SOUTH MIAMI, FL. State inspectors visited Maman at 5801 Sunset Dr. on July 29, 2026, and documented that food was not cooked to required minimum temperatures, a finding that means customers were served items that could carry live pathogens. The restaurant was not closed.
The July 29 inspection turned up 6 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations, a total of 12 citations recorded in a single visit. Among the most direct dangers: employees were not reporting symptoms of illness, and the person in charge was either absent or not performing supervisory duties.
What Inspectors Found
Inspectors also cited improper hand and arm washing technique, meaning employees were making washing attempts that left pathogens on their hands. Inadequate shell stock identification records were flagged as well, a violation that matters specifically because Maman serves shellfish.
Time as a public health control was not properly used. That citation means food was being held in the temperature range where bacteria multiply rapidly, without the documentation or discipline required to make that method safe.
On the intermediate side, inspectors found improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, inadequate ventilation and lighting, improper use of wiping cloths, inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities, and equipment in poor repair or condition.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of undercooking and unreported employee illness is among the most direct paths from a restaurant kitchen to a sick customer. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If an employee is symptomatic with norovirus and does not report it, and food is also not reaching safe internal temperatures, those two failures compound each other in the same meal.
The shell stock traceability violation adds a separate risk. Shellfish, consumed raw or lightly cooked, carry no margin for error on sourcing. Without proper identification tags and receiving records, there is no way to trace an oyster or clam back to its harvest site if someone becomes ill. That traceability is not administrative paperwork; it is the only mechanism that allows a public health investigation to identify and stop a contaminated batch before more people eat from it.
The improper handwashing technique citation is distinct from a failure to wash hands at all. Studies show that incorrect technique, too brief, skipping surfaces, not using soap for the full friction cycle, leaves enough pathogen load on hands to transfer illness. At Maman on July 29, both the technique and the supervisory structure meant to catch and correct that technique were cited as failing simultaneously.
Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours. Those biofilms are resistant to standard cleaning once established and can transfer contamination to every food item the utensil subsequently contacts.
The Longer Record
Maman has six inspections on record in Miami-Dade County, and the July 29 visit is not the worst one in that file. The inspection on July 10, 2025, produced 9 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations in a single visit, the highest single-day count in the facility's history. A follow-up inspection the next day, July 11, 2025, still found 1 high-severity violation and 2 intermediate violations.
The November 2025 inspection recorded 7 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations, a total of 13 citations, one more than the July 29, 2026 visit that prompted this report.
Across all six inspections on record, Maman has accumulated 62 total violations. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The January 2026 inspection found 4 high-severity violations and no intermediate violations. The only relatively clean inspection in the file is from August 2024, which produced zero high-severity violations and one intermediate citation. Every inspection since then has included multiple high-severity findings.
Still Open
The person-in-charge violation has now appeared in the inspection record alongside double-digit high-severity counts on multiple occasions. CDC data cited in the inspection record associates the absence of active managerial control with three times as many critical violations at a given establishment. At Maman, the inspections that followed the July 2025 nine-violation visit did not produce a sustained improvement.
After 12 violations on July 29, 2026, including undercooking, unreported employee illness, and untraceable shellfish, Maman remained open for service.
