MIAMI, FL. A coffee shop on NE 2nd Avenue accumulated 11 high-severity violations in a single inspection last week, more than any other facility inspectors visited across Miami during a stretch that flagged critical problems at 15 restaurants and food establishments.
Surry Hills Coffee at 8226 NE 2nd Ave drew citations for parasite destruction procedures not being followed, inadequate shellfish traceability records, improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition, and the improper use of time as a public health control, among others. Two violations stood out for their outbreak potential: the facility had no adequate employee health policy, and an employee was cited for not reporting symptoms of illness.
Those two violations together are the combination inspectors and epidemiologists most associate with multi-victim outbreaks. Surry Hills has 15 prior inspections on record.
The Week's Worst Findings
El Turco at 140 NE 39th St drew 10 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. Among the most serious: no person in charge was present or performing duties, no adequate employee health policy existed, handwashing facilities were inadequate, and toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for serving raw or undercooked foods without a consumer advisory.
Salumeria 104 at 3451 NE 1st Ave recorded 9 high-severity violations, including food not cooked to required minimum temperature, inadequate shellfish traceability, improper use of time as a public health control, and toxic chemicals stored improperly. No person in charge was present during the inspection.
Primo's Restaurant and Lounge at 1717 N Bayshore Dr was cited for 8 high-severity violations, including parasite destruction procedures not followed, inadequate shellfish records, and no person in charge. Inspectors also found handwashing facilities inadequate and food contact surfaces improperly cleaned.
Narbona at CocoWalk, 3015 Grand Ave, drew 8 high-severity violations with no intermediate violations at all, a profile that indicates the most serious problems were concentrated at the top of the risk scale. Inspectors cited food from an unapproved or unknown source, food not cooked to minimum temperature, required procedures for specialized processes not followed, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Sanpocho Restaurant at 901 SW 8th St was flagged for food from an unapproved source, food not cooked to minimum temperature, an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. The allergen citation is notable: the facility serves a customer base that may include individuals with severe food allergies, and 30,000 emergency room visits annually in the U.S. are linked to allergic reactions.
Sushi Sake at 900 Biscayne Blvd recorded 7 high-severity violations including inadequate shellfish traceability records, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. For a sushi operation where raw fish is central to the menu, the absence of a consumer advisory is a direct gap in the information customers need to make safe choices.
Isla del Encanto at 12850 SW 120th St drew 6 high-severity violations, including toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, and an employee not reporting illness symptoms.
Olga Express Sub and Pasta at 10000 SW 56th St was cited for 6 high-severity violations: no employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shellfish records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, toxic chemicals improperly stored, and no allergen awareness demonstrated.
Tap 42 at 3252 NE 1st Ave drew 6 high-severity violations including food from an unapproved source, food not cooked to minimum temperature, and no allergen awareness. Inspectors also cited an intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal, which creates a fecal contamination risk throughout a facility.
Monty's at Coconut Grove, 2550 S Bayshore Dr, was cited for 6 high-severity violations including no person in charge, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, food from an unapproved source, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces. Inspectors also documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
Fuddruckers at 14875 S Dixie Hwy drew 4 high-severity violations including food not cooked to minimum temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned. An intermediate violation noted single-use items being improperly reused.
Titanic Brewing and Restaurant at 5813 Ponce de Leon Blvd was cited for 3 high-severity violations: improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
Maman at 140 NE 39th St drew 2 high-severity violations, for improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and no allergen awareness demonstrated. Sabor Venezolano Kendall at 13762 SW 88th St recorded 1 high-severity violation, for no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
What These Violations Mean
The two violations at Surry Hills Coffee that most directly threaten public health are the absence of an employee health policy and the citation for an employee not reporting illness symptoms. These are not paperwork problems. Norovirus, the pathogen most commonly spread by sick food workers, can be transmitted to dozens of customers from a single infected employee before anyone realizes there is an outbreak. A written health policy that requires workers to report symptoms and stay home is one of the few controls that interrupts that chain before it starts.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, cited at Narbona at CocoWalk, Sanpocho Restaurant, Tap 42, and Monty's at Coconut Grove, represents a different kind of risk. When food enters a kitchen through an uninspected supply chain, there is no traceability if someone gets sick. If a customer develops a Listeria infection two weeks after dining out, investigators need to be able to trace that food back to its origin. Unapproved sourcing cuts that thread entirely.
Parasite destruction failures, cited at both Surry Hills Coffee and Primo's Restaurant and Lounge, are particularly serious at establishments serving raw or lightly cooked fish. Anisakis worms and tapeworm larvae survive in fish that has not been frozen to the required temperature for the required duration. A customer who eats improperly handled raw fish has no way of knowing the risk.
The improper storage of toxic chemicals, documented at El Turco, Salumeria 104, Sushi Sake, Olga Express, Isla del Encanto, Fuddruckers, and Titanic Brewing, is a violation that can cause immediate harm. Cleaning chemicals stored near or above food preparation surfaces can contaminate food directly, and mislabeled chemical containers have caused acute poisoning incidents when workers mistake them for food-safe products.
The Longer Record
Several facilities cited this week have extensive inspection histories that put the current findings in sharper context. Fuddruckers on S Dixie Hwy has 35 prior inspections on record, the highest count of any facility in this week's data. Isla del Encanto has 34, Primo's Restaurant and Lounge has 32, and Monty's at Coconut Grove and Titanic Brewing and Restaurant each have 28. These are not facilities encountering inspectors for the first time.
Salumeria 104 has 25 prior inspections on record and this week produced 9 high-severity violations, including repeated categories, such as shellfish traceability and improper handwashing, that appear across multiple facilities with long histories. Sushi Sake has 27 prior inspections and drew shellfish traceability and illness-reporting violations this week, both of which are especially consequential for a raw-fish operation.
Narbona at CocoWalk has only 12 prior inspections on record and El Turco has 11, making both relatively newer to the inspection record. Both produced among the highest violation counts this week: 8 and 10 high-severity violations respectively. El Turco's citation for food from an unapproved source alongside the absence of any employee health policy represents a compounding risk profile for a location still early in its inspection history.
Surry Hills Coffee, with 15 prior inspections and 11 high-severity violations this week, sits in an uncomfortable middle ground: enough history to have established patterns, and a current inspection that suggests those patterns have not been corrected. Whether the parasite destruction failure and the shellfish traceability gap at that NE 2nd Avenue address have appeared in prior inspection cycles is a question the facility's full inspection record, not this week's snapshot alone, would answer.
