DORAL, FL. A Doral restaurant was cited for failing to cook food to required minimum temperatures during a September inspection, a violation that state records link directly to pathogen survival in poultry and other proteins. Inspectors documented six additional high-severity violations the same day at Las Calenitas on NW 107th Avenue, and the restaurant was not closed.
The inspection on September 21 produced seven high-severity violations and three intermediate violations. That tally places it among the more serious single-visit records the restaurant has accumulated across 26 inspections on file with the state.
What Inspectors Found
Inspectors also found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food prep areas. Mislabeled or improperly stored chemicals represent one of the fastest routes to acute poisoning in a commercial kitchen, because the contamination can be invisible and the exposure immediate.
Shellfish on the premises lacked adequate identification and traceability records. That violation means that if a customer became ill from oysters, clams, or mussels served at Las Calenitas, investigators would have no paper trail to identify the harvest source or pull the product.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and multi-use utensils showed the same deficiency. Inspectors additionally documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal, a finding that creates risk of fecal contamination moving through the facility.
Employees were observed using improper handwashing technique. State records note that a flawed technique leaves pathogens on hands even when a washing attempt is made, meaning the gesture of washing provides no actual protection.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, leaving elderly customers, pregnant women, and anyone with a compromised immune system without notice that the menu carried elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
The undercooking violation is the one that sits at the center of this inspection. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a kitchen that is not consistently hitting required internal temperatures is serving food that can transmit illness with no visible sign that anything is wrong. At Las Calenitas, that violation appeared on the same day as improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, meaning the two primary routes for bacterial transfer in a kitchen, undercooked protein and contaminated prep surfaces, were both present simultaneously.
The shellfish traceability failure compounds the risk. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently consumed raw or lightly cooked, and they filter large volumes of water, concentrating whatever bacteria or viruses that water carried. The identification records inspectors look for exist precisely so that when someone gets sick, health officials can trace the product back to its harvest bed and pull it from circulation. Without those records at Las Calenitas, that chain breaks entirely.
Improper sewage disposal is among the most serious intermediate violations a restaurant can receive. Raw sewage contains norovirus, E. coli, and other pathogens. When wastewater moves improperly through a facility, it does not stay contained to the drain.
The chemical storage violation adds a separate category of risk entirely. Food poisoning from bacterial contamination typically takes hours or days to manifest. Chemical contamination from a mislabeled or improperly stored product can cause illness within minutes of ingestion.
The Longer Record
The September 21 inspection did not represent an anomaly for Las Calenitas. State records show 26 inspections on file and 248 total violations accumulated across that history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The eight most recent inspections before September 21 each produced high-severity violations. The April 2025 and March 2025 visits each generated eight high-severity violations and four intermediate violations. The March 2026 inspection produced six high-severity and four intermediate violations. The pattern across more than two years is consistent: every inspection finds serious problems, and the restaurant continues to operate.
A follow-up inspection on September 29, eight days after the visit covered here, found four additional high-severity violations and one intermediate violation. The record does not indicate the facility was closed between those two dates.
Across 26 inspections, Las Calenitas has not had a single visit free of high-severity violations in the portion of its history documented in state records. The violations have shifted in specific category from visit to visit, but the volume and severity have remained essentially constant.
Still Open
As of the September 29 follow-up inspection, Las Calenitas remained open. The September 21 inspection that produced seven high-severity violations, including undercooked food, toxic chemical storage near food prep, and shellfish with no traceability records, did not result in an emergency closure order. The restaurant's 248th, 249th, and 250th recorded violations arrived, and the doors stayed open.
