations and one intermediate, the same counts logged on September 30, 2026. In the three years between those two inspections, the restaurant was cited for high-severity violations on every single inspection in the record.
Six of the eight inspections documented since October 2023 produced at least three high-severity violations. The March 2026 inspection found four high-severity violations. The October 2025 inspection found five high-severity and five intermediate violations.
On September 30, 2026, after 29 inspections, 231 total violations, two emergency closures, and a kitchen where toxic chemicals were improperly stored alongside food that had not been cooked to safe temperatures, Caribbean Breeze Grill and Restaurant remained open for business.
