MIAMI, FL. A Hialeah restaurant racked up 12 high-severity violations in a single inspection during the week of September 6, the worst showing among 15 South Florida facilities cited for serious food safety failures across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
The Worst of the Week
Trigo on West 49th Street in Hialeah drew 12 high-severity citations and 3 intermediate violations. Inspectors documented food from an unapproved or unknown source, food in poor condition, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, and multiple handwashing technique failures. The person in charge was either absent or not performing duties during the visit.
Food from unapproved sources was not limited to Trigo. Porterhouse Bar and Grill on Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, a beachfront tourist corridor, was also cited for receiving food from an unknown or unapproved source, alongside 8 other high-severity violations including food not cooked to required minimum temperature and no employee health policy. The person in charge was not present during the inspection.
Surry Hills Coffee on Northeast 2nd Avenue in Miami finished the week with 11 high-severity violations, second only to Trigo. Inspectors cited the coffee shop for inadequate shell stock identification records, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and time as a public health control not properly used. No employee health policy was in place, and employees were not reporting illness symptoms.
El Turco at Northeast 39th Street in Miami accumulated 10 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. Inspectors found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and inadequate handwashing facilities. The person in charge was not performing duties.
Hialeah and Hollywood
Hialeah produced three of the week's most-cited facilities. Pincho on West 12th Avenue drew 10 high-severity violations, including food not cooked to required minimum temperature, inadequate shell stock identification records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and time as a public health control not properly used. Employees were not reporting illness symptoms, and handwashing by food employees was cited as inadequate.
Paraiso Tropical Pizzeria Restaurant y Heladeria on West 16th Avenue received 9 high-severity violations. Food from an unapproved or unknown source, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods were among the citations. No employee health policy was in place, and employees were not reporting illness symptoms.
Broward County's most serious finding came from Hollywood. Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine on North State Road 7 was cited for 10 high-severity violations, including food not cooked to required minimum temperature, inadequate shell stock identification records, no employee health policy, no handwashing facilities, and time as a public health control not properly used. The person in charge was absent during the inspection.
Upscale and Tourist Locations
La Boulangerie Boul'Mich on Sunset Drive in Coral Gables, a well-known French bakery in one of Miami-Dade's most affluent neighborhoods, was cited for 9 high-severity violations. Inspectors documented food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shell stock identification records, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and inadequate handwashing facilities. The person in charge was not present.
Salumeria 104 on Northeast 1st Avenue in Miami drew 9 high-severity and 6 intermediate violations, the highest intermediate count of any facility this week. Inspectors cited toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and time as a public health control not properly used.
North Italia at Southwest 88th Street in Miami received 8 high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and inadequate handwashing facilities.
Wah Hen Restaurant on Northwest 122nd Street in Hialeah Gardens was cited for 8 high-severity violations, including food not cooked to required minimum temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no employee health policy. The person in charge was not present.
Palm Beach County's sole entry this week was Poppies Restaurant and Deli on Linton Boulevard in Delray Beach, cited for 3 high-severity violations: the person in charge not performing duties, employees not reporting illness symptoms, and time as a public health control not properly used.
Mr Baker on Northwest 167th Street in Miami Gardens drew 2 high-severity violations, for improperly stored or labeled chemicals and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. Sicilian Oven Wood Fired Pizza on West Sample Road in Coral Springs received 9 high-severity violations including food not cooked to required minimum temperature, inadequate shell stock identification records, and no handwashing facilities. Sabor Venezolano Kendall on Southwest 88th Street received 1 high-severity citation, for no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
What These Violations Mean
The most common high-severity violation this week, appearing at nine facilities, was improper hand and arm washing technique. This is not the same as skipping handwashing entirely. It means employees made an attempt to wash their hands but did so incorrectly, leaving pathogens on skin that then transfer directly to food, surfaces, and utensils. The facilities where this appeared include Trigo, Surry Hills Coffee, El Turco, Pincho, Porterhouse Bar and Grill, Salumeria 104, La Boulangerie Boul'Mich, North Italia, Paraiso Tropical, Sicilian Oven, and Wah Hen Restaurant.
No employee health policy, cited at eight facilities this week including Trigo, Surry Hills Coffee, Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine, Pincho, Paraiso Tropical, Porterhouse Bar and Grill, Wah Hen Restaurant, and Sicilian Oven, means there is no written system requiring workers to report illness before handling food. Norovirus, which causes the majority of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants, spreads through exactly this gap: a sick employee with no obligation to report symptoms handles food, and customers get sick.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, documented at Trigo, Porterhouse Bar and Grill, La Boulangerie Boul'Mich, North Italia, and Paraiso Tropical, creates a specific traceability problem. If a customer gets sick, investigators need to trace the food back through a licensed supplier to identify the contamination point. Food that enters a kitchen from an unknown or unlicensed source cannot be traced. That gap is not administrative; it is the difference between containing an outbreak and losing it.
Inadequate shell stock identification records, cited at Surry Hills Coffee, Pincho, Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine, Porterhouse Bar and Grill, Salumeria 104, La Boulangerie Boul'Mich, Sicilian Oven, and North Italia, carries a similar risk. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently consumed raw. Without harvest tags identifying the source water, a Vibrio or norovirus outbreak linked to shellfish cannot be traced to a specific harvest area or lot, making it nearly impossible to stop additional cases.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for the facilities listed this week, which limits direct historical comparison. What the violation totals alone establish is that several of these facilities were not experiencing isolated or first-time lapses. Trigo's 12 high-severity violations in a single inspection, covering food sourcing, illness reporting, handwashing infrastructure, handwashing technique, and managerial oversight simultaneously, reflects systemic failures across multiple independent safety categories, not a single oversight.
Surry Hills Coffee's citation for parasite destruction procedures not followed is notable for a coffee shop, suggesting the facility is handling fish or other proteins subject to parasite destruction requirements, and doing so without the required freezing or cooking protocols. That violation, combined with inadequate shell stock records and food contact surface failures, places the facility in multiple high-risk categories at once.
Porterhouse Bar and Grill's location on Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, a high-volume tourist strip, adds context to its 9 high-severity citations. Facilities in tourist corridors serve a transient population that has no way to track illness back to a specific meal or location. The combination of unapproved food sources, no shell stock records, undercooked food, and an absent person in charge at a beachfront bar and grill is the kind of profile that produces unreported illnesses, not just inspection citations.
La Boulangerie Boul'Mich in Coral Gables, a location with a loyal local following and a reputation built on imported and artisan ingredients, was cited for receiving food from an unapproved or unknown source. That citation sits unresolved in the public record.
