MIAMI, FL. AC Hotel Miami Midtown on Biscayne Boulevard accumulated 12 high-severity violations during the week of August 15, the highest single-facility count among the 15 Miami restaurants flagged by state inspectors that week, with records showing food arriving from unapproved or unknown sources, inadequate shell stock identification, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and no functioning employee health policy in place.
The hotel restaurant's violations did not stop at sourcing. Inspectors also documented improper handwashing technique, inadequate handwashing facilities, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and no person in charge present or performing duties during the inspection. Eight of its 15 total violations were classified high-severity.
The Violations
El Berrinche on SW 42nd Street drew 11 high-severity violations, including a citation for employees not reporting symptoms of illness, food in poor condition or adulterated, parasite destruction procedures not followed for fish or meat, and food arriving from unapproved sources. It also lacked an adequate employee health policy and proper handwashing facilities.
The parasite destruction finding at El Berrinche is notable. Inspectors specifically cited the failure to follow required freezing or cooking protocols that kill parasites in raw fish and pork, a violation that compounds the restaurant's separate citation for food from an unverified source.
Mochima Bistro on SW 184th Street recorded 10 high-severity violations. Those included no person in charge present, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, inadequate shell stock records, and time used improperly as a public health control.
Yume Ramen on SW 107th Avenue tallied 9 high-severity violations. Inspectors found no person in charge, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, missing shell stock identification, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and improper use of time as a public health control.
Salty Flame on Brickell Avenue also hit 9 high-severity violations, with inspectors citing inadequate handwashing by employees, food in poor condition, unverified food sourcing, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly. The restaurant on Brickell Avenue also lacked adequate shell stock traceability records.
Coffeezone Bistro on Brickell Avenue, operating inside a Brickell office tower, drew 9 high-severity violations including food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. The coffee and food concept also lacked shell stock identification records.
Pollo Riko on West 60th Street recorded 9 high-severity violations with no intermediate violations at all. Inspectors cited no employee health policy, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, improper use of time as a public health control, no consumer advisory for raw items, and two separate chemical storage violations: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
Black Market Miami on Biscayne Boulevard drew 8 high-severity violations, including no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, missing shell stock records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and food not cooked to required minimum temperatures.
Real Food Academy on NE 81st Street accumulated 8 high-severity violations including no employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, missing shellfish records, parasite destruction procedures not followed, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and two chemical violations. The name of the facility makes the absence of a consumer advisory for raw foods and the failure to follow parasite destruction protocols particularly striking.
Mr Baguette II on North Miami Avenue logged 8 high-severity violations, including no person in charge, no employee health policy, inadequate handwashing by employees, improper handwashing technique, parasite destruction procedures not followed, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw items, and toxic substances improperly identified or stored.
Pisco y Nazca Ceviche Gastrobar on NW 53rd Street drew 5 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited missing shell stock records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, improper use of time as a public health control, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. For a ceviche restaurant where raw shellfish and fish are central to the menu, the combination of missing shellfish traceability records and an undercooking violation is the most consequential pairing in the data.
Michael's Genuine Food and Drink on NE 40th Street recorded 4 high-severity violations: no person in charge, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff.
Fonda Sabaneta on SW 72nd Street drew 4 high-severity violations along with intermediate citations for improper sewage or wastewater disposal. The sewage finding, combined with improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and toxic chemicals stored improperly, rounded out a troubled inspection week.
China Steak House Restaurant 3 on SW 24th Street had the lightest high-severity count of the week, with one citation for improperly cleaned food contact surfaces. But the facility drew three intermediate violations, including improper sewage or wastewater disposal, improper sanitizing solution or procedures, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
Gramps Getaway on Rickenbacher Causeway drew 2 high-severity violations: improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and food not cooked to required minimum temperatures.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved or unknown sources showed up at nine of the 15 flagged facilities this week, including AC Hotel Miami Midtown, El Berrinche, Mochima Bistro, Yume Ramen, Salty Flame, Coffeezone Bistro, Pollo Riko, Black Market Miami, and Fonda Sabaneta. The practical consequence is traceability: when a customer gets sick, investigators work backward through the supply chain to identify contaminated product and warn others. Food that bypasses USDA or FDA inspection leaves no trail. Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli have all been traced to uninspected supply chains in past outbreaks.
The shell stock identification failures at AC Hotel Miami Midtown, El Berrinche, Mochima Bistro, Yume Ramen, Salty Flame, Coffeezone Bistro, Black Market Miami, Real Food Academy, and Pisco y Nazca are a specific version of that traceability problem. Oysters, clams, and mussels are consumed raw or barely cooked, and they concentrate pathogens from the water they grow in. State law requires restaurants to keep shell stock tags showing the harvest location, harvest date, and dealer certification number for each batch. Without those records, there is no way to link a sick customer to a contaminated harvest area or issue a recall.
Employees not reporting illness symptoms was cited at El Berrinche, Mochima Bistro, Yume Ramen, and Black Market Miami. This is the violation most directly linked to multi-victim outbreaks. Norovirus, which causes the majority of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants, spreads person-to-person through food handlers. A single sick employee working a full shift can expose dozens of customers.
Parasite destruction failures at El Berrinche, Real Food Academy, and Mr Baguette II mean that fish, pork, or other proteins subject to parasite risk were not being frozen or cooked to the temperatures required to kill organisms like Anisakis in fish or Trichinella in pork. For El Berrinche, that violation sits alongside a food-from-unapproved-sources citation, meaning inspectors could not confirm where the protein came from or how it had been handled before arriving at the restaurant.
The Longer Record
China Steak House Restaurant 3 has the longest inspection history of any facility in this week's data, with 29 prior inspections on record, and still drew a sewage disposal violation this week alongside two other intermediate citations. El Berrinche and Michael's Genuine Food and Drink each carry 27 prior inspections. El Berrinche's record now includes 11 high-severity violations in a single week, suggesting the volume of prior inspections has not translated to correction of the most serious categories.
Pisco y Nazca Ceviche Gastrobar shows 25 prior inspections. For a restaurant built around raw seafood, the combination of shellfish traceability failures and an undercooking citation this week is not a first-time stumble across a large inspection history. Fonda Sabaneta has 23 prior inspections and still drew a sewage or wastewater disposal citation this week, a violation that inspectors typically treat as an infrastructure failure requiring immediate correction.
Gramps Getaway and Black Market Miami each carry 26 and 22 prior inspections respectively. Yume Ramen, with 22 prior inspections, drew 9 high-severity violations this week, including no person in charge and employees not reporting illness, categories that recur across facilities with long records in this week's data.
AC Hotel Miami Midtown and Real Food Academy are the newest facilities in the dataset, each with 14 prior inspections. AC Hotel Midtown's 12 high-severity violations in a single visit represent the worst single-facility outcome of the week despite its comparatively short history. Real Food Academy's two chemical storage violations, combined with parasite destruction failures and missing consumer advisories, make it among the more complex inspection profiles for a facility still early in its state record. Coffeezone Bistro, with only 11 prior inspections on record, drew 9 high-severity violations this week, making it the facility with the fewest prior inspections and among the highest violation counts, a combination that inspectors and public health officials typically flag as a concern for follow-up.
