MIAMI, FL. Inspectors visiting Moshi Moshi Brickell at 1700 SW 3 Ave on May 11 found that the restaurant had not followed parasite destruction procedures, a failure that means raw fish served to customers may have contained live parasites, including Anisakis roundworm and tapeworm. The restaurant was not closed.
That single violation was one of seven high-severity citations inspectors documented during the visit. Two intermediate violations were added to the tally.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction failure is particularly significant at a sushi restaurant, where raw fish is the core product. State rules require fish intended to be served raw to be frozen to specific temperatures for specific durations, a process that kills parasites before they reach a customer's plate. Records show that process was not being followed.
Inspectors also cited an employee for not reporting illness symptoms. At a restaurant serving raw and minimally cooked food, a sick worker handling fish, rice, or utensils is a direct transmission route for norovirus and other pathogens that spread person to person.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and similar equipment that go uncleaned between uses become transfer points for bacteria from one food to the next.
Inspectors found that food was not being cooked to required minimum temperatures, and that time was not being properly used as a public health control. When a restaurant opts to track time rather than temperature for food safety, strict protocols govern how long food can sit in the temperature danger zone. Those protocols were not being met.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. That notice is the mechanism by which customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, the elderly, and young children are warned that certain menu items carry elevated risk. Without it, those diners have no way to make an informed choice.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food. Multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned, a condition that allows bacterial biofilms to develop on surfaces that touch food at every service. Toilet facilities were inadequate or improperly maintained, a condition that undermines the handwashing infrastructure employees depend on throughout a shift.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure carries a specific and concrete risk for a sushi operation. Anisakis, a roundworm found in many ocean fish species, causes a condition called anisakiasis when ingested alive. Symptoms include severe abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting, and the worm can embed itself in the stomach or intestinal wall. Proper freezing, required by the state, kills the parasite before it reaches the customer. When that step is skipped, the risk is not theoretical.
The illness reporting failure sits alongside it as a second acute danger. Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, and food handlers are its most efficient vector. A worker who does not report symptoms and continues preparing raw fish or handling clean utensils can contaminate dozens of servings before anyone knows there is a problem.
The chemical storage violation adds a separate category of risk entirely. Cleaning agents and sanitizers stored near or above food preparation areas can contaminate food through spills or mislabeling. Acute chemical poisoning from restaurant food, while less common than bacterial illness, produces rapid and severe symptoms and is entirely preventable.
The missing consumer advisory is a systemic failure, not an oversight. Moshi Moshi Brickell is a sushi restaurant. Raw fish is not an incidental menu item. Every day the advisory is absent, every customer who orders a raw preparation is making a choice without the information the state requires them to have.
The Longer Record
The May 11 inspection did not arrive in a vacuum. Three days earlier, on May 8, inspectors had visited the same restaurant and found 12 high-severity violations and 2 intermediate ones, the highest single-inspection violation count in the facility's recorded history. The May 11 visit, with 7 high-severity violations, came after that inspection, not before it.
Across 14 inspections on record, Moshi Moshi Brickell has accumulated 98 total violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern is not consistent. Inspections in September 2025 and December 2024 found zero high-severity violations, suggesting the kitchen is capable of meeting standards. But the restaurant has also produced high violation counts in April 2024 (5 high-severity), June 2023 (3 high-severity), and August 2022 (3 high-severity). The back-to-back inspections of May 8 and May 11, 2026, with a combined 19 high-severity violations in three days, represent a significant departure even within that uneven history.
Open for Business
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when violations pose an immediate threat to public health. Pest infestations, sewage backups, and complete loss of refrigeration are among the conditions that typically trigger that response.
Seven high-severity violations at a raw-fish restaurant, including failed parasite destruction, an ill employee not reporting symptoms, and improperly stored toxic chemicals, did not trigger a closure on May 11.
The restaurant remained open.