MIAMI, FL. A hotel kitchen on Biscayne Boulevard racked up 12 high-severity violations in a single inspection last week, the highest single-facility count in a stretch that saw state inspectors flag 15 South Florida restaurants across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties between August 17 and August 23, 2026.
The Worst of the Week
AC Hotel Miami Midtown at 3400 Biscayne Blvd drew 12 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate citations. Inspectors cited the kitchen for food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shellfish identification records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and food not cooked to minimum required temperatures. The facility also had no person in charge performing duties, no employee health policy, inadequate handwashing facilities, and documented improper handwashing technique.
El Berrinche at 13911 SW 42nd St in Miami followed with 11 high-severity violations. Inspectors found employees not reporting illness symptoms, no employee health policy, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition or adulterated, inadequate shellfish records, and parasite destruction procedures not followed. That last citation, combined with the shellfish traceability failure, is particularly significant for a kitchen serving raw or lightly cooked seafood.
Mochima Bistro at 11030 SW 184th St in Miami accumulated 10 high-severity violations. The inspection documented no person in charge, no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, inadequate shellfish records, and time as a public health control not properly used.
Across the Counties
In Broward County, South China Restaurant at 5550 Flamingo Rd in Cooper City recorded 10 high-severity violations, including an employee not reporting illness symptoms, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, inadequate shellfish records, and parasite destruction procedures not followed.
Cilantro Asian Bistro at 11590 W SR 84 in Davie also hit 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited no person in charge, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing by food employees, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shellfish records, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Tee Jay Thai Sushi at 2254 Wilton Dr in Wilton Manors drew 9 high-severity violations, including food from unapproved sources, inadequate shellfish records, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to minimum temperature, and no person in charge performing duties.
In Palm Beach County, Schooner's Market at 1001 N Highway A1A in Jupiter, a beachside market on one of the county's most-traveled tourist corridors, was cited for food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to minimum required temperature, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
Back in Miami-Dade, Ashoka Indian Restaurant at 12663 S Dixie Hwy in Pinecrest drew 8 high-severity violations, among the most varied of any facility this week. The list included no employee health policy, food from unapproved sources, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to minimum temperature, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, toxic substances improperly identified or used, and required procedures for specialized processes not followed.
Latin Cafe 2000 at 1192 W 49th St in Hialeah was cited for 9 high-severity violations, including no person in charge, no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to minimum temperature, time as a public health control not properly used, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Akashi Japanese Restaurant at 5830 S Dixie Hwy in South Miami drew 5 high-severity violations, including inadequate shellfish records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, toxic chemicals improperly stored, and required procedures for specialized processes not followed. Inspectors also cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal and single-use items being reused.
Five Spice Vietnamese Pho and Sushi Bar at 1801 NE 8th St in Homestead was cited for inadequate handwashing by food employees, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food not cooked to minimum temperature, time as a public health control not properly used, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Michael's Genuine Food and Drink at 130 NE 40th St in Miami, one of the city's most recognized upscale dining destinations, was cited for 4 high-severity violations: no person in charge performing duties, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and no allergen awareness demonstrated.
New Dragon Restaurant at 5902 W 16th Ave in Hialeah drew 2 high-severity violations for no employee health policy and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Saiko-I Sushi Lounge and Hibachi at 5970 SW 18th St in Boca Raton received one high-severity citation for no person in charge performing duties. El Rinconcito Colombiano No. 2 at 9900 Southern Blvd in Royal Palm Beach was cited for one high-severity violation involving food contact surfaces not properly cleaned.
What These Violations Mean
The single most dangerous pattern this week was the cluster of illness-reporting failures. At El Berrinche, Mochima Bistro, South China Restaurant, Cilantro Asian Bistro, and Latin Cafe 2000, inspectors found employees not reporting symptoms of illness alongside absent or inadequate employee health policies. These two violations together remove every structural barrier between a sick food worker and a customer's plate. Norovirus, which causes the majority of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads through exactly this pathway: a worker with symptoms, no policy requiring them to stay home, and no documentation that anyone in management knew to ask.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, documented at AC Hotel Miami Midtown, El Berrinche, Mochima Bistro, South China Restaurant, and Tee Jay Thai Sushi, means those kitchens were using ingredients that bypassed federal inspection. If a customer becomes sick after eating at one of those facilities, investigators would have no supply chain to trace. There is no lot number, no distributor record, no way to identify whether other restaurants received the same contaminated product.
Parasite destruction failures at El Berrinche, South China Restaurant, Cilantro Asian Bistro, Five Spice Vietnamese Pho and Sushi Bar, and Tee Jay Thai Sushi are specific to raw fish service. Fish served raw or undercooked must be commercially frozen to kill parasites including Anisakis, which causes severe abdominal pain and can require surgical removal from the gut wall. When the required freezing protocols are not documented or followed, that risk transfers directly to the customer.
The allergen violation at Michael's Genuine Food and Drink stands apart from the others. Food allergies affect tens of millions of Americans, and a kitchen where staff cannot demonstrate allergen awareness is one where a customer's disclosure of a peanut or shellfish allergy cannot be reliably acted upon. At a restaurant with Michael's Genuine's profile and price point, that gap is notable.
The Longer Record
The data this week does not include prior inspection counts for individual facilities, which limits direct comparison of chronic versus new violators. What the violation profiles do reveal is a set of restaurants accumulating citations in the same high-risk categories simultaneously, which inspectors and public health researchers associate with systemic management failure rather than isolated lapses.
The presence of no person in charge at AC Hotel Miami Midtown, Mochima Bistro, Cilantro Asian Bistro, Latin Cafe 2000, Tee Jay Thai Sushi, Michael's Genuine Food and Drink, and Saiko-I Sushi Lounge in a single week's inspections is significant on its own. CDC research links the absence of active managerial control to three times the rate of critical violations. When that citation appears alongside missing employee health policies and undocumented food sources, as it did at multiple facilities this week, the violations are not coincidental.
Schooner's Market on Jupiter's A1A corridor sits in a stretch of Palm Beach County that draws heavy tourist traffic year-round. The combination of food not cooked to minimum temperature and toxic chemicals improperly stored at a market-style operation, where customers may not expect the same scrutiny they apply to a full-service kitchen, is worth noting. Ashoka Indian Restaurant in Pinecrest drew the broadest variety of high-severity citations of any facility this week, eight violations spanning chemical storage, food sourcing, cooking temperatures, and specialized process controls, suggesting failures distributed across multiple kitchen functions rather than concentrated in one area.
Latin Cafe 2000 in Hialeah had no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods alongside a citation for food not cooked to minimum temperature. Those two violations in the same inspection mean customers were not informed that some items were served undercooked, and at least some items that should have been fully cooked were not reaching safe temperatures either.
