MIAMI, FL. Inspectors who walked into Garage Cafe at 8665 NW 66 St on September 15, 2026, found food being sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning none of it had passed through the federal inspection chain that would allow health officials to trace it if customers got sick.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
Beyond the sourcing problem, inspectors cited employees for inadequate handwashing. Inspectors also found that food was not being cooked to the minimum required temperatures.
The September inspection also flagged inadequate shell stock identification records, meaning shellfish on the menu could not be traced to a certified harvester or approved shipper. It cited food contact surfaces, cutting boards and preparation areas, as not properly cleaned or sanitized. And it found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled somewhere within the facility.
A single intermediate violation, for inadequate ventilation and lighting, rounded out the report.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved sources is among the most serious categories in state inspection records because it removes the one mechanism that exists to protect the public after the fact. If a customer who ate at Garage Cafe became ill with Listeria or Salmonella, investigators would have no way to trace the contaminated ingredient back to its origin, notify other buyers, or identify how many other people were exposed. The federal inspection chain exists precisely for that moment.
The cooking temperature violation compounds that risk directly. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When food is pulled before it reaches the required minimum internal temperature, whatever pathogen arrived in the kitchen, whether from an uninspected supplier or cross-contaminated surfaces, remains viable on the plate.
The shell stock traceability violation adds another layer of exposure. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently consumed raw or lightly cooked, and shellfish are among the highest-risk foods for Vibrio and norovirus. Without proper shell stock tags and records linking each batch to a certified harvest site, there is no way to pull a recalled lot or identify where an outbreak started.
Improper handwashing, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and improperly stored chemicals each represent a separate contamination pathway. Any one of them, alongside undercooked food from an uninspected source served on a surface that was not sanitized, describes a kitchen where multiple failure points converge at once.
The Longer Record
The September 15 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Garage Cafe has been inspected 13 times total, accumulating 95 violations across that history.
The two inspections immediately before September both produced high-severity violation counts in the same range. The July 10, 2026, visit turned up 7 high-severity and 1 intermediate violation. The February 13, 2026, inspection found 4 high-severity and 1 intermediate.
Garage Cafe: Inspection History
Go back further and the pattern holds. October 20, 2025, produced 7 high-severity violations. February 21, 2025, produced 7 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate. September 24, 2024, found 5 high-severity violations. May 13, 2024, found 4.
Of the eight prior inspections on record with violation data, only one, a March 3, 2025, follow-up visit, produced zero violations. Every other inspection documented at least four high-severity citations. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
Still Open
State records show no emergency closure has ever been issued for Garage Cafe across 13 inspections and 95 documented violations.
After the September 15 visit, with six high-severity violations on the report, including food whose origin cannot be verified, shellfish with no traceability records, food not reaching safe cooking temperatures, and toxic chemicals stored without proper labeling, the restaurant remained open to the public.
