MIAMI, FL. Café Bea on SW 142nd Avenue drew 13 high-severity violations during the week of April 23, the highest single-facility count among 15 Miami restaurants flagged that week, with inspectors documenting food from unapproved sources, no employee illness policy, improper handwashing technique, and failures in parasite destruction procedures for fish and shellfish.
The violations at Café Bea touched nearly every layer of food safety. The restaurant had no written employee health policy, an employee who was not reporting illness symptoms, and a person in charge who was either absent or not performing supervisory duties. Inspectors also cited inadequate shell stock identification records, meaning shellfish served there could not be traced to a licensed source if a customer became sick.
El Gallito Grill at 205 SW 8th Avenue was the only emergency closure of the week, shut down on April 24 for temperature violations in food storage. The closure came despite a comparatively short violation list, just one high-severity citation for improperly cleaned food contact surfaces alongside two intermediate violations. The temperature failures that triggered the closure were serious enough on their own to warrant the order.
The Violations
La Bodega Restaurant at 13774 SW 88th Street was second only to Café Bea, with 11 high-severity violations. Inspectors found food in poor condition or mislabeled, no employee illness policy, an employee not reporting symptoms, and food from an unapproved or unknown source. The facility also lacked adequate handwashing infrastructure, meaning the physical conditions for basic hygiene were not in place.
Go-Go at 926 Alton Road accumulated 10 high-severity violations. Among them: inadequate handwashing by food employees, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, and a failure to properly use time as a public health control. That last violation means food was allowed to sit in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, without the documentation or tracking required when temperature monitoring is not used.
Paseo Catracho at 824 SW 8th Street drew 9 high-severity violations, including toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, food from unapproved sources, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Inspectors also cited missing shellfish traceability records and a person in charge not performing duties.
Kami-Koi Sushi Fusion at 13816 SW 56th Street also reached 9 high-severity violations. The sushi restaurant was cited for food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items, and inadequate handwashing facilities. A sushi operation serving raw and lightly cooked fish without a consumer advisory and without meeting cooking temperature minimums presents a compounding risk.
El Rio Lindo Cafe Corp at 641 SW 12th Avenue matched that count with 9 high-severity violations of its own, including food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, three separate handwashing failures, food from unapproved sources, and no consumer advisory.
Reys Pizza #6 at 2486 SW 137th Avenue had 8 high-severity violations, including two separate chemical storage citations: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Inspectors also found food in poor condition, food from unapproved sources, and food not cooked to required minimum temperatures.
Canton Lee at 13862 SW 56th Street drew 8 high-severity violations including improper use of time as a public health control, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Inspectors also cited no employee health policy and an employee not reporting illness symptoms.
El Palacio de Los Jugos at 1100 E 4th Avenue had 8 high-severity violations, including two chemical storage failures and inadequate handwashing facilities. The facility also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods and had no written employee health policy.
Mr and Mrs Bun at 15572 SW 72nd Street had 7 high-severity violations alongside 7 intermediate ones, the highest combined intermediate count of the week. Inspectors cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal, food from unapproved sources, food not cooked to minimum temperatures, and improperly stored toxic chemicals.
Los Catrachos at 755 W Flagler Street drew 7 high-severity violations including parasite destruction procedures not followed, inadequate shellfish traceability records, and improper sewage disposal. The facility also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
China Buffet at 1032 SW 67th Avenue had 7 high-severity violations, including two chemical storage citations, missing shellfish records, and an employee not reporting illness symptoms. Inspectors also noted improper sewage disposal as an intermediate violation.
Vale Food Company Brickell at 900 S Miami Avenue had 4 high-severity violations, including parasite destruction procedures not followed and improper sewage disposal. The facility had no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods and no written employee health policy.
The Chinese Restaurant at 12963 SW 112th Street drew 3 high-severity violations, including toxic chemicals improperly stored and no consumer advisory, alongside an intermediate citation for improper sewage disposal.
What These Violations Mean
The most widespread high-severity violation this week was the absence of a written employee health policy, cited at Café Bea, La Bodega, Go-Go, Kami-Koi Sushi Fusion, Canton Lee, El Palacio de Los Jugos, Mr and Mrs Bun, Los Catrachos, and Vale Food Company Brickell. Without a written policy, there is no mechanism to prevent a sick employee from handling food. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads efficiently through food handled by infected workers. The policy is not a formality. It is the first line of prevention.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, cited at Café Bea, La Bodega, Go-Go, Paseo Catracho, El Rio Lindo, Reys Pizza, El Palacio de Los Jugos, Mr and Mrs Bun, and Los Catrachos, means the supply chain for that food cannot be verified. If a customer becomes ill, there is no reliable way to trace the ingredient back to its origin, identify other affected customers, or issue a recall. The USDA and FDA inspection system that licensed suppliers must pass exists precisely to catch contamination before it reaches a kitchen.
Parasite destruction failures at Café Bea, Los Catrachos, and Vale Food Company Brickell carry a specific risk for raw-fish menus. Fish served raw or undercooked must be frozen to specific temperatures for specific durations to kill parasites including Anisakis, a roundworm that can embed in the stomach lining. A sushi restaurant, a Honduran seafood spot, and a Brickell health-food café all failed this standard in the same week.
Chemical storage violations at Paseo Catracho, Reys Pizza, Canton Lee, El Palacio de Los Jugos, Mr and Mrs Bun, Los Catrachos, and China Buffet represent a direct contamination risk. Cleaning chemicals stored near or above food preparation areas can contaminate food through spills, mislabeling, or misuse. The risk is not theoretical. Chemical poisoning from improperly stored restaurant cleaners is documented in outbreak records nationally.
The Longer Record
La Bodega Restaurant carries 49 prior inspections on record, the highest count of any facility in this week's data, and still drew 11 high-severity violations including food sourcing failures and missing employee illness policies. Forty-nine inspections is a long institutional history with state regulators. The violations documented this week are not the kind that appear because a new employee made a mistake on a busy shift. No written illness policy and food from an unknown source are systemic failures.
Mr and Mrs Bun has 36 prior inspections on record. El Gallito Grill, which was emergency-closed this week, has 33. The Chinese Restaurant also has 33. A facility with three dozen prior inspections has been visited by state regulators repeatedly. The presence of improper sewage disposal at Mr and Mrs Bun and The Chinese Restaurant after that many visits suggests those conditions were either not corrected or recurred without consequence.
Go-Go at 926 Alton Road has 28 inspections on record and drew 10 high-severity violations this week, including the failure to properly use time as a public health control. China Buffet and Paseo Catracho each have 30 prior inspections on record. Both were cited this week for missing shellfish traceability records, a violation that requires maintaining physical tags from shellfish shipments, a straightforward documentation task that has apparently not been established at either location across dozens of inspection cycles.
El Palacio de Los Jugos stands out in the opposite direction. With only 7 prior inspections on record, it is among the newest facilities in this week's data, yet it drew 8 high-severity violations including two chemical storage failures and no employee health policy. Vale Food Company Brickell, with 27 prior inspections, still had no parasite destruction procedures in place for a menu that includes raw fish. That violation at a Brickell restaurant with a health-forward brand and nearly three dozen prior inspection visits remains unresolved in this week's records.