FLORIDA. The worst restaurant inspection in Florida during the week of July 8 through July 14, 2026 was recorded at a Homestead eatery that accumulated 13 high-severity violations in a single visit, a tally that included food sourced from unapproved suppliers, no employee illness reporting policy, and failures in parasite destruction procedures for fish.
The Week's Worst
Mayamex Restaurant at 886-892 N Krome Ave in Homestead drew the highest single-week high-severity count in the state, with 13 citations. Inspectors documented that the person in charge was either absent or not performing required duties, that the facility had no written employee health policy, that employees were not reporting illness symptoms, and that food was being sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers. Shellfish on hand lacked required identification records, parasite destruction procedures for fish were not followed, and food contact surfaces had not been properly cleaned or sanitized.
The food in poor condition citation at Mayamex was compounded by the sourcing violation. When food arrives from an unapproved supplier and is also documented as adulterated or mislabeled, there is no paper trail to trace back if a customer becomes ill.
Emperors Gentlemen's Club at 4923 University Blvd W in Jacksonville recorded 12 high-severity violations. The inspection found the person in charge absent, no employee health policy, no illness symptom reporting, and three separate handwashing failures: inadequate handwashing by employees, inadequate handwashing facilities at the location itself, and improper hand and arm washing technique. Shellfish traceability records were also absent, and food contact surfaces were not properly sanitized.
Rico Chino Asian Cuisine at 6125 S Semoran Blvd in Orlando matched that 12-violation count. The Orlando inspection added a finding not seen at most of the other locations this week: food contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards. That citation, alongside unapproved food sourcing, food in poor condition, missing shellfish records, and parasite destruction failures, placed it among the most diverse violation profiles of the week.
Cuba Lives Restaurant at 4590 W 12 Ave in Hialeah also logged 12 high-severity violations. The Hialeah inspection cited absent managerial control, no illness policy, employees not reporting symptoms, inadequate handwashing, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, no shellfish traceability records, and unsanitized food contact surfaces.
Cilantro Asian Bistro at 11590 W SR 84 in Davie reached 12 high-severity violations with only one intermediate citation, the leanest intermediate count among the top five. Inspectors cited absent managerial control, no illness policy, no illness symptom reporting, inadequate handwashing, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper technique, missing shellfish records, and parasite destruction failures.
Shois Restaurant at 10505 NW 112 Ave in Miami drew 11 high-severity violations and the highest intermediate count of the week at six. Inspectors found the person in charge absent, no health policy, employees not reporting symptoms, inadequate handwashing, improper technique, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, and unsanitized food contact surfaces.
Sushi Sake at 14627-14629 SW 42 St in Miami also recorded 11 high-severity violations. The inspection there added a violation specific to raw fish operations: time as a public health control not properly used. When a facility handles raw fish without maintaining temperature, it can substitute time limits as a safety measure, but only if documented correctly. Inspectors found that protocol was not being followed.
Lucky Lobster at 941 Huntley Ave in Dunedin rounded out the 11-violation tier. The Dunedin inspection cited absent managerial control, no illness policy, employees not reporting symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper technique, unapproved food sources, parasite destruction failures, and unsanitized food contact surfaces.
Big Crazy Taco at 436 N Krome Ave in Homestead, just down the road from Mayamex, recorded four high-severity violations. Those included inadequate handwashing, parasite destruction failures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. The consumer advisory violation means customers with compromised immune systems, including elderly diners and pregnant women, had no notice that certain menu items carried elevated risk.
Perkins Restaurant and Bakery 1251 at 1551 Del Prado Blvd S in Cape Coral drew three high-severity violations, the lowest count on this week's list, but included a citation for food not cooked to required minimum temperature, one of the most direct pathogen-survival risks in food service. Inspectors also cited unsanitized food contact surfaces and required procedures for specialized processes not followed.
What These Violations Mean
The cluster of management and illness-policy violations across this week's list is not coincidental. Seven of the ten facilities were cited simultaneously for three interlocking failures: no person in charge performing duties, no written employee health policy, and employees not reporting illness symptoms. Those three violations reinforce each other. When management is absent or disengaged, no one is enforcing the policy. When there is no policy, employees have no documented instruction on when to stay home. The result, according to CDC data cited in the inspection records, is a tripling of critical violations at establishments without active managerial control.
The unapproved food source citations at Mayamex, Rico Chino, Cuba Lives, Shois, Sushi Sake, and Lucky Lobster carry a specific danger that goes beyond the food itself. When a supplier is unknown or unapproved, it has not been inspected by USDA or FDA, meaning there is no traceable chain of custody if a customer becomes ill. Listeria and Salmonella contamination events are only containable when investigators can identify and pull a specific lot from a specific supplier. Without that documentation, an outbreak investigation stalls.
Parasite destruction failures, cited at Mayamex, Big Crazy Taco, Rico Chino, Cilantro Asian Bistro, and Lucky Lobster, are particularly relevant at restaurants serving raw or lightly cooked fish. State and federal rules require fish intended for raw consumption to be frozen to specific temperatures for specific durations to kill parasites including Anisakis, a roundworm found in marine fish that can cause severe abdominal pain and require surgical removal if ingested alive. When that freezing protocol is not followed and not documented, there is no way to verify the fish was ever treated.
The handwashing failures at Emperors, Cuba Lives, Cilantro, Shois, Sushi Sake, and Lucky Lobster span all three levels of the violation: inadequate facilities, inadequate practice, and improper technique. Each is a distinct problem. A facility can have functioning sinks but employees who skip them. A facility can have employees who use the sinks but wash for too short a time or skip the scrubbing required to dislodge pathogens. Inspectors documented all three failure modes this week across multiple locations.
The Pattern
Homestead appeared twice in this week's top ten, with Mayamex and Big Crazy Taco both on N Krome Ave. The two restaurants are within half a mile of each other and share violation categories: unapproved food sourcing, parasite destruction failures, and unsanitized food contact surfaces appear in both inspection reports.
The shellfish traceability citation appeared at six of the ten facilities this week, Mayamex, Emperors, Rico Chino, Cuba Lives, Cilantro, and Shois. Shellfish, including oysters, clams, and mussels, are regulated under a separate federal traceability system precisely because they are frequently consumed raw and are a known vehicle for Vibrio and norovirus. Each tag on a bag of shellfish is required to be retained for 90 days. When those records are missing across six unrelated facilities in a single week, it suggests the requirement is not being enforced at the kitchen level.
Perkins in Cape Coral is the only national chain on this week's list. The undercooking citation there, combined with the specialized process failure, indicates a gap in line-level execution that a corporate training program is designed to prevent.
The Longer Record
The inspection data does not include prior inspection counts for these facilities, so it is not possible from the available records to determine whether this week's findings represent a deterioration from prior visits or a pattern of repeat citations. What the records do show is the severity distribution for each facility in this single inspection cycle.
What is notable is the concentration of maximum-tier violation clusters. Four facilities, Emperors, Rico Chino, Cuba Lives, and Cilantro, each reached 12 high-severity violations, and all four share the same three-violation management cluster at their core. That uniformity across facilities in Jacksonville, Orlando, Hialeah, and Davie suggests the failures are not isolated to a single kitchen or a single owner but reflect a broader gap in how the health policy and managerial control requirements are being communicated, trained, and enforced.
Sushi Sake's citation for improper use of time as a public health control stands as the week's most specific operational failure. A raw fish restaurant that cannot document when fish was pulled from temperature control, and for how long, has no way to demonstrate that the food on the line is safe to serve raw. That record did not exist when inspectors arrived.
