MIAMI, FL. A state inspector walked into Miyako Japanese Restaurant at 7902 NW 36 St on July 27, 2026, and found food that had not been cooked to the minimum required temperature, a violation that means live pathogens survive on the plate and reach the customer.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The cooking temperature violation is the most direct hazard. Poultry not reaching 165 degrees Fahrenheit can carry live Salmonella to the table. At a Japanese restaurant serving cooked items alongside raw preparations, that failure sits alongside a separate problem: no consumer advisory posted to warn diners that raw or undercooked items are on the menu.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food areas. That is not a paperwork problem. Mislabeled or misplaced chemicals can contaminate food directly, and the exposure can cause acute poisoning.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep counters, and utensils that touch every item leaving the kitchen, were found not properly cleaned or sanitized. That condition creates a transfer route for bacteria from one dish to the next, regardless of how carefully any individual item is cooked.
The inspector also cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock identification records. Miyako serves shellfish, which are consumed raw or lightly cooked and carry concentrated risk from waters that may be contaminated. Without intact tags and records, there is no way to trace a shellfish illness back to its source.
Rounding out the high-severity list: no written employee health policy. That means no documented procedure requiring sick workers to stay out of the kitchen.
The two intermediate violations, improper sewage or wastewater disposal and inadequate ventilation and lighting, added to a picture of a facility with systemic maintenance failures, not isolated oversights.
What These Violations Mean
The cooking temperature citation is not a technicality. Salmonella, Campylobacter, and other pathogens survive in poultry held below 165 degrees. A customer who orders a cooked dish and receives one that never reached that temperature has no way of knowing it. There is no visible sign of undercooking in many preparations.
The missing consumer advisory compounds that risk. Japanese restaurants routinely serve raw fish, undercooked egg, and lightly seared proteins. Florida law requires a written advisory on the menu or a visible posted notice so that pregnant women, elderly diners, young children, and people with compromised immune systems can make an informed decision. Without it, those customers are eating raw preparations without any warning that a risk exists.
The shellfish traceability failure matters most when something goes wrong. If a diner gets sick from oysters or clams, investigators need the harvest tags to identify the source water, pull the lot, and prevent others from being exposed. No records means no trace, and no trace means the contamination source stays open.
The chemical storage violation and the sewage disposal citation together suggest that basic facility management is not functioning. Chemicals near food and improper wastewater handling are not the kinds of violations that appear in a well-run kitchen.
The Longer Record
The July 27 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Miyako has been inspected 24 times and has accumulated 227 total violations across that history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern across the most recent inspections is consistent. In December 2025, inspectors cited 10 high-severity violations in a single visit. In October 2023, another inspection produced 10 high-severity violations. The July 2026 inspection, with six high-severity citations, is not the worst the record shows.
A follow-up inspection on August 6, 2026, ten days after the July visit, found three high-severity violations and two intermediate violations still present. The most serious categories had not been fully resolved.
Every inspection in the available history going back to March 2023 has produced at least three high-severity violations. There has not been a single clean inspection in that span. The October 2024 visit found four high-severity violations. The May 2024 visit found four. The December 2024 visit found three.
Still Open
Six high-severity violations on July 27. Three more high-severity violations documented at the follow-up ten days later. A cumulative record of 227 violations across 24 inspections, with high-severity citations at every inspection in the past three years.
Miyako Japanese Restaurant remained open through all of it.
