SURFSIDE, FL. State inspectors visiting Cine Citta Caffe at 9544 Harding Ave on June 11 found food coming from unapproved or unknown sources, a violation that means the cafe was serving customers food with no traceable inspection history, no verified safety certification, and no way to identify its origin if someone got sick.
The cafe was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The June 11 inspection produced six high-severity violations and three intermediate ones. Beyond the unapproved food sourcing, inspectors cited toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized.
Inspectors also found inadequate handwashing facilities, meaning the physical infrastructure for basic hand hygiene was compromised. The cafe had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods.
On the intermediate level, multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned, ventilation and lighting were inadequate, and waste disposal was improper.
What These Violations Mean
Food from an unapproved or unknown source is among the most serious categories in Florida's inspection framework because it severs the chain of accountability entirely. If a customer were sickened by a product carrying Listeria or Salmonella, investigators would have no supplier records to trace, no lot numbers to pull, and no way to determine whether other customers were exposed to the same batch.
The undercooking violation compounds that risk directly. Salmonella in poultry requires an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be killed. When food arrives from an unverified source and is then not cooked to the required temperature, the two violations stack into a single, unbroken pathway from contaminated ingredient to customer plate.
Toxic chemicals stored near or improperly labeled around food represent a different category of danger entirely. A mislabeled container or a chemical stored above a prep surface can cause acute poisoning with no warning, and the symptoms can be misread as foodborne illness until a pattern emerges. At Cine Citta Caffe, that violation appeared alongside improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, meaning bacteria transferred from a cutting board or prep surface to a dish would face no chemical barrier on the way out.
The absent consumer advisory matters most to the most vulnerable diners. Elderly customers, pregnant women, and anyone with a compromised immune system rely on that posted notice to make an informed choice about raw or undercooked items. Without it, they have no way to know the risk they are accepting.
The Longer Record
The June 11 inspection was not an aberration. State records show Cine Citta Caffe has been inspected 24 times, accumulating 258 total violations across its history, with zero emergency closures ever ordered.
The pattern in the inspection data is consistent and sustained. The cafe drew five high-severity violations in February 2024, five more in May 2024, five again in October 2024, six in January 2025, and seven in October 2025. The June 2026 inspection, at six high-severity violations, fits squarely into that range.
Going back further, the cafe logged seven high-severity violations in January 2023, four in January 2022, and one in October 2021. The trajectory is not a facility that struggled briefly and corrected course. It is a facility that has posted five or more high-severity violations in eight of its most recent inspections.
Cine Citta Caffe: High-Severity Violations Over Time
Open for Business
State law gives inspectors the authority to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. The threshold includes factors like pest activity, sewage issues, and the absence of safe food sources.
Inspectors visited Cine Citta Caffe on June 11, documented six high-severity violations including food from an unverifiable source and undercooking, and left the cafe open.
Customers who ate there that day had no way of knowing any of it.