MIAMI, FL. Two Miami-area restaurants each accumulated 11 high-severity violations in a single inspection week, leading a sweep that flagged 15 facilities across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties for serious food safety failures between October 10 and October 16, 2026.
The Worst of the Week
La Hormiga de Oro III on SW 147th Avenue tied for the week's highest violation count, with inspectors citing the facility for food sourced from unapproved suppliers, inadequate shellfish traceability records, food in poor condition, food not cooked to minimum required temperatures, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces. No person in charge was present or performing duties during the visit. Employees had no health policy in place and were not reporting illness symptoms.
Churros Manolo on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach matched that tally with 11 high-severity violations of its own. Inspectors found employees not washing their hands adequately and handwashing facilities that did not meet code, meaning even workers who wanted to wash their hands properly could not. Food was sourced from unapproved suppliers, parasite destruction procedures were not followed, and food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. No person in charge was present. A tourist-area address on Collins Avenue puts the restaurant in direct contact with a high volume of visitors, including elderly guests and those with compromised immune systems.
Miami-Dade: The Bulk of the Findings
Ten of the 15 flagged facilities this week were in Miami-Dade County. Beyond La Hormiga de Oro III and Churros Manolo, the sweep reached into the county's hotels, buffets, and neighborhood restaurants.
Hampton Inn Dadeland on SW 70th Avenue drew nine high-severity violations. Inspectors found no person in charge present, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition, shellfish without adequate traceability records, improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items. A hotel food operation serving overnight guests compounds the risk, as travelers often eat without knowledge of local inspection history.
Happy Buffet on W 49th Street in Hialeah was cited for three high-severity violations: no employee health policy, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked food. Inspectors also noted single-use items being reused, a practice that creates contamination pathways the items were specifically designed to prevent.
Macitas Restaurant on SW 104th Street accumulated nine high-severity and five intermediate violations. No person in charge was present. Employees had no health policy and were not reporting illness. Inspectors documented inadequate handwashing by food employees, improper handwashing technique, shellfish without required traceability records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and improper use of time as a public health control.
Xixon Spanish Restaurant on SW 22nd Street was cited for nine high-severity violations and none at the intermediate level. Food was sourced from unapproved suppliers and found to be in poor condition. Shellfish traceability records were inadequate. Handwashing by employees was inadequate, and handwashing technique was also improper. Inspectors flagged time as a public health control not being properly used, and the restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked items.
Street Bar on Harding Avenue in Surfside, a small coastal community immediately north of Miami Beach, drew nine high-severity violations. Employees were not reporting illness symptoms, were not washing hands adequately, and were using improper technique. Shellfish traceability records were absent, parasite destruction procedures were not followed, food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned, and time as a public health control was not properly managed.
Sky Coffee Buenos Aires Inc. on SW 2nd Avenue in downtown Miami received one high-severity citation for improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, alongside an intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
Latin American Grill on NW 79th Court in Miami Lakes drew six high-severity violations. Shellfish traceability records were inadequate, parasite destruction procedures were not followed, and food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned. Inspectors also found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked food.
Broward County: Three Flagged Facilities
Broward County contributed three facilities to this week's list, including the week's third-highest violation count.
Doughboys Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant on SE 17th Street in Fort Lauderdale drew 10 high-severity violations. No person in charge was present. Employees had no health policy and were not reporting illness. Both the act of handwashing and the technique used were cited as inadequate. Shellfish traceability records were missing, food contact surfaces were improperly cleaned, and no consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked food.
Gregs Cookout on Country Club Lane in Pembroke Park was cited for nine high-severity violations. Inspectors found no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing facilities, and improper handwashing technique. Shellfish traceability records were inadequate, parasite destruction procedures were not followed, food contact surfaces were improperly cleaned, and food was not cooked to required minimum temperatures. Undercooked food is among the most direct routes to a Salmonella or E. coli illness.
El Paso 2 on N Federal Highway in Hollywood drew two high-severity violations: improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked food.
