MIAMI, FL. A restaurant on NW 7th Avenue in Miami accumulated 12 high-severity violations in a single inspection week, including food sourced from unapproved suppliers, no employee illness reporting policy, and food contact surfaces that inspectors deemed improperly cleaned and sanitized.
The Worst of the Week
Morgans at 2800 NW 7th Avenue led the tri-county region with 12 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited the restaurant for food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, inadequate shell stock identification records, food in poor condition, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. The person in charge was either absent or not performing required duties. No employee health policy was in place, and at least one employee was not reporting illness symptoms.
Banquet at 100 Chopin Plaza, in the heart of downtown Miami, drew 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors documented inadequate handwashing by food employees, improper hand and arm washing technique, food in poor condition, inadequate shell stock records, and parasite destruction procedures not followed. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for failing to properly use time as a public health control, a violation that means food was allowed to sit in the bacterial growth zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, without a documented time limit.
Little Hen at 3451 NE 1st Avenue in Miami's Wynwood area drew 9 high-severity violations, including one that stands out: toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled near food preparation areas. Inspectors also found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures and inadequate handwashing facilities, meaning the physical infrastructure for hand hygiene was itself deficient.
Craft Midtown at 3451 NE 1st Avenue, Suite 103, one floor removed from Little Hen in the same building, drew 8 high-severity violations including food from unapproved sources, no allergen awareness demonstrated, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Two restaurants in the same complex, inspected the same week, both with food sourcing and chemical storage violations.
Poke House at 3301 NE 1st Street drew 7 high-severity violations, including parasite destruction procedures not followed, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. A poke restaurant that cannot document parasite destruction for raw fish and has no allergen protocols in place represents a compounding risk for customers with seafood sensitivities.
Cvi.che 105 Dadeland at 7535 SW 88th Street in the Dadeland Mall area drew 7 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited the restaurant for parasite destruction procedures not followed, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and single-use items being reused. The restaurant's concept is built around ceviche, a raw fish preparation.
Moore Club Bev Co at 4040 NE 2nd Avenue drew 7 high-severity and 5 intermediate violations, the highest combined intermediate count of any facility this week. Inspectors found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, time as a public health control not properly used, and two separate chemical violations: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
Broward and Palm Beach
In Broward County, Koume Japanese Restaurant at 11905 W Sunrise Boulevard in Plantation led the county with 9 high-severity violations. Inspectors found food from unapproved sources, inadequate shell stock records, time as a public health control not properly used, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. A Japanese restaurant serving raw fish without a consumer advisory and without documented parasite destruction procedures presents a direct risk to immunocompromised diners.
Carlucci's Brick Oven Trattoria and Pizzeria at 3420 E Atlantic Boulevard in Pompano Beach drew 8 high-severity violations. The person in charge was absent or not performing duties. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for parasite destruction procedures not followed, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and required procedures for specialized processes not followed. That last violation, specific to techniques like curing, smoking, or reduced-oxygen packaging, suggests the kitchen is operating outside standard cooking parameters without the required documentation.
Jet Runway Cafe at 5540 NW 21st Terrace in Fort Lauderdale, located near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, drew 7 high-severity violations including no person in charge, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, and parasite destruction procedures not followed. The cafe drew zero intermediate violations, meaning every citation inspectors issued was at the highest severity tier.
In Palm Beach County, Katsumori Asian Fusion at 1000 Old Okeechobee Road in West Palm Beach drew 7 high-severity violations. Inspectors found food from unapproved sources, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. No person in charge was present or performing duties.
Cafe Landwer at 9858 Clint Moore Road in Boca Raton drew 7 high-severity violations including two separate chemical citations: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for food contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards, a violation that overlaps directly with the chemical storage failures documented in the same inspection.
What These Violations Mean
The most pervasive violation across this week's inspections was inadequate shellfish traceability, cited at Morgans, Banquet, Koume Japanese, Little Hen, Carlucci's, Craft Midtown, Jet Runway Cafe, Cvi.che 105 Dadeland, and Cafe Landwer. Oysters, clams, and mussels are consumed raw or lightly cooked, and they filter water as they grow, concentrating bacteria and viruses. Without shell stock identification tags, there is no way to trace a contaminated batch back to its harvest location if customers get sick. A single contaminated harvest can affect dozens of diners before anyone connects their illness to a meal.
Parasite destruction failures at Koume Japanese, Banquet, Carlucci's, Jet Runway Cafe, Cvi.che 105 Dadeland, and Poke House represent a different category of risk. Parasites including Anisakis in raw fish require specific freezing protocols before the fish is served. When those protocols are not followed, and no consumer advisory is posted, a customer has no way of knowing the fish on their plate was not treated. At Cvi.che 105 Dadeland and Poke House, both restaurants built around raw fish preparations, inspectors found both the parasite destruction failure and the missing consumer advisory in the same inspection.
The chemical violations at Cafe Landwer, Moore Club Bev Co, Little Hen, Craft Midtown, and Katsumori Asian Fusion are among the most immediately dangerous findings in any inspection. Cleaning chemicals stored near food preparation surfaces can contaminate food through spills, mislabeling, or spray drift. Cafe Landwer drew three overlapping chemical citations in a single visit: food contaminated by chemical hazards, toxic chemicals improperly stored, and toxic substances improperly used. Those three violations in combination describe a kitchen where chemical contamination of food is not a theoretical risk.
The management absence violation, cited at Morgans, Carlucci's, Jet Runway Cafe, Cvi.che 105 Dadeland, Katsumori Asian Fusion, Cafe Landwer, and Moore Club Bev Co, is a structural failure that amplifies every other violation on the list. CDC data shows that establishments without active managerial control accumulate three times more critical violations. When no qualified person is present to enforce food safety protocols, the violations documented in these inspections are the predictable result.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for the facilities listed this week, which limits the ability to place these findings in historical context. What the violation profiles do reveal is a pattern of compounding failures: restaurants where a single high-severity citation might be an isolated lapse, but where seven, nine, or twelve high-severity violations in one visit indicate systemic breakdowns across multiple food safety categories simultaneously.
Morgans, with 12 high-severity violations, drew citations spanning management, employee health, food sourcing, shellfish traceability, and sanitation. That breadth, across five distinct violation categories in a single inspection, is not the profile of a restaurant with one bad day.
Cafe Landwer in Boca Raton drew three chemical-related violations in a single visit, including a citation for food already contaminated by chemical hazards. That specific violation, food contamination, is the downstream consequence of the storage and handling failures documented in the same inspection. The contamination had already occurred.
Le Genie Restaurant at 178 NE 167th Street in North Miami Beach drew 5 high-severity violations including food not cooked to required minimum temperatures and inadequate cooling equipment, an intermediate violation. A kitchen that cannot cook food to safe temperatures and cannot reliably hold cold food at safe temperatures has failures at both ends of the temperature spectrum.
