MIAMI, FL. A Homestead taco restaurant accumulated 13 high-severity violations in a single inspection last week, including employees not reporting illness symptoms, no handwashing facilities adequate for food service, and shellfish on hand with no identification records to trace where it came from.
State inspectors documented those findings at Big Crazy Taco on North Krome Avenue during the week of July 7, 2026. The 13 high-severity citations were the most of any restaurant inspected across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties during that stretch. Four intermediate violations accompanied them.
The inspection found no person in charge present or performing duties, no written employee health policy, and employees not reporting illness symptoms. Inspectors also cited inadequate handwashing by food employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition or adulterated, and shellfish without adequate identification records.
The Violations Across Three Counties
Broward County's worst inspection of the week came at Cilantro Asian Bistro on West State Road 84 in Davie, where inspectors documented 12 high-severity violations. Those included no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing by employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper technique, shellfish without identification records, and a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures for fish served raw or undercooked.
That last violation matters at a restaurant serving Asian cuisine, where raw fish preparations are common. Parasite destruction requires specific freezing protocols before fish is served raw, and inspectors found those procedures were not being followed.
Three Miami-Dade restaurants tied at 11 high-severity violations each. Poke and Tea on Old Cutler Road in Cutler Bay was cited for food from an unapproved or unknown source, food in poor condition, shellfish without identification records, parasite destruction failures, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, alongside employee illness and handwashing violations. A poke restaurant serving raw fish with both unapproved sourcing and parasite destruction failures is a compounding set of problems.
Shois Restaurant on Northwest 112th Avenue in Miami drew 11 high-severity citations including no person in charge, no health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing, improper technique, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces. Six intermediate violations accompanied the high-severity findings.
Sushi Sake on Southwest 42nd Street in Miami matched that total with 11 high-severity violations. In addition to the management and handwashing failures documented at several other locations this week, inspectors found food from unapproved sources, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and an improper use of time as a public health control. That last citation means food sat in the temperature danger zone without the documentation required to use time, rather than temperature, as the safety control.
Happy's Stork Lounge and Rasoi Indian Kitchen on the 79th Street Causeway in North Bay Village collected 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors found no person in charge, no health policy, inadequate handwashing by employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper technique, food from unapproved sources, shellfish without identification records, and food not cooked to the required minimum temperature. Undercooked food at a location that also lacks traceability records for its shellfish compounds the risk at every step of service.
Maison Valentine on 15th Street in Miami Beach drew 10 high-severity violations including no health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper technique, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, shellfish without identification records, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces. Miami Beach draws heavy tourist traffic, and a restaurant serving food from unverified sources with no illness-reporting policy operates in one of the region's highest-volume dining corridors.
Rey's Pizza on Northwest 122nd Street in Hialeah Gardens was cited for nine high-severity violations, including no person in charge, no health policy, employees not reporting illness, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, and improper use of time as a public health control.
Fort Lauderdale's Quarterdeck Seafood Bar and Neighborhood Grill on Southeast 17th Street was the most-cited Broward location after Cilantro Asian Bistro, with nine high-severity violations. Inspectors found no person in charge, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing by employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, shellfish without identification records, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces. A seafood restaurant with no shellfish traceability records and food from unverified sources presents a specific problem: if a customer gets sick, there is no paper trail to follow.
Cvi.che 105 Sawgrass at Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise received eight high-severity violations including no person in charge, employees not reporting illness, improper handwashing technique, shellfish without identification records, food not cooked to minimum temperature, improper use of time as a public health control, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and improperly stored toxic substances. A ceviche restaurant inside one of the busiest malls in the country, with no consumer advisory posted for raw preparations and no proper time controls documented, warrants attention.
Iron Sushi on Aragon Avenue in Coral Gables was cited for eight high-severity violations including inadequate handwashing, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, parasite destruction failures, food not cooked to minimum temperature, improper use of time as a public health control, and two separate chemical storage violations.
Restaurant El Trovador Number 2 on Northeast 8th Street in Homestead drew five high-severity violations: improper handwashing technique, shellfish without identification records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, toxic chemicals improperly stored, and required procedures for specialized food processes not followed. That last citation covers processes like smoking, curing, fermenting, or reduced-oxygen packaging, each of which requires documented safety protocols.
Boteco Miami on Northeast 79th Street was cited for three high-severity violations, including food not cooked to minimum temperature, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and improperly stored chemicals, alongside six intermediate violations that included improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
Pho Tastic on Southwest 88th Street in Miami and La Rueda Cafeteria on West 16th Avenue in Hialeah each drew three or fewer high-severity violations, but both were cited for issues that carry direct public health implications, including improper chemical storage at Pho Tastic and food in poor condition at La Rueda.
What These Violations Mean
The most pervasive finding this week was the cluster of employee illness and handwashing failures appearing together at the same locations. Big Crazy Taco, Cilantro Asian Bistro, Shois Restaurant, Sushi Sake, and Rey's Pizza were each cited for no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, and handwashing failures simultaneously. Those three violations form a direct transmission chain: without a written policy, workers have no formal obligation to report symptoms; without that reporting, sick employees continue handling food; without proper handwashing, whatever pathogens they carry transfer directly to what customers eat. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States annually, spreads primarily through exactly this route.
Shellfish traceability failures appeared at nine of the 15 facilities this week, including Big Crazy Taco, Cilantro Asian Bistro, Poke and Tea, Restaurant El Trovador Number 2, Happy's Stork Lounge, Maison Valentine, Quarterdeck Seafood Bar, and Cvi.che 105 Sawgrass. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently consumed raw or lightly cooked. When a restaurant cannot produce shellfish identification tags showing harvest location and date, there is no mechanism to trace an illness back to a contaminated batch, and no way to pull product before more customers are affected.
Parasite destruction failures at Cilantro Asian Bistro, Poke and Tea, and Iron Sushi represent a specific risk in restaurants serving raw fish. Fish served raw without prior freezing to required temperatures can harbor Anisakis worms and other parasites. The protocol exists precisely because visual inspection cannot detect them.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, cited at Poke and Tea, Shois Restaurant, Sushi Sake, Happy's Stork Lounge, Maison Valentine, Quarterdeck Seafood Bar, Rey's Pizza, and Iron Sushi, means those facilities were using ingredients that bypassed federal and state safety inspections. If a customer becomes ill, inspectors have no supply chain to investigate.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for the facilities in this week's roundup, which limits the ability to place this week's findings in a longer historical context. What the violation totals alone establish is that several of these locations are not dealing with isolated or marginal compliance gaps.
Big Crazy Taco's 13 high-severity violations in a single inspection, combined with the simultaneous absence of a person in charge, no health policy, unreported employee illness, and inadequate handwashing infrastructure, indicate a facility where basic food safety management has not been established, not merely one where a rule was overlooked.
Cilantro Asian Bistro's 12 high-severity findings in Davie, and the three-way tie at 11 high-severity violations among Poke and Tea, Shois Restaurant, and Sushi Sake, represent the kind of inspection totals that, in prior South Florida roundups, have preceded emergency closures at follow-up visits.
Quarterdeck Seafood Bar on Southeast 17th Street in Fort Lauderdale operates in a high-traffic marina and convention corridor. Nine high-severity violations at a seafood-focused restaurant, including unapproved sourcing and shellfish with no identification records, remain unresolved in this week's data.
