MIAMI, FL. Inspectors who walked into Charlatam Restaurant & Bar at 2525 SW 3 Ave on June 2 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means some of what the kitchen was serving had bypassed every federal safety inspection designed to catch Listeria, Salmonella, and other pathogens before they reach a plate.
That was one of nine high-priority violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The nine high-priority violations, and zero intermediate ones, were documented in a single visit. Every citation was at the most serious level the state assigns.
The handwashing violations came in two forms. Inspectors cited employees for not washing their hands adequately, and separately cited improper technique, meaning that even the handwashing that did occur was not done correctly. Those are two distinct failure points in what is supposed to be the most basic barrier between a kitchen worker and a customer's food.
Inspectors also found shellfish without adequate identification or records. Oysters, clams, and mussels are often consumed raw or lightly cooked, and the tag system that tracks them exists specifically so that if someone gets sick, health officials can identify the harvest source and pull the supply. Without those records, that chain breaks entirely.
Toxic substances were found improperly identified, stored, or used. That citation sits alongside the food-quality violation, which documented food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated. The time-as-public-health-control violation means food was being held outside safe temperature ranges without the documented time tracking required to make that practice legal.
What These Violations Mean
The unapproved food source violation is the one that reaches furthest. When a restaurant purchases food outside licensed and inspected suppliers, there is no federal or state record of where that food came from, how it was handled, or whether it passed any safety threshold. If a customer gets sick, investigators cannot trace the ingredient back to a farm, a processor, or a distributor. The traceability system that exists to stop an outbreak from spreading simply does not function.
The illness-reporting violation is different in character but equally direct. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads through food handlers who are symptomatic and working. A kitchen where employees are not required to report symptoms is a kitchen where that transmission route goes unmanaged.
The two handwashing violations compound each other. Inadequate handwashing and improper technique, cited separately, suggest that the problem is not one worker cutting a corner on one shift. It points to a systemic failure in how the kitchen operates.
Improperly stored toxic substances in a food-service environment carry immediate risk. Cleaning chemicals stored near or above food, or mislabeled containers used during food prep, can result in chemical contamination of food that a customer would have no way to detect by sight, smell, or taste.
The Longer Record
Charlatam Restaurant & Bar: Inspection History
The June 2 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Charlatam has accumulated 158 total violations across 21 inspections, and has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern of high-priority violations stretches back years. The September 2022 inspection produced 12 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations, the worst single visit in the facility's recorded history. The restaurant was not closed then either. In 2024 alone, inspectors found high-priority violations on three separate visits, in February, May, and November.
The March 2026 inspection, just three months before the June visit, found 4 high and 3 intermediate violations. The June inspection that followed it was worse, not better.
The facility has no prior emergency closures on record across those 21 inspections. The June 2 visit, with its nine high-priority citations covering food sourcing, illness reporting, handwashing, shellfish traceability, surface sanitation, food condition, time controls, and toxic storage, left the restaurant open for service.