MIAMI, FL. A Biscayne Boulevard bistro racked up 10 high-severity violations in a single inspection last week, the most of any restaurant across the South Florida tri-county area, in a week that saw 15 facilities cited for serious food safety failures from Miami Gardens to Boca Raton.
The Week's Worst Offenders
Meze Bistro at 6730 Biscayne Blvd drew 10 high-severity citations, including food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, food in poor or adulterated condition, and a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and both inadequate and improperly performed handwashing by employees.
The parasite destruction failure is notable at a restaurant that handles fish. Without proper freezing protocols, parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm can survive in raw or undercooked fish served to customers.
DeLuca's Italian Kitchen and Bar at 8260 S Jog Rd in Boynton Beach was cited for 9 high-severity violations, including no person in charge present or performing duties, no employee health policy, employees not reporting symptoms of illness, and food from unapproved sources. The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, a requirement that protects vulnerable diners from informed risk.
Chez Le Bebe Restaurant at 114 NE 54th Street in Miami also drew 9 high-severity violations, among the most concerning of which were improperly stored toxic chemicals, no demonstrated allergen awareness, food from unapproved sources, and inadequate shell stock records. Inspectors additionally cited improper handwashing technique and the absence of an employee health policy.
Il Fiore at 9874 Yamato Rd in Boca Raton collected 9 high-severity violations including food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, improper use of time as a public health control, and an employee not reporting illness symptoms. No person in charge was present or performing duties during the inspection.
What Inspectors Found Across the Tri-County Area
Motek South Pointe at 100 Collins Ave in Miami Beach, steps from South Beach's tourist corridor, was cited for 8 high-severity violations. Those included two separate chemical storage violations, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and a failure to properly use time as a public health control. Inspectors also found inadequate shell stock records and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Fresh at 8081 Congress Ave in Boca Raton drew 8 high-severity violations including inadequate handwashing facilities, meaning inspectors found the physical infrastructure for proper hand hygiene was insufficient. The restaurant also lacked shell stock records, had improperly stored chemicals, and failed to follow required procedures for specialized food processes. No person in charge was performing duties at the time of inspection.
Awash Ethiopian Restaurant at 19934 NW 2nd Ave in Miami Gardens was cited for 8 high-severity violations, among them food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, no consumer advisory, and an absent or non-performing person in charge. Employees were also cited for not reporting symptoms of illness.
Shawarma Xpress at 9581 NW 41st St in Doral drew 8 high-severity citations including two separate chemical violations, food from unapproved sources, no employee health policy, and no demonstrated allergen awareness. At a restaurant where cross-contamination from allergens like sesame is a documented risk, the absence of any allergen awareness protocol is a significant finding.
La Belle Rose Restaurant at 16689 NE 19th Ave in North Miami Beach was cited for 8 high-severity violations including an employee not reporting illness symptoms, no employee health policy, inadequate handwashing, food in poor condition, and improperly stored chemicals.
Salumeria 104 at 117 Miracle Mile in Coral Gables drew 8 high-severity violations including food from unapproved sources, food not cooked to required temperatures, improper use of time as a public health control, and improperly stored toxic chemicals.
Cocinita Miami at 500 Brickell Avenue, in one of the city's densest office and residential corridors, was cited for 8 high-severity violations. Those included employees not reporting illness symptoms, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, both inadequate and improperly performed handwashing, and food in poor condition.
Pubbelly Sushi at 5377 Town Center Rd in Boca Raton drew 8 high-severity violations including food from unapproved sources, food not cooked to required temperatures, and improper use of time as a public health control. No person in charge was present or performing duties. Employees were not reporting illness symptoms.
Nick Caribbean Restaurant at 14530 W Dixie Hwy in North Miami Beach was cited for 7 high-severity violations, including food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, improperly stored toxic chemicals, and a failure to follow required procedures for specialized food processes.
El Balcon de Las Americas V at 9964 Sandalfoot Blvd in Boca Raton drew a single high-severity citation for inadequate handwashing by food employees.
Sonic Drive-In at 2660 NW 199th St in Miami Gardens was cited for one high-severity violation, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, along with three intermediate violations including improper sewage or wastewater disposal, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and improper waste disposal.
What These Violations Mean
The most widespread high-severity violation this week was improperly cleaned or sanitized food contact surfaces, cited at 11 of the 15 facilities. Cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that are not properly sanitized between uses transfer bacteria directly from raw to ready-to-eat food. At facilities like Meze Bistro, Chez Le Bebe, and Salumeria 104, that failure combined with other sourcing and temperature violations compounds the risk significantly.
Six facilities, including DeLuca's Italian Kitchen, Il Fiore, Awash Ethiopian Restaurant, Fresh, Pubbelly Sushi, and La Belle Rose, were cited for employees not reporting illness symptoms. This violation is the documented driver of multi-victim outbreaks. A single Norovirus-infected food worker, continuing to handle food without reporting symptoms, can sicken dozens of customers before an outbreak is identified.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources was cited at six facilities this week, including Meze Bistro, Chez Le Bebe, Shawarma Xpress, Salumeria 104, Awash Ethiopian Restaurant, and Pubbelly Sushi. The core danger is traceability. When a customer becomes ill, investigators trace the food supply chain to identify the contaminated source. Food that bypasses USDA and FDA inspection has no chain of custody, making that investigation impossible and leaving other customers at risk.
The improper use of time as a public health control, cited at Il Fiore, Motek South Pointe, Salumeria 104, Cocinita Miami, and Pubbelly Sushi, is a violation that is easy to overlook but carries serious consequences. When a restaurant uses time rather than temperature to keep food safe, it must follow a strict protocol: food must be discarded after four hours. Without written logs and proper procedures, food can remain in the temperature danger zone for hours beyond that limit, allowing bacterial growth to reach levels that cause illness even when food appears and smells normal.
The Longer Record
The data this week spans restaurants with sharply different histories. Meze Bistro, which led the week with 10 high-severity violations, and Chez Le Bebe, with 9, are both Miami-Dade facilities with established inspection records. The volume of high-severity violations at both locations, across categories from sourcing to sanitation to employee health, points to systemic problems rather than isolated oversights.
Pubbelly Sushi's Boca Raton location carries the SEA6023273 identifier, a higher sequence number that suggests a relatively newer state record compared to the Miami-Dade facilities in this week's data. Eight high-severity violations at a newer location, including absent management, unapproved food sources, and temperature control failures, is a significant accumulation early in its inspection history.
DeLuca's Italian Kitchen in Boynton Beach, with its SEA6013125 identifier, also falls in the Palm Beach County sequence alongside Il Fiore and Fresh. All three Palm Beach locations drew 8 or 9 high-severity violations this week, and all three were cited for absent or non-performing management. That pattern, three separate restaurants in the same county, same week, all lacking active managerial oversight, is the kind of finding that precedes cascading failures across every other category.
Cocinita Miami sits at 500 Brickell Avenue, one of the highest-traffic business addresses in the city. The restaurant drew 8 high-severity violations including employees not reporting illness symptoms and food not cooked to required temperatures. Those two violations together, in a location serving a high volume of weekday lunch customers, represent an unresolved combination as of the inspection date.