MIAMI, FL. A Design District restaurant serving raw fish was cited for sourcing food from unapproved or unknown suppliers, failing to follow parasite destruction procedures, and operating without any employee illness reporting policy, all in the same inspection week, state records show.
Le Specialita / Kryu at 40 NE 41 St drew 14 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate violations during the week of June 3, the highest total among 15 Miami facilities flagged this period. The restaurant had only 2 prior inspections on record, meaning this week's haul arrived almost immediately after the establishment opened its doors to scrutiny.
The violations at Le Specialita / Kryu stacked up fast. No person in charge was present or performing duties. No written employee health policy existed. Employees were not reporting illness symptoms. Handwashing technique was cited as improper. Shell stock identification records for raw shellfish were inadequate.
Food was found in poor condition or mislabeled. And parasite destruction procedures, required for restaurants serving raw or undercooked fish, were not being followed.
What Inspectors Found Across the City
Citadel at 8300 NE 2 Ave matched Suviche for the second-highest total, with 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Suviche at 49 SW 11 St also drew 10 high-severity violations. The raw fish and ceviche restaurant was cited for no person in charge, no health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing by food employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper technique, inadequate shell stock records, and no consumer advisory for raw items.
Caracas Bakery at 7283 Biscayne Blvd collected 9 high-severity violations, including food from unapproved or unknown sources, failure to cook food to required minimum temperatures, and two separate chemical storage violations: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
Rinconcito Latino Sunset at 15500 SW 72nd St was cited for 8 high-severity violations, among them food from unapproved sources, food not cooked to minimum temperature, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly. Time as a public health control was also cited as not properly used.
El Mayimbe Fritanga Tortilla at 304 SW 8 Ave drew 7 high-severity violations, including food not cooked to required temperature, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, improper time-as-public-health-control use, and toxic chemical storage violations.
Bocas House at 10200 NW 25 St was cited for 6 high-severity violations, including inadequate handwashing facilities, food not cooked to required temperature, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, improper time controls, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored.
Rincon Porteno at 12214 SW 8 St also drew 6 high-severity violations. Inspectors noted inadequate shell stock identification, food not cooked to minimum temperature, improper time-as-public-health-control use, no consumer advisory, improperly stored chemicals, and failure to follow required procedures for specialized processes.
Vale Food Co at 9537 S Dixie Hwy was cited for 6 high-severity violations including no employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory, improperly stored chemicals, and no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff.
Chicken Kitchen at 6907 Biscayne Blvd drew 6 high-severity violations, including food in poor condition or mislabeled, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, employees not reporting illness symptoms, no consumer advisory, and improperly stored chemicals.
Subway at 6542 Collins Ave was cited for 6 high-severity violations, including no person in charge, improper handwashing technique, two chemical storage violations, no consumer advisory, and failure to follow required procedures for specialized processes.
Habibi Kush at 930 NE 79 St drew 5 high-severity violations: no employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shell stock records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and food not cooked to required temperature.
Miami Slice at 1335 NE Miami Ct was cited for 5 high-severity violations, including employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food not cooked to required temperature, and failure to follow procedures for specialized processes.
Red Rooster Overtown at 920 NW 2 Ave drew 5 high-severity violations, among them food in poor condition or mislabeled, food not cooked to minimum temperature, inadequate handwashing by food employees, and improper use of time as a public health control.
Southwest Rey's Pizza at 13732 SW 152 St rounded out the list with 4 high-severity violations, including no person in charge, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items.
What These Violations Mean
The most consequential pattern this week was the near-total collapse of illness reporting systems at multiple restaurants. Le Specialita / Kryu, Citadel, Suviche, Rinconcito Latino Sunset, El Mayimbe Fritanga Tortilla, Chicken Kitchen, Miami Slice, and Southwest Rey's Pizza were all cited for employees not reporting illness symptoms, no written health policy, or both. Food workers are the primary transmission route for Norovirus, which causes 20 million illnesses in the United States annually. When no written policy exists and no one is required to report symptoms, a sick employee can infect dozens of customers before anyone notices a pattern.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, cited at Le Specialita / Kryu, Caracas Bakery, and Rinconcito Latino Sunset, means the supply chain for that food cannot be traced. If a customer gets sick, investigators cannot identify the farm, processor, or distributor responsible. It also means the food bypassed USDA and FDA inspection checkpoints designed to catch Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli contamination before it reaches a kitchen.
Parasite destruction failures, cited at Le Specialita / Kryu, Citadel, Caracas Bakery, Chicken Kitchen, and Miami Slice, carry a specific and underappreciated risk. Fish served raw or undercooked must be frozen to precise temperatures for a set duration to kill parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm. When that process is skipped or undocumented, customers eating raw fish dishes have no protection.
Chemical storage violations appeared at Caracas Bakery, Rinconcito Latino Sunset, El Mayimbe Fritanga Tortilla, Bocas House, Rincon Porteno, Vale Food Co, Chicken Kitchen, and Subway. Cleaning chemicals stored near or above food preparation areas can contaminate food directly, and mislabeled containers create acute poisoning risk when a product is mistaken for something else.
The Longer Record
The inspection histories behind these citations vary sharply, and that context matters. Vale Food Co has 38 prior inspections on record. Bocas House has 36. Rinconcito Latino Sunset has 35. El Mayimbe Fritanga Tortilla has 27. Southwest Rey's Pizza has 26. These are not new restaurants encountering inspectors for the first time. They are established operations with long inspection histories that this week still produced multiple high-severity violations.
Suviche, with 25 prior inspections, was cited this week for failing to maintain shell stock identification records for raw shellfish and for having no consumer advisory for raw items. Both are recurring categories at seafood-forward restaurants with long inspection histories. Rincon Porteno, at 23 prior inspections, was also cited for inadequate shell stock records.
Citadel, with 16 prior inspections, drew 10 high-severity violations this week including inadequate handwashing infrastructure. Subway on Collins Avenue, with 17 prior inspections, was cited for no person in charge and two separate chemical handling violations. Red Rooster Overtown also has 17 prior inspections on record and was cited this week for food in poor condition and food not cooked to minimum temperature.
Le Specialita / Kryu stands apart for a different reason. With only 2 prior inspections on record, it produced 14 high-severity violations, the most of any facility this week, including food from unapproved sources and no employee illness policy. Whether those violations are corrected at the next inspection is the question the record does not yet answer.