FLORIDA. A North Miami Beach restaurant drew five separate state inspections between June 16 and July 10, accumulating six high-severity violations that touched nearly every critical category inspectors track: handwashing, cooking temperatures, surface sanitation, chemical storage, consumer disclosures, and specialized food processes.
Nick Caribbean Restaurant at 14530 W Dixie Hwy logged more high-severity violations than any other facility in this 90-day review of Florida restaurants with three or more inspections. No other restaurant in the dataset came close.
What Inspectors Found at Nick Caribbean
The six high-severity violations documented at Nick Caribbean span failures that inspectors treat as the most direct pathways to foodborne illness. Inadequate handwashing by food employees was cited. Food contact surfaces were found not properly cleaned or sanitized. Food was documented as not cooked to the required minimum temperature.
Three additional high-severity citations rounded out the record: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, and required procedures for specialized food processes not followed. That last category covers techniques like smoking, curing, fermenting, and reduced-oxygen packaging, processes that require precise controls because they create conditions where pathogens can thrive if steps are missed.
Calls to Nick Caribbean Restaurant were not returned before publication.
The Other Repeat Inspections
Nick Caribbean drew the most scrutiny and the most serious findings, but it was not the only Florida restaurant to draw repeated inspector attention in this period.
Florentino's Italian Cuisine at 2571 SE Ocean Blvd in Stuart was inspected five times between June 22 and June 26, a five-visit stretch compressed into just four days. One high-severity violation was documented: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled. An intermediate violation for inadequate ventilation and lighting was also cited.
KFC #L518064 at 9551 Regency Square Blvd N in Jacksonville drew four inspections between July 14 and July 16, also a compressed window. A single high-severity violation, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, appeared in the record.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen #119 at 116 W Merritt Island Causeway was inspected four times between June 26 and July 8 and received one intermediate citation: single-use items improperly reused. No high-severity violations were documented.
Several other facilities logged multiple inspections with no violations recorded. Dim Sum House at 2440 E Hwy 50 in Clermont was visited seven times between June 26 and July 10, the highest inspection count in the entire dataset, with zero high-severity or intermediate violations across all seven visits. Mom's OG at 1017 W University Ave in Gainesville was inspected six times in eight days and also came through without a high-severity or intermediate citation.
Jimmy John's #1127 at 1410 66th St N in St. Petersburg had six inspections between July 7 and July 10, all clean. China Buffet at 1245 E Fowler Ave in Tampa drew five inspections between June 26 and July 16 with no high-severity or intermediate violations.
Bob Evans Restaurant #420 at 3163 Hartley Rd in Jacksonville, Red Bud Cafe at 317 Seabreeze Blvd in Daytona Beach, Latin Flavors Bar and Grill at 13769 N US Hwy 441 in Lady Lake, and Noodles N Boba at 1975 Wells Rd in Orange Park each logged four inspections in the period with no high-severity or intermediate violations.
What These Violations Mean
The high-severity violations at Nick Caribbean represent the categories state inspectors flag as most likely to result in a customer getting sick. Inadequate handwashing is, according to state health records, the single most significant factor in spreading foodborne illness, because hands are a direct transfer route from employee to food to customer. Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces compound that risk: cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that carry bacteria from one food preparation task to the next.
Undercooking is a separate and specific danger. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. A kitchen that does not consistently reach required minimum temperatures is one where that margin disappears. The absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods removes the last line of protection for customers who are pregnant, elderly, immunocompromised, or otherwise at higher risk.
The chemical storage violation documented at Nick Caribbean, Florentino's, and the Jacksonville KFC carries a different kind of risk: acute poisoning. Cleaning chemicals stored near or above food preparation surfaces, or in unlabeled containers, can contaminate food directly. This violation appeared across three separate facilities in three different parts of the state during the same 90-day window.
Inadequate ventilation, cited at Florentino's, allows grease-laden vapors and combustion byproducts to accumulate in kitchen air. It is categorized as intermediate rather than high-severity, but it compounds other risks in an environment where chemical fumes or smoke are already present.
The Longer Record
The number of inspections a facility draws in a 90-day window is itself a data point. Routine inspections in Florida are not daily events. A restaurant that draws five visits in the span of a week, as Nick Caribbean did, is drawing follow-up inspections, not routine ones. Five inspections in 24 days, from June 16 to July 10, and six high-severity violations still on the record at the end of that stretch, describes a pattern of documentation without resolution.
Florentino's in Stuart presents a compressed version of the same pattern: five inspections in four days, June 22 to June 26, with a chemical storage violation and a ventilation citation. The density of the inspection timeline suggests inspectors were returning specifically to verify correction.
The KFC on Regency Square in Jacksonville drew four inspections in two days, July 14 and July 16, with a chemical storage violation documented. Four visits in 48 hours is not a routine schedule.
Dim Sum House in Clermont drew seven inspections across 14 days and came through all seven with no violations. So did Mom's OG in Gainesville across six inspections in eight days, and Jimmy John's in St. Petersburg across six inspections in three days. The inspection volume at those facilities demonstrates that a high inspection count does not automatically produce a high violation count. Some kitchens are visited repeatedly and pass repeatedly.
Nick Caribbean Restaurant had been inspected five times in 24 days as of July 10. The six high-severity violations in its record remained unresolved in the data available for this report.
