MIAMI, FL. Inspectors visiting Cerro Negro Restaurant at 9613 W Flagler St on September 29, 2026 found food from an unapproved or unknown source being used in a restaurant that had no written employee health policy, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no person in charge present or performing duties. The restaurant was not closed.
The inspection produced 12 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate violations, a total of 17 citations in a single visit. State records show the restaurant has accumulated 528 total violations across 38 inspections on record, and was emergency-closed once before, in July 2025, for roach and rodent activity.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation was among the most serious documented. Food from unapproved sources bypasses USDA and FDA safety inspections entirely, meaning there is no chain of custody if a customer gets sick. Inspectors also cited a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, a requirement for restaurants serving raw or undercooked fish, pork, or wild game. Without proper freezing or cooking protocols, parasites including Anisakis and Trichinella can survive and reach a customer's plate.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled, and a second citation noted toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Both violations document chemical contamination risks in a food preparation environment.
The restaurant was also cited for inadequate shell stock identification records. Shellfish, including oysters, clams, and mussels, require tag records that allow health officials to trace a product back to its harvest source if a customer becomes ill. Without those records, that traceability is gone.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms is one of the most direct routes to a multi-victim outbreak. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads readily when sick workers handle food without any policy requiring them to report symptoms or stay home. At Cerro Negro, both the policy and the reporting requirement were absent on the same day.
The improper handwashing technique citation compounds that risk. A worker who attempts to wash their hands but uses incorrect technique can still transfer pathogens to food. That violation, combined with no person in charge present to enforce basic protocols, describes a kitchen with no active supervision and no procedural backstop.
The time-as-public-health-control violation is a specific and serious failure. Some restaurants use time, rather than temperature, to manage food safety in situations where holding equipment is unavailable. When that system is not properly followed, food sits in the bacterial growth range, between 41 and 135 degrees, for longer than is safe, with no temperature monitoring as a check.
Food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized rounds out a set of violations that, taken together, document multiple simultaneous pathways for contamination in a single kitchen on a single day.
The Pattern
The September 29 inspection did not happen in isolation. The day after, on September 30, a follow-up inspection found 6 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations still present. An August 17 inspection had also found 6 high-severity violations. The July 29 inspection before that found 3 high-severity violations.
That is four inspections across roughly two months, none of them clean.
Going back further, a July 21, 2025 inspection triggered the restaurant's one emergency closure on record, for roach and rodent activity. The restaurant reopened the following day after addressing those conditions. The inspection immediately before the closure, on February 12, 2025, had already documented 3 high-severity violations.
The Longer Record
Cerro Negro Restaurant: Recent Inspection History
Across 38 inspections on record, Cerro Negro Restaurant has accumulated 528 total violations. That averages to nearly 14 violations per inspection visit. The September 29 inspection, at 17 total, was above that average.
The prior emergency closure in July 2025 shows the restaurant has crossed the threshold that triggers a shutdown at least once. The conditions that led to that closure, active pest activity, were serious enough to require immediate action. The violations documented in September 2026 did not produce the same result.
Twelve high-severity violations were documented at Cerro Negro Restaurant on September 29, 2026. The restaurant remained open.
