MIAMI, FL. An employee documented as ill with a transmissible disease was still handling food at Chong's Chinese Restaurant on West Flagler Street when state inspectors arrived during the week of June 17, one of 12 high-severity violations that made it the worst-cited facility in South Florida for the week.
The same week, inspectors working across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties flagged 15 restaurants for three or more high-severity violations each. Two of them, both in Miami-Dade, tied for the highest single-week tally in the tri-county area.
The Violations
Chong's violations read like a complete breakdown of food safety fundamentals. No person in charge was present or performing duties. No employee health policy existed. Employees were not reporting illness symptoms. And one employee was documented as working while ill with a transmissible disease. Inspectors also cited inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, inadequate handwashing by employees, and food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers.
Keg South of Kendall on SW 136th Avenue matched that tally with 12 high-severity violations of its own. Among them: no person in charge, employees not reporting illness symptoms, food from unapproved sources, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. Inspectors also cited inadequate shell stock identification records, meaning there was no way to trace where the restaurant's shellfish came from if someone got sick.
Broward County's worst citation of the week went to Whole Green Café on North Federal Highway in Pompano Beach, with 11 high-severity violations. The café, which markets itself around health-conscious eating, had no employee health policy, improperly handled time as a public health control, carried food in poor condition or mislabeled, sourced food from unapproved suppliers, failed to maintain shell stock records, and did not post a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items.
Just down West Flagler Street from Chong's, Beijing Garden at 832 West Flagler drew 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors documented no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, inadequate shell stock records, unclean food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory for raw foods.
Across the Tri-County Area
In Palm Beach County, DeLuca's Italian Kitchen and Bar on South Jog Road in Boynton Beach accumulated 9 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition or mislabeled, no shell stock records, and no consumer advisory.
Mercedes Coffee Shop on NW 54th Street in Miami also reached 9 high-severity violations. Among the most serious: food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food, inadequate handwashing facilities, and no employee health policy. No person in charge was present.
At American Social Brickell on SW 1st Court, a well-trafficked bar and restaurant in Miami's Brickell financial district, inspectors recorded 8 high-severity violations. Those included parasite destruction procedures not followed, toxic substances improperly identified or stored, food from unapproved sources, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. No person in charge was on duty.
Ruby Chinese Restaurant on State Road 84 in Fort Lauderdale drew 8 high-severity violations, including food not cooked to minimum temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored, food from unapproved sources, time as a public health control not properly used, and no consumer advisory.
Cocinita Miami at 500 Brickell Avenue also logged 8 high-severity violations, including food not cooked to required minimum temperature, food in poor condition, time as a public health control not properly used, and employees not reporting illness symptoms.
Pubbelly Sushi in Boca Raton's Town Center reached 8 high-severity violations as well, including food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, food not cooked to minimum temperature, time as a public health control not properly used, and no consumer advisory. No person in charge was present during the inspection.
China Fun on South Dixie Highway in Naranja drew 8 high-severity violations, including inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, time as a public health control not properly used, toxic chemicals improperly stored, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
East Ocean Cafe on East Ocean Avenue in Boynton Beach, El Balcon de las Americas V in Boca Raton, La Belle Rose Restaurant in North Miami Beach, and Ten Ten Seafood and Grill in Sunrise each recorded between one and three high-severity violations. East Ocean Cafe was cited for food not cooked to minimum temperature, unclean food contact surfaces, and inadequate handwashing. El Balcon drew one high-severity violation for inadequate handwashing by employees. La Belle Rose was cited for food in poor condition or mislabeled. Ten Ten's single high-severity violation involved food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
What These Violations Mean
The single most acute finding this week was at Chong's Chinese Restaurant: an employee working while ill with a transmissible disease. This is not a paperwork violation. When a food worker with a contagious illness handles food, dishes, or surfaces, they create a direct pathway for pathogens like Norovirus, Hepatitis A, or Salmonella to reach customers. Norovirus alone accounts for roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and a single infected food handler in a busy kitchen can expose dozens of diners in a single shift.
The absence of an employee health policy, cited at Chong's, Keg South of Kendall, Whole Green Café, Beijing Garden, DeLuca's, Mercedes Coffee Shop, and China Fun, removes the first structural barrier against exactly that scenario. Without a written policy, workers have no formal obligation to report symptoms, and managers have no documented standard to enforce. The combination of no health policy and an employee already working while ill, as found at Chong's, represents the full failure of that system.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, cited this week at Keg South of Kendall, Whole Green Café, Beijing Garden, DeLuca's, American Social Brickell, Ruby Chinese, and Pubbelly Sushi, matters for a specific reason: traceability. When food moves through licensed, inspected suppliers, there is a paper trail. If customers become ill, investigators can trace the product back to its origin, identify other affected locations, and pull contaminated inventory. Food from unapproved sources has no such trail. An outbreak linked to those ingredients may never be fully traced.
Inadequate shell stock identification records, flagged at Keg South of Kendall, Whole Green Café, Beijing Garden, and DeLuca's, compound that traceability problem specifically for shellfish. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently consumed raw or barely cooked. They are among the highest-risk foods for Vibrio, Norovirus, and Hepatitis A. Without proper tagging records, a shellfish-linked illness cannot be traced to its harvest area or harvest date.
The Longer Record
The data for this week does not include prior inspection counts for each facility, which limits a full pattern analysis. What the violation profiles alone make clear is that several of these restaurants are not dealing with isolated lapses. Chong's Chinese Restaurant accumulated violations across eight distinct high-severity categories in a single inspection, covering management presence, employee illness policy, actual illness, handwashing infrastructure, handwashing practice, handwashing technique, and food sourcing. That breadth is not the profile of a single missed step.
The two Brickell restaurants, American Social Brickell and Cocinita Miami, are in one of Miami's highest-traffic dining corridors, drawing both office workers and tourists. American Social's parasite destruction failure is notable specifically because the restaurant serves raw and undercooked fish items, and the absence of a consumer advisory means customers with compromised immune systems had no warning on the menu.
Pubbelly Sushi's Boca Raton location, inside the Town Center mall, draws a high volume of diners. Eight high-severity violations at a sushi restaurant, including food not cooked to minimum temperature and no consumer advisory for raw items, carries particular weight given the restaurant's menu is built around raw fish.
Whole Green Café in Pompano Beach presents a specific contradiction. The café's branding centers on clean, health-forward eating. Its inspection this week documented food in poor condition or mislabeled, food from unapproved sources, no employee health policy, and time as a public health control not properly used, 11 high-severity violations in all.