MIAMI, FL. Food from unapproved or unknown sources was on the line at Old Tom's Sports Bar Restaurant on North Kendall Drive when state inspectors visited on August 17, 2026, and that was just one of eight high-severity violations they documented before walking out the door and leaving the restaurant open.
The inspection turned up a list that reads less like a single bad day and more like a facility operating without basic controls in place. Inspectors cited the establishment for food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and employees not reporting symptoms of illness. No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked foods. Handwashing technique was flagged as improper. No person in charge was present or performing duties.
Two intermediate violations rounded out the inspection: improper sewage or wastewater disposal and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What Inspectors Found
The food-source violation is among the most serious on the list. When food arrives from unapproved or unknown suppliers, it has bypassed USDA and FDA inspection checkpoints entirely. That means if a customer gets sick, investigators have no supply chain to trace.
The undercooked food citation compounds that risk. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If the food itself came from an unverified source and was then served undercooked, there is no safety net at either end of the process.
Toxic chemicals stored near or improperly labeled around food represent a separate and immediate hazard. Mislabeled containers or chemicals placed near food preparation areas can cause acute poisoning through direct contamination, with no cooking step to neutralize the exposure.
What These Violations Mean
The employee illness reporting violation is not a paperwork problem. Food workers who do not report symptoms are the primary transmission route for norovirus, which spreads person-to-person and survives on surfaces for days. A single sick employee handling food without reporting can expose dozens of customers before anyone knows there is an outbreak.
The handwashing citation at Old Tom's makes that risk worse. Inspectors did not find that employees skipped handwashing entirely. They found that technique was improper, meaning pathogens can remain on hands even after a washing attempt. Combined with improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, the conditions inspectors documented create multiple overlapping contamination pathways.
The absence of a person in charge performing duties is a management failure with measurable consequences. CDC data links establishments without active managerial control to three times more critical violations than those with engaged supervision on site. Every other violation on this list is, in part, a downstream effect of that one.
Improper sewage or wastewater disposal adds a fecal contamination risk throughout the facility. That violation, listed as intermediate, can affect surfaces, equipment, and food storage areas in ways that are not always visible to employees or customers.
The Longer Record
The August 2026 inspection is not an outlier. State records show Old Tom's Sports Bar has accumulated 170 total violations across 13 inspections on record, and the high-severity counts have been consistently elevated across nearly every visit.
In December 2025, inspectors returned on back-to-back days. The first visit, on December 10, produced 10 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations and triggered an emergency closure for fly activity. The restaurant reopened the following day after a follow-up inspection found 4 high-severity and 1 intermediate violation still on the books.
That closure is the only emergency shutdown in the facility's recorded history. The December 10 visit remains the single worst inspection on record, but the August 2026 visit, with 8 high-severity violations, is not far behind.
The pattern across inspections is consistent. In April 2024, inspectors cited 8 high-severity violations. In September 2024, a visit on the 6th produced 9 high-severity and 5 intermediate violations. A follow-up two days later still found 3 high-severity violations. In December 2024, another inspection turned up 7 high-severity violations.
No inspection in the available record shows the facility clearing its high-severity violations entirely. The counts fluctuate, but they have never reached zero.
Still Open
State inspectors documented eight high-severity violations at Old Tom's Sports Bar on August 17, 2026, including food from an unknown source, undercooked food, improperly stored toxic chemicals, and no manager present or performing duties.
The restaurant was not closed.
