MIAMI, FL. When state inspectors walked into La Brasa Kendall at 10855 SW 72nd Street on September 29, 2026, they found a restaurant with no written employee health policy, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, improperly stored toxic chemicals, and evidence of improper sewage disposal, all on the same day, all at the same address. They left without shutting it down.
The inspection produced 11 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations, a total of 17 citations from a single visit to the Kendall-area restaurant in Miami-Dade County.
What Inspectors Found
The person in charge was either absent or not performing required supervisory duties, the first of 11 high-severity findings. Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique, inadequate shell stock identification records, time-as-public-health-control not properly used, and failure to follow required procedures for specialized food processes.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled, a violation that creates a direct contamination pathway to food and food-contact surfaces. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Inspectors found no demonstrated allergen awareness among staff, and no consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked foods.
On the intermediate side, inspectors cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, improper use of wiping cloths, and inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms is, according to CDC data, the most direct route from a sick kitchen worker to a sick customer. Norovirus alone accounts for 20 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States annually, and food workers who show up while ill and handle food without restriction are the primary transmission mechanism. La Brasa Kendall had neither a written policy requiring workers to report symptoms nor evidence that workers were actually doing so.
The toxic chemical citation compounds the risk. When chemicals are stored without proper labeling or positioned near food or food-contact surfaces, the contamination pathway is not theoretical. It is physical proximity. A mislabeled container or an improperly stored cleaning agent can reach a prep surface, a utensil, or a plate.
The sewage violation is among the most serious intermediate citations an inspector can issue. Improper wastewater disposal introduces fecal matter into the facility environment. That is not a regulatory abstraction. It is a direct contamination risk to every surface, every utensil, and every food item in the building.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and reused single-use items extend the contamination chain further. Bacterial biofilms can develop on utensil surfaces within 24 hours of inadequate cleaning, and those biofilms resist standard sanitizing attempts.
The Longer Record
September 29 was not a bad day at an otherwise clean restaurant. It was the latest entry in a two-year inspection record that shows persistent, high-severity violations at nearly every visit.
State records show 20 inspections on file for La Brasa Kendall, with 375 total violations documented across that history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The inspection on September 30, 2026, the day after the visit covered here, produced 9 high-severity and 6 intermediate violations. The March 2026 cluster tells the same story: inspectors visited on March 2, March 3, March 4, and March 9, finding between 7 and 9 high-severity violations each time. October 2025 produced 10 high-severity violations. September 2025 produced 8. January 2025 produced 7.
La Brasa Kendall: Recent Inspection Pattern
The violations are not random. Across inspection after inspection, the record shows recurring failures in the same categories: management oversight, employee health controls, and food safety procedures. These are not isolated lapses. They are the same categories appearing in the same facility across nearly two years of documented inspections.
The March 2026 sequence is particularly notable. Four inspections in eight days, each producing a high-severity count in the same range as the visits before and after. The record does not show a facility that corrects and maintains. It shows a facility that corrects enough to pass a follow-up and then returns to the same baseline.
Still Open
After an inspection that produced 11 high-severity violations, including no illness policy, improper sewage disposal, toxic chemicals stored without proper labeling, food contact surfaces not sanitized, and no allergen awareness among staff, La Brasa Kendall was not emergency-closed.
State records show 375 violations across 20 inspections and zero emergency closures in the facility's documented history.
The restaurant at 10855 SW 72nd Street remained open for business.
