MIAMI, FL. A Sweetwater restaurant operating simultaneously under three names racked up 11 high-severity violations during the week of May 13, including failures to follow parasite destruction procedures, food cooked below required minimum temperatures, and no person in charge present or performing duties during the inspection.
The Worst of the Week
Factoria de Azucar/Cafe Bombon/Little Niko Italian and Pizzeria at 11401 NW 12 St in Sweetwater drew the highest concentration of critical findings in the tri-county region this week. Inspectors cited the facility for lacking any employee health policy, employees failing to report illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. The person in charge was not present or performing duties at the time of inspection.
Mikes at Venetia at 555 NE 15 St on the ninth floor in Miami matched that 11-violation total. Inspectors found food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shell stock identification records, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, no person in charge, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. Handwashing failures appeared three separate ways: inadequate facilities, inadequate handwashing by employees, and improper technique.
The Pattern Across the Tri-County
Fort Lauderdale's sole entry in this week's list was Anthony's Runway 84 at 330 State Road 84, which accumulated 10 high-severity violations. The restaurant was cited for food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shell stock identification records, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, no person in charge, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Snappers Fish and Chicken at 18312 NW 7 Ave in Miami drew nine high-severity violations. The list included food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shell stock records, employees not reporting illness symptoms, three separate handwashing failures, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Sumak at 908 71 St in Miami Beach also reached nine high-severity violations. Inspectors cited the absence of a person in charge, no employee health policy, three handwashing failures, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Ficelle Boulangerie and Patisserie / Le Bistro by Ficelle at 1440 NW N River Dr in Miami was cited for nine high-severity violations as well. Those included food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shell stock records, improper use of time as a public health control, no employee health policy, two handwashing violations, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Sticky Rice Lao Thai and Sushi at 12895 SW 42 St in Miami drew nine high-severity violations including food in poor condition or adulterated, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, improper use of time as a public health control, no person in charge, employees not reporting illness, and two handwashing failures.
Two restaurants on Key Biscayne, separated by nine suites in the same building at 328 Crandon Blvd, both appeared on this week's list. Tutto Pizza and Pasta in Suite 111 drew three high-severity violations: food from an unapproved or unknown source, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Ceviche Bar in Suite 120 drew five high-severity violations, including no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper use of time as a public health control, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
The Motek restaurant group placed two locations on this week's list. Motek Miami Beach at 2701 Collins Ave drew four high-severity violations, including employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and food not cooked to required minimum temperatures. Motek Boca at 5377 Town Center Rd in Boca Raton, Palm Beach County's only entry this week, drew eight high-severity violations: no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shell stock records, improper use of time as a public health control, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and failure to follow required procedures for specialized processes.
Moo! at 12735 SW 42 St in Miami drew five high-severity violations, among them no employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
On Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, two well-known addresses appeared. News Cafe at Oh Mexico Taco Shop at 804 Ocean Dr drew two high-severity violations: improper handwashing technique and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. The facility also had a citation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal, a finding that puts the entire facility at risk of fecal contamination. Coco Beach at 960 Ocean Dr drew one high-severity violation for toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
Tacology at 700 South Miami Ave drew one high-severity violation for posting no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
What These Violations Mean
The most concentrated cluster of violations this week involved employee illness and handwashing failures. At Factoria de Azucar/Cafe Bombon/Little Niko, Mikes at Venetia, Sumak, Snappers Fish and Chicken, and Anthony's Runway 84, inspectors found combinations of no employee health policy, no illness reporting, and multiple handwashing failures at the same facility. Those three violations together describe a single transmission chain: a sick employee with no obligation to report illness, no facility policy pushing them to stay home, and no reliable handwashing to interrupt what they carry onto food and surfaces.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources turned up at Mikes at Venetia, Anthony's Runway 84, Snappers Fish and Chicken, Ficelle Boulangerie, Tutto Pizza and Pasta, and Motek Boca. When food enters a kitchen without going through USDA or FDA inspection, there is no traceability if a customer gets sick. Investigators cannot trace the product back to a farm, processor, or distributor. That gap is precisely why the violation exists.
Parasite destruction failures at Factoria de Azucar/Cafe Bombon/Little Niko, Anthony's Runway 84, and Sticky Rice Lao Thai and Sushi are particularly acute at restaurants serving raw or lightly cooked fish. Parasites including Anisakis in fish and Trichinella in pork are killed by specific freezing protocols. Skipping those steps means live parasites can reach a customer's plate. Sticky Rice also drew a citation for food in poor condition or adulterated, compounding that risk.
The improper sewage disposal citation at News Cafe at Oh Mexico Taco Shop on Ocean Drive stands apart from the handwashing and temperature violations that dominate this week's list. Raw sewage contamination in a food preparation environment introduces a direct fecal-oral exposure pathway throughout the facility, not just at a single station or surface.
The Longer Record
The data this week does not include prior inspection counts for individual facilities, which limits a direct comparison of cumulative history. What the violation totals alone show is that several facilities with the highest this-week counts, including Mikes at Venetia and Factoria de Azucar/Cafe Bombon/Little Niko, accumulated failures across nearly every major food safety category in a single inspection: management presence, illness policy, illness reporting, handwashing infrastructure, handwashing practice, food sourcing, surface sanitation, and cooking temperatures. That breadth of failure across unrelated categories is a marker of systemic breakdown rather than an isolated lapse.
Anthony's Runway 84 on State Road 84 in Fort Lauderdale, the lone Broward County facility on the list, drew 10 high-severity violations. The Fort Lauderdale location is a long-established restaurant in a high-traffic corridor, which makes the combination of food from unapproved sources and inadequate shell stock records notable. Those two violations together mean inspectors could not verify where the food came from and could not trace shellfish back to a harvest location if a customer reported illness.
The two Key Biscayne facilities at 328 Crandon Blvd share a building and appeared on the same week's inspection list with overlapping violation types. Both Tutto Pizza and Pasta and Ceviche Bar drew citations for toxic chemicals improperly stored or handled. Two separate restaurants in the same building, cited for the same chemical storage failure in the same week, is a fact the inspection record does not explain.
Motek Miami Beach on Collins Ave and Motek Boca in Palm Beach County both appeared this week, with Motek Boca drawing eight high-severity violations to Motek Miami Beach's four. Both locations were cited for employees not reporting illness symptoms and improper handwashing technique. Motek Boca added food from an unapproved source, inadequate shell stock records, and failures in specialized process procedures, the latter a violation specific to operations like smoking, curing, or reduced-oxygen packaging that require written, approved protocols. Whether those protocols exist at the Boca location, the inspection record does not say.