MIAMI, FL. A Miami restaurant with 528 violations across 38 inspections and a prior emergency closure for roaches and rodents was found with six high-severity violations on September 30, 2026, including failures in parasite destruction procedures that put customers at direct risk of infection from fish and pork dishes, and it remained open.
What Inspectors Found
Cerro Negro Restaurant at 9613 W Flagler Street was cited for failing to follow parasite destruction procedures. When fish such as those served in ceviche or sushi-style preparations, or pork, is not properly frozen to required temperatures before serving, parasites including Anisakis and Trichinella can survive and infect anyone who eats the dish.
The restaurant was also cited twice for chemical hazards. Inspectors found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and separately noted toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Two distinct chemical violations in a single inspection means chemicals were near food or improperly contained in more than one area of the kitchen.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and utensils that carry bacteria from one food to the next are among the most direct routes for contamination in a commercial kitchen.
The restaurant was also cited for failing to use time properly as a public health control. When a kitchen chooses to track time rather than temperature to keep food safe, it must follow strict rules about how long food can remain in the danger zone between 41 and 135 degrees. Inspectors found those rules were not being followed.
There was no consumer advisory on the menu for raw or undercooked foods. That notice exists specifically to warn pregnant women, elderly customers, and anyone with a compromised immune system that certain dishes carry elevated risk.
Three intermediate violations rounded out the inspection: single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and equipment in poor repair.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure is the violation most likely to cause direct physical harm to a customer with no warning. Parasites in fish and pork are killed through sustained freezing or thorough cooking. When neither is verified, a customer eating an undercooked or raw preparation at Cerro Negro had no assurance the food was safe, and no consumer advisory on the menu to tell them so.
The two chemical violations compound each other. A mislabeled chemical bottle near food prep is dangerous on its own. A second, separate citation for improper storage or use of toxic substances at the same inspection suggests the problem was not isolated to one shelf or one container. Chemical contamination of food causes acute poisoning, not the kind of illness that takes days to appear.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces create a transfer mechanism for whatever bacteria or contamination enters the kitchen. Combined with equipment in poor repair, which harbors bacteria in cracks and corroded surfaces that cannot be effectively sanitized, the kitchen presented multiple overlapping pathways for contamination on a single day.
The Longer Record
Cerro Negro Restaurant: Recent Inspection Pattern
The September 30 inspection was a follow-up to an inspection the day before, on September 29, when inspectors documented 12 high-severity and 5 intermediate violations, 17 total. The next day's visit found 9 violations, including 6 at the high-severity level. That is not a clean bill of health. That is a kitchen that shed some violations overnight and held onto the most serious ones.
Across 38 inspections, the restaurant has accumulated 528 total violations. High-severity violations appeared in seven of the eight most recent inspections on record, dating back to August 2024. The one inspection without a high-severity finding, in July 2025, was immediately followed by an emergency closure the same month for roach and rodent activity.
The restaurant reopened the day after that closure, on July 22, 2025. By August 2026, it was back to six high-severity violations. By September 29, 2026, it had 12.
Still Open
State inspectors visited Cerro Negro Restaurant on September 30, 2026, documented six high-severity violations including a failure to destroy parasites in fish and pork, two separate chemical hazards, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and no warning to vulnerable customers about raw food risk, and the restaurant continued serving the public.
