MIAMI, FL. Two restaurants each accumulated 14 high-severity violations during the week of May 7, 2026, leading a South Florida inspection sweep that turned up serious findings at 15 facilities across Miami-Dade and Broward counties, with not a single facility flagged in Palm Beach.
The Worst of the Week
Havana Beach at 740 Ocean Drive led the region with 14 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate. Inspectors cited the Ocean Drive restaurant for food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, food in poor condition, inadequate shell stock identification, no employee health policy, no person in charge present, inadequate handwashing facilities, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces.
Tribute to Tobacco Road by Kush at 650 S Miami Ave matched that count with 14 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate. The Brickell-area bar drew citations for food from unapproved sources, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures for fish, no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing, and improper handwashing technique.
Coco Beach at 960 Ocean Drive recorded 13 high-severity violations. Like Havana Beach one block north, Coco Beach was cited for food from unapproved sources, inadequate shell stock records, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces. Inspectors also noted no person in charge and inadequate handwashing facilities.
Tutto Pizza and Pasta at 328 Crandon Blvd in Key Biscayne drew 12 high-severity violations, including food from unapproved sources, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, no employee health policy, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces.
Mama's Tacos at 710 Washington Ave in Miami Beach also recorded 12 high-severity violations. Inspectors found food in poor condition, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, and both inadequate and improperly executed handwashing.
Factoria de Azucar / Cafe Bombon / Little Niko Italian and Pizzeria at 11401 NW 12 St in Sweetwater accumulated 11 high-severity violations. The multi-concept location was cited for food not cooked to minimum temperature, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, inadequate handwashing facilities, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, along with no person in charge and no employee health policy.
More High-Severity Findings Across Miami-Dade
Bonding at 638 S Miami Ave drew 10 high-severity violations, including food from unapproved sources, shellfish with inadequate traceability records, food not cooked to minimum temperature, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items. Inspectors also noted food in poor condition and improper use of time as a public health control.
Moshi Moshi Brickell at 1700 SW 3 Ave recorded 7 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited the Brickell restaurant for failing to follow parasite destruction procedures, food not cooked to required temperature, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improperly stored toxic chemicals, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked food.
Mojitos Cuban Cuisine at 8000 SW 8th Street drew 9 high-severity violations, including food from unapproved sources, inadequate shell stock records, no person in charge, no employee health policy, inadequate handwashing facilities, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces.
Mary's Cuban Cafe at 808 SE 8th Street in Hialeah also recorded 9 high-severity violations. Inspectors found food in poor condition, food not cooked to minimum temperature, improperly stored toxic chemicals, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items.
Sticky Rice Lao Thai and Sushi at 12895 SW 42 St drew 9 high-severity violations, including failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, food in poor condition, food not cooked to minimum temperature, and improper use of time as a public health control.
Limoncello at 1334 Washington Ave in Miami Beach recorded 9 high-severity violations, including food from unapproved sources, inadequate shell stock records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items, and no person in charge.
Garden House Restaurant at 710 Washington Ave in Miami Beach drew 9 high-severity violations, including improperly stored toxic chemicals, food not cooked to minimum temperature, no consumer advisory, and no person in charge.
El Cantones Rest at 11865 SW 26 St recorded 9 high-severity violations, including food in poor condition, food not cooked to minimum temperature, inadequate handwashing facilities, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items.
The lone Broward County entry this week, Lester's Diner at 250 SW 24 St in Fort Lauderdale, drew 2 high-severity violations: improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
What These Violations Mean
The most widespread finding this week, appearing at Havana Beach, Tribute to Tobacco Road, Coco Beach, Tutto Pizza and Pasta, Bonding, Mojitos Cuban Cuisine, and Limoncello, was food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers. When food bypasses USDA and FDA inspection, there is no traceability chain. If a customer gets sick, investigators cannot identify the source, cannot issue a recall, and cannot determine how many other restaurants received the same product.
Shellfish traceability failures, cited at Havana Beach, Coco Beach, Bonding, Mojitos, and Limoncello, compound that risk. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently eaten raw. Without proper harvest tags and receiving records, there is no way to link a shellfish-related illness back to a specific harvest bed or supplier.
Parasite destruction failures, documented at Tribute to Tobacco Road, Tutto Pizza and Pasta, Factoria de Azucar, Moshi Moshi Brickell, and Sticky Rice Lao Thai and Sushi, mean that fish served raw or undercooked may not have been frozen to the temperatures required to kill Anisakis worms and tapeworm larvae. Sushi and ceviche menus are the most common exposure point.
The cluster of employee illness reporting failures across at least ten facilities this week is the most direct outbreak risk in the dataset. When workers do not report symptoms and there is no written health policy requiring them to, a single sick employee can transmit Norovirus to dozens of customers before anyone recognizes a pattern. Norovirus causes approximately 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and food workers are the primary transmission route in restaurant outbreaks.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for these facilities, so direct comparison of inspection history is not possible from this week's records alone. What the violation counts do show is a concentration of the most serious findings on Ocean Drive and Washington Avenue in Miami Beach, where Havana Beach, Coco Beach, Mama's Tacos, Garden House, and Limoncello all drew high-severity totals this week. Five facilities on or immediately adjacent to Miami Beach's two most tourist-heavy corridors accumulated a combined 56 high-severity violations in a single inspection week.
The Brickell and downtown Miami corridor was also heavily represented. Tribute to Tobacco Road, Moshi Moshi Brickell, and Bonding, all within a few blocks of each other along S Miami Ave and SW 3 Ave, produced a combined 31 high-severity violations.
The multi-concept operation in Sweetwater, operating simultaneously as Factoria de Azucar, Cafe Bombon, and Little Niko Italian and Pizzeria under one license, is notable. A single kitchen running three branded concepts with no person in charge, no employee health policy, inadequate handwashing facilities, uninspected food sources, and food not reaching minimum cooking temperatures represents a compounding set of risks, not an isolated one.
Lester's Diner in Fort Lauderdale, the only Broward County facility in this week's data, recorded just 2 high-severity violations. The most serious was improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals, which the data shows was also cited the same week at Moshi Moshi Brickell, Mary's Cuban Cafe, and Garden House Restaurant. Those four facilities stored chemicals in proximity to food without proper labeling, a violation that can cause acute poisoning and is among the fastest-acting food safety hazards inspectors document.