Palm Beach County: A Country Club and a Neighborhood Grill
Boca Lago Country Club on Juego Way in Boca Raton accumulated nine high-severity violations. No person in charge was present. Employees had no health policy and were not reporting illness. Handwashing technique was improper. Food was sourced from unapproved suppliers, shellfish traceability records were inadequate, parasite destruction procedures were not followed, and food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned. A private club setting does not exempt a food operation from state inspection standards.
Eagle Grill on Jog Road in Greenacres drew two high-severity violations: no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms. Inspectors also cited equipment in poor repair, which the state flags as a condition that harbors bacteria in cracks and corroded areas that cannot be effectively sanitized.
Golden Corral on S Dixie Highway in Florida City, a buffet-format chain restaurant, was cited for 10 high-severity violations. No person in charge was present, employees were not reporting illness, and handwashing technique was improper. Food was sourced from unapproved suppliers, shellfish traceability records were inadequate, and food contact surfaces were improperly cleaned. Time as a public health control was not properly used, and no consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked items. A buffet with no person in charge and improperly used time controls creates conditions where food can sit in the bacterial growth range, between 41 and 135 degrees, without anyone tracking how long it has been there.
What These Violations Mean
The most common high-severity violation across all 15 facilities this week was improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, cited at every location with three or more high-severity findings. Cutting boards, slicers, prep tables, and utensils that are not properly sanitized between uses transfer bacteria directly from one food to the next. The risk is not theoretical: cross-contamination from unsanitized surfaces is a documented cause of Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli outbreaks.
Eight facilities this week, including La Hormiga de Oro III, Churros Manolo, Doughboys Pizzeria, Golden Corral, Gregs Cookout, Boca Lago Country Club, Hampton Inn Dadeland, and Macitas Restaurant, had no person in charge present or performing duties during the inspection. CDC data associates the absence of active managerial control with a threefold increase in critical violations. When no one is accountable for food safety decisions in real time, other violations tend to cluster.
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms, found together at La Hormiga de Oro III, Churros Manolo, Doughboys Pizzeria, Gregs Cookout, Boca Lago Country Club, Macitas Restaurant, and Happy Buffet, creates a direct transmission route for Norovirus. A single sick food worker handling ready-to-eat food without a reporting requirement in place can infect dozens of customers before anyone identifies the source.
Shellfish traceability violations appeared at nine facilities this week, including Golden Corral, Street Bar, Xixon Spanish Restaurant, Hampton Inn Dadeland, and Boca Lago Country Club. Oysters, clams, and mussels are high-risk foods consumed raw or lightly cooked. Without the required harvest records, there is no way to identify the source of the shellfish if a customer becomes ill.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for the facilities listed this week, which limits a direct comparison of chronic versus new violators. What the violation profiles do show is that several facilities accumulated the full cluster of management failure indicators in a single visit, specifically the combination of no person in charge, no employee health policy, and no illness reporting. That cluster at La Hormiga de Oro III, Churros Manolo, Doughboys Pizzeria, and Macitas Restaurant suggests systemic gaps rather than isolated oversights.
Doughboys Pizzeria on SE 17th Street in Fort Lauderdale is a long-standing restaurant in a high-traffic corridor near Port Everglades. Its 10 high-severity violations this week included the full management failure triad alongside shellfish recordkeeping and consumer advisory failures, a combination that spans food sourcing, employee practices, and customer disclosure.
Boca Lago Country Club's nine high-severity violations are notable given the private membership context. Country clubs and hotel dining operations often operate with lower public visibility than street-facing restaurants, which can reduce the informal accountability that comes with foot traffic and online reviews. The club's violations this week included food from unapproved sources, a finding that carries no less weight because the diners are dues-paying members.
Golden Corral in Florida City remains one of the more striking entries in this week's data. A buffet format with 10 high-severity violations, no person in charge, improperly used time controls, and food from unapproved sources is a facility where multiple safety systems failed simultaneously. Whether this represents a departure from the location's prior record or a continuation of it is a question the inspection history, not available in this week's data, would answer.
