MIAMI, FL. Two restaurants, one in Doral and one in Homestead, each drew 12 high-severity health violations from state inspectors during the week of September 11, 2026, the worst individual tallies in a South Florida sweep that flagged 15 facilities across Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
The Worst of the Week
Sams Country Kitchen on North Krome Avenue in Homestead was cited for 12 high-severity violations, including no person in charge present or performing duties, no employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shellfish identification records, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Inspectors also documented that parasite destruction procedures were not followed and that food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Keik Bakeshop on NW 87th Avenue in Doral matched that count with 12 high-severity violations of its own. The bakery was cited for food from an unapproved or unknown source, an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, failure to cook food to required minimum temperatures, and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, on top of missing an employee health policy and inadequate handwashing technique.
Mmabes Frutas Frescas y Cafe on NE 8th Street in Homestead drew 11 high-severity violations. Inspectors found no person in charge, no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, food in poor condition or adulterated, inadequate shellfish identification records, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, and improper use of time as a public health control.
Raccoon Coffee on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami also recorded 11 high-severity violations. The coffee shop was cited for no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing, inadequate shellfish records, parasite destruction failures, unclean food contact surfaces, improper use of time as a public health control, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
What Inspectors Found Across the Region
Hallyu Korean BBQ on North University Drive in Tamarac, one of two Broward County facilities on this week's list, drew 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited the restaurant for no person in charge, no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness, improper handwashing, food in poor condition or mislabeled, inadequate shellfish identification records, unclean food contact surfaces, and undercooking.
Arepa.Bar on NW 36th Street in Miami recorded 9 high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved source, inadequate shellfish records, parasite destruction failures, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items. Inspectors also found no person in charge and improper use of time as a public health control.
Caffe Portofino on South Dixie Highway in Miami drew 9 high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved source, inadequate shellfish records, no person in charge, no employee health policy, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
JJ's Cuisine on NE 1st Road in Homestead was cited for 9 high-severity violations, including an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing, unclean food contact surfaces, improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals, and no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff.
Tran An on NE 82nd Street in Miami also recorded 9 high-severity violations, among them food from an unapproved source, an employee not reporting illness, inadequate shellfish records, parasite destruction failures, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Paraiso Tropical Pizzeria Restaurant y Heladeria on West 16th Avenue in Hialeah drew 9 high-severity violations. Inspectors found food from an unapproved source, no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness, improper handwashing, unclean food contact surfaces, undercooking, and