MIAMI BEACH, FL. Back in April 2026, state inspectors walked into Paya on Alton Road and found something that should concern anyone who has eaten there: food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning ingredients that never passed through USDA or FDA inspection checkpoints before reaching customers' plates.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented during the April 13 inspection. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food sourcing violation was paired with a second finding that compounds the concern: inspectors cited inadequate shell stock identification and records. Paya serves shellfish, and state law requires that every batch of oysters, clams, or mussels arrive with a tag identifying the harvest location, harvest date, and dealer. Without those records, there is no way to trace a shellfish-related illness back to its origin.
Inspectors also documented that food was not cooked to the required minimum temperature. Undercooked food at a restaurant that cannot verify where its ingredients came from is a layered risk.
The handwashing findings added a third dimension. Inspectors cited both inadequate handwashing facilities, meaning the physical infrastructure was insufficient, and improper hand and arm washing technique, meaning employees who did attempt to wash their hands were not doing it correctly. Food contact surfaces were also found to be improperly cleaned and sanitized. A separate intermediate violation covered multi-use utensils that had not been properly cleaned.
Six high-severity violations. One intermediate. The restaurant remained open.
What These Violations Mean
The food from unapproved sources violation is not a paperwork technicality. Suppliers who operate outside the regulated food chain are not subject to USDA or FDA inspections, which means contamination from Listeria, Salmonella, or E. coli can enter a kitchen without any safety checkpoint catching it first. If a customer gets sick, there is no supply chain record to trace the illness back to a source.
The shellfish records violation sharpens that problem considerably. Oysters and clams are frequently consumed raw or lightly cooked, which means any pathogen present at harvest survives to the plate. The tagging system exists precisely because shellfish-borne illness outbreaks, including those involving Vibrio and norovirus, require rapid traceability to stop. At Paya in April, that traceability was absent.
Undercooking is one of the most direct routes to foodborne illness. Salmonella in poultry, for instance, requires an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be destroyed. Food that does not reach that threshold can carry live bacteria to the table.
The dual handwashing findings, inadequate facilities and improper technique, mean that even when employees wanted to wash their hands, the conditions at Paya did not allow them to do it correctly. Combine that with food contact surfaces that were not properly sanitized, and the kitchen's contamination control had multiple simultaneous failures on the same day.
The Longer Record
The April 2026 inspection was not an anomaly. It was the worst single inspection in a pattern that runs back to at least 2023.
Paya Inspection History, 2021-2026
Across eight inspections on record, Paya has accumulated 43 total violations. The facility passed cleanly in September 2021. Every inspection since has produced high-severity findings.
The trajectory is not improving. The November 2025 inspection produced five high-severity violations. Five months later, in April 2026, that number climbed to six. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
Of the seven inspections conducted since 2021, not one ended without at least two high-severity violations. The April 2026 inspection, with its combination of untraceable food, inadequate shellfish records, and undercooking, represents the highest single-visit count in that run.
Paya remained open after inspectors left on April 13.