DAVIE, FL. An inspector visiting La Granja Chicken Steak and Seafood on Stirling Road on July 14 found chicken that had not been cooked to the minimum required temperature at a restaurant where the chain's signature product is poultry, and where 9 of the 11 violations documented that day were classified as high-severity. The restaurant was not closed.
The July 14 inspection was one of the worst in the location's documented history. State records show the Davie location has accumulated 104 total violations across 17 inspections on record, and has never been emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooked food citation is the most direct threat to anyone who ate there that day. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and La Granja's menu is built around chicken. The same inspection found food sourced from an unapproved or unknown supplier, meaning that chicken, or any other ingredient, could have entered the kitchen without passing through a USDA or FDA safety checkpoint.
Inspectors also cited inadequate shell stock identification records. The restaurant's name includes "seafood," and without proper tagging records for shellfish such as oysters, clams, or mussels, there is no way to trace the origin of those products if a customer becomes ill.
No person in charge was present or performing managerial duties at the time of the inspection. That finding sat alongside a citation for employees not reporting symptoms of illness, a combination that means no one in authority was in a position to catch or correct either problem.
What These Violations Mean
The undercooked poultry citation is not a paperwork issue. Salmonella, which is commonly present in raw chicken, is destroyed only when internal temperatures reach 165 degrees. A customer who ordered chicken at this location on July 14 had no way of knowing whether that threshold had been met, and the restaurant posted no consumer advisory to flag that any items might be served undercooked.
The food-from-unapproved-source violation compounds that risk. When food enters a kitchen through an uninspected supplier, the standard safety net, federal inspection, temperature logging during transport, and traceability records, is gone. If someone gets sick, investigators have no chain of custody to follow.
The shell stock traceability violation is specific to shellfish, which are among the highest-risk foods in any kitchen because they are often consumed raw or lightly cooked. Without proper identification tags and receiving records, the restaurant cannot identify where a batch of oysters or clams came from, which harvest water it came from, or when it was pulled. That information is the only tool available to public health officials during a shellfish-related outbreak.
Employees not reporting illness symptoms is consistently identified by the CDC as the leading cause of multi-victim foodborne outbreaks. Combined with the finding that no qualified person in charge was present, this location on July 14 had no functioning system to prevent a sick worker from handling food.
The Longer Record
The July 14 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show the Stirling Road location has been inspected 17 times and has logged 104 total violations across that history, with no emergency closures on record.
The pattern in the violation data is consistent. In February 2025, inspectors cited 5 high-severity violations. In November 2024, they cited 4 high-severity violations. In April 2024, another 5 high-severity violations. The location passed two inspections with zero high-severity citations, in November 2023 and August 2025, but both were followed by inspections that again produced multiple high-severity findings.
The January 2026 inspection found 4 high-severity violations, five months before the July 14 visit that produced 9. The day after the July 14 inspection, a follow-up visit on July 15 found 1 high-severity violation and 1 intermediate, suggesting some corrections were made quickly. But 9 high-severity violations in a single inspection, at a location with this volume of prior citations, is a different order of magnitude than the usual pattern.
Open for Business
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when violations pose an immediate threat to public health. That threshold was not triggered on July 14 at La Granja on Stirling Road, despite 9 high-severity violations that included undercooked poultry, uninspected food sources, no manager on duty, employees not reporting illness, and no consumer advisory for items that may have been served raw or undercooked.
The restaurant remained open.
