MIAMI, FL. Two South Florida restaurants each accumulated 12 high-severity violations in a single inspection week, and a third, one of Miami's most recognizable dining landmarks, was cited for serving food from unapproved sources while also failing to cook food to required minimum temperatures.
State inspectors working Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties between July 31 and August 6, 2026 flagged 15 restaurants carrying three or more high-severity violations. Twelve of those facilities were in Miami-Dade County alone.
The Week's Worst
Morgans on NW 7th Avenue and Crafty Crab Restaurant on NE 8th Street in Homestead tied for the week's highest count, each drawing 12 high-severity violations. At Morgans, inspectors documented that no person in charge was present or performing duties, that the facility had no written employee health policy, that at least one employee was not reporting illness symptoms, and that food arrived from unapproved or unknown sources. Shell stock identification records were also inadequate, meaning inspectors could not trace the origin of shellfish on the premises.
Crafty Crab carried a different but equally serious cluster. Inspectors found inadequate handwashing by food employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, and no documentation that employees were required to report symptoms of illness. The facility also lacked proper shell stock identification and failed to properly apply time as a public health control for food held outside temperature range.
New Canton on SW 8th Street drew 11 high-severity violations, including food from unapproved sources, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shell stock records, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures for fish, and food not cooked to required minimum temperatures. That combination, unapproved sourcing plus undercooking plus no parasite controls, covers three distinct pathways by which a single meal can transmit serious illness.
Pho Tastic on SW 88th Street accumulated 10 high-severity violations, including no person in charge, no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shell stock records, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, unclean food contact surfaces, and food not cooked to required temperatures.
High-Profile Names in the Record
Versailles Restaurant on SW 8th Street, among the most visited Cuban restaurants in the country, drew 9 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited inadequate handwashing by food employees, food from unapproved or unknown sources, inadequate shell stock identification, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, improper use of time as a public health control, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
Sadelle's Coconut Grove on Mary Street, a location of the nationally recognized New York-based restaurant group, also reached 9 high-severity violations. The findings included no person in charge, no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, unclean food contact surfaces, food not cooked to required temperatures, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items.
Amalfi Llama Miami on Biscayne Boulevard drew 8 high-severity violations and was the only facility this week cited for failing to demonstrate allergen awareness. Inspectors also noted food from unapproved sources, no employee health policy, no person in charge, improper handwashing technique, unclean food contact surfaces, improper use of time as a public health control, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
Yume LLC on S. Dixie Highway in Cutler Bay reached 9 high-severity violations including no employee health policy, food from unapproved sources, inadequate shell stock records, no parasite destruction procedures, unclean food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw foods, and two separate chemical storage violations.
In Broward County, Saiko-I Sushi Lounge and Hibachi on W. Broward Boulevard in Plantation drew 9 high-severity violations. Inspectors found no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, inadequate shell stock records, unclean food contact surfaces, and improper use of time as a public health control.
Palm Beach County's sole entry this week was Abe and Louie's on W. Glades Road in Boca Raton, a steakhouse that drew 4 high-severity violations. Inspectors found no person in charge, no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness, and food not cooked to required minimum temperatures.
La Latina Coral Gables on S. Le Jeune Road drew 9 high-severity violations, including inadequate handwashing facilities, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition or mislabeled, inadequate shell stock records, and food not cooked to required temperatures.
Canton Sushi Maki Dadeland on S. Dixie Highway drew 4 high-severity violations centered on chemicals: toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, alongside unclean food contact surfaces and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
La Granja Pollos a la Brasa on W. 12th Avenue in Hialeah drew 4 high-severity violations including food from unapproved sources, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, an employee not reporting illness, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. The facility also had two intermediate violations for improper sewage or wastewater disposal and inadequate ventilation.
What These Violations Mean
The single most pervasive pattern this week was the employee illness cluster: no written health policy, employees not required to report symptoms, and no active manager to enforce either. Morgans, Pho Tastic, Sadelle's Coconut Grove, Saiko-I, and Abe and Louie's all drew all three of those violations together. Without a written policy, a sick cook has no formal obligation to stay home. Without a manager present to enforce it, even a policy that exists on paper goes unmonitored. CDC data links this combination directly to multi-victim Norovirus outbreaks, where a single food handler working while ill can expose dozens of customers in a single shift.
Unapproved food sourcing showed up at eight facilities this week, including Versailles, New Canton, Sadelle's Coconut Grove, Saiko-I, Amalfi Llama, Yume LLC, La Granja, and La Latina Coral Gables. Food from unapproved sources has bypassed USDA and FDA inspection entirely. If a customer becomes ill after eating at one of those restaurants and inspectors need to trace the product back to a distributor or farm, the paperwork trail does not exist.
The shellfish traceability problem compounds that risk. Morgans, Crafty Crab, New Canton, Pho Tastic, Versailles, Yume LLC, Saiko-I, and La Latina Coral Gables all lacked adequate shell stock identification records. Oysters, clams, and mussels are among the highest-risk foods served in South Florida because they are frequently eaten raw or barely cooked. The tags that accompany shellfish shipments are the only way to identify a contaminated harvest lot if an outbreak occurs. Without those records, a Vibrio or norovirus cluster traced to a specific restaurant cannot be traced any further.
Parasite destruction failures at New Canton, Pho Tastic, Versailles, and Yume LLC mean fish served at those locations may not have undergone the required freezing protocol that kills Anisakis and other parasites. That violation, combined with undercooking citations at New Canton, Pho Tastic, Versailles, Sadelle's, La Granja, La Latina, and Abe and Louie's, creates conditions where pathogens that proper cooking or freezing would have eliminated reach a customer's plate intact.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for these facilities, which limits what can be said about which locations are chronic underperformers versus first-time violators in serious categories. What the record does show is that several of this week's highest-cited restaurants are not new operations. Versailles has operated on Calle Ocho for decades and draws tourists and locals in volumes few Miami restaurants match. The breadth of its August violations, spanning handwashing failures, unapproved sourcing, undercooking, and chemical storage, is not a profile consistent with an isolated lapse.
Sadelle's Coconut Grove is a newer Miami location of an established national brand. Its 9 high-severity violations this week, including no person in charge and food from unapproved sources, raise questions about whether the standards of the parent operation transferred to the local kitchen.
Crafty Crab in Homestead and New Canton on SW 8th Street each drew violations in categories that tend to compound one another. At Crafty Crab, three separate handwashing failures, no facilities, inadequate practice, and improper technique, mean that even if an employee wanted to wash hands correctly, the infrastructure to do so was not reliably available. At New Canton, the combination of unapproved sourcing, no parasite controls, and undercooking represents a sequential failure at every stage of food handling from receiving through final preparation.
Amalfi Llama on Biscayne Boulevard stands out as the only restaurant this week cited for no allergen awareness, a violation that carries acute risk for the roughly 32 million Americans with diagnosed food allergies. That citation appeared alongside 7 other high-severity violations, suggesting the allergen gap is not an isolated oversight but part of a broader breakdown in food safety management at that location.
