MIAMI, FL. State inspectors walked into Los Roques Gourmet & Grill Inc. on NW 58th Street on September 30 and documented food coming from unapproved or unknown sources, a violation that means some of what the restaurant served that day had never passed a federal safety inspection.
The facility was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The September 30 inspection produced 11 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate violations, a total of 15 citations from a single visit. Among them: improper handwashing by food employees, improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition or adulterated, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, time as a public health control not properly used, no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, toxic substances improperly identified or stored, and no demonstrated allergen awareness among staff.
The intermediate violations included improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, single-use items being reused, and inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
Eleven high-severity violations in a single inspection. The restaurant remained open after inspectors left.
What These Violations Mean
Food from an unapproved or unknown source is not a paperwork problem. It means the restaurant obtained ingredients that bypassed USDA or FDA safety inspections, and if a customer got sick, there would be no supply chain record to trace the contamination back to its origin. Combined with the failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, which requires fish and certain meats to be frozen at specific temperatures before serving, customers who ordered seafood or undercooked proteins at Los Roques on or around September 30 had no guarantee that parasites including Anisakis or tapeworm had been eliminated.
The handwashing violations compound every other risk on the list. Inspectors cited both inadequate handwashing by food employees and improper technique, meaning workers either skipped handwashing steps entirely or performed them incorrectly. Improperly washed hands are the single most direct route for pathogens to travel from a food worker to a customer's plate.
The allergen awareness violation is acute in a different way. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans and trigger roughly 30,000 emergency room visits each year. A kitchen where staff cannot demonstrate allergen awareness is a kitchen where a customer with a nut, shellfish, or dairy allergy cannot safely rely on any assurance from the person taking their order. The toxic substance violation adds a separate layer: chemicals improperly stored or used near food preparation areas create a risk of direct chemical contamination that has nothing to do with bacteria or parasites.
The intermediate sewage violation is not minor context. Improper wastewater disposal creates conditions for fecal contamination to spread through a facility. That violation, alongside inadequate toilet facilities, points to infrastructure failures that undercut basic hygiene from the start of every shift.
The Longer Record
September 30 was not an anomaly. State records show Los Roques Gourmet & Grill has been inspected 30 times and has accumulated 357 total violations across its inspection history.
The pattern in the prior inspection data is consistent and specific. On February 28, 2025, inspectors cited 11 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate violations, nearly identical to the September 30 count. On August 15, 2025, the facility drew 7 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations. On August 20, 2024, inspectors visited twice in the same day, citing 8 high and 4 intermediate violations on the first visit, then returning to cite 3 high and 3 intermediate on the second.
Going back to August 2023, the facility logged 7 high-severity and 5 intermediate violations. In February 2024, it was 8 high and 4 intermediate. The September 30 inspection is the second time in the facility's documented history that inspectors have recorded 11 high-severity violations in a single visit. The first time was February 2025.
Despite that record across 30 inspections and 357 violations, the facility has never been emergency-closed.
The Pattern
The violations from September 30 are not a new category of problem at this address. The food sourcing citation, the handwashing failures, the sanitization gaps, these are the types of violations that recur in the prior inspection data across multiple years. A facility that has been inspected 30 times and logged 357 violations without a single emergency closure presents a specific question the inspection record cannot answer: at what point does a pattern become grounds for closure?
On September 30, inspectors documented 11 high-severity violations at Los Roques Gourmet & Grill, including food from an unknown source and no demonstrated allergen awareness among staff.
The restaurant was open for business when they left.
