MIAMI, FL. State inspectors cited La Bodega Restaurant on SW 88th Street with 11 high-severity violations during the week of April 22, 2026, the highest single-facility count among 15 Miami restaurants flagged that week for serious food safety failures.
The violations at La Bodega read like a checklist of outbreak conditions. No person in charge was present or performing duties. No written employee health policy existed. Employees were not reporting illness symptoms. Handwashing facilities were inadequate, and employees who did attempt to wash hands used improper technique. Inspectors also documented food from unapproved or unknown sources, food in poor condition, and shellfish without adequate identification records to trace where it came from.
La Bodega has 49 prior inspections on record, more than any other facility in this week's data.
The Worst of the Week
Go-Go on Alton Road was not far behind, drawing 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors found no person in charge present, employees failing to report illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, shellfish without traceability records, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and food held under a time-as-public-health-control system that was not properly documented or managed.
The Chinese Restaurant on SW 112th Street and Paseo Catracho on SW 8th Street each received nine high-severity violations. At The Chinese Restaurant, inspectors cited the absence of an employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, shellfish without adequate identification records, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items.
At Paseo Catracho, the nine high-severity citations included no person in charge, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, shellfish traceability failures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food.
Rey's Pizza #6 on SW 137th Avenue drew eight high-severity violations, including food not cooked to required minimum temperature, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, unsanitized food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory, and two separate chemical storage violations involving improperly labeled and improperly used toxic substances.
El Palacio de los Jugos on East 4th Avenue also received eight high-severity citations: no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, no consumer advisory, and two chemical storage violations.
MIA Market at 140 NE 39th Street matched that count with eight high-severity violations. Inspectors found no person in charge, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, unsanitized food contact surfaces, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, no consumer advisory, and improperly stored toxic chemicals.
Spanglish and Grails on North Miami Avenue and Sovereign of Miami LLC on NE 3rd Avenue each received eight high-severity violations as well. Spanglish and Grails was cited for parasite destruction procedures not followed, food not cooked to minimum temperature, time-as-public-health-control failures, and no consumer advisory, among others. Sovereign of Miami drew citations for shellfish traceability failures, parasite destruction failures, undercooked food, time control failures, and no consumer advisory.
The Emergency Closure
El Gallito Grill on SW 8th Avenue was ordered closed on April 24. The closure was triggered by temperature violations involving food storage. Inspectors also cited improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, single-use items being reused, and inadequate ventilation. El Gallito carries 33 prior inspections on record.
The closure stands out because the facility's violation count this week was relatively low, just one high-severity citation. Temperature violations in food storage are treated as an immediate public health threat regardless of the total violation count, because bacterial growth in the danger zone between 41 and 135 degrees can render food unsafe within hours.
What These Violations Mean
The most consequential cluster of violations this week involves employee illness reporting and health policies, documented at La Bodega, Go-Go, The Chinese Restaurant, El Palacio de los Jugos, Vale Food Company Brickell, Mr and Mrs Bun, and Spanglish and Grails. When a facility has no written employee health policy and no system for workers to report symptoms, a single sick employee can expose every customer served during their shift to Norovirus or other pathogens. Norovirus spreads through contaminated food with as few as 18 viral particles, and an infected food handler can shed billions per gram of stool.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, cited at La Bodega, Go-Go, The Chinese Restaurant, Paseo Catracho, Rey's Pizza #6, El Palacio de los Jugos, MIA Market, and Mr and Mrs Bun, removes the entire chain of federal inspection from the food supply. If a customer becomes sick, there is no supplier record to trace, no lot number to pull, and no way to determine how many other facilities received the same product.
Shellfish traceability failures, documented at La Bodega, Go-Go, The Chinese Restaurant, Paseo Catracho, and Sovereign of Miami, carry a specific added risk. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently consumed raw or barely cooked. Without shell stock identification tags, there is no way to link an illness to a specific harvest area or recall a contaminated batch.
Toxic chemical storage violations appeared at Paseo Catracho, Rey's Pizza #6, El Palacio de los Jugos, MIA Market, Spanglish and Grails, Sovereign of Miami, Vale Food Company Brickell, and Mr and Mrs Bun. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food preparation areas create an acute poisoning risk that is distinct from bacterial illness, one that can cause immediate harm rather than illness developing over days.
The Longer Record
La Bodega Restaurant's 49 prior inspections make it the most frequently visited facility in this week's data, and this week's 11 high-severity violations suggest those visits have not produced lasting correction. Go-Go on Alton Road has 28 inspections on record. The Chinese Restaurant on SW 112th Street has 32. Paseo Catracho on SW 8th Street has 30. Each of those facilities accumulated serious violations this week despite inspection histories stretching back through dozens of prior visits.
Barbeque Stop Company on NW 23rd Street has 31 prior inspections and drew two high-severity violations this week, including food in poor condition and unsanitized food contact surfaces. Mr and Mrs Bun on SW 72nd Street, with 36 prior inspections, had seven high-severity and seven intermediate violations, including food from unapproved sources, undercooked food, no employee health policy, and improper sewage disposal.
El Palacio de los Jugos is a different case. With only seven prior inspections on record, it is among the newest facilities in this week's data, and it still drew eight high-severity violations including chemical storage failures and the full cluster of handwashing and illness-reporting breakdowns.
Vale Food Company Brickell on South Miami Avenue has 27 prior inspections and drew four high-severity violations this week, including parasite destruction procedures not followed, no employee health policy, no consumer advisory, and improperly stored chemicals. It also received an intermediate citation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
Lo D'Alex on SW 8th Street and Ming Yuan Restaurant on NW 2nd Avenue each drew violations involving unsanitized food contact surfaces. Ming Yuan was also cited for two separate toxic chemical violations and for serving raw or undercooked items without a consumer advisory, all across 25 prior inspections on record.
El Palacio de los Jugos, with just seven inspections in its file, had already accumulated more high-severity violations in a single week than several facilities with four times as many inspection visits behind them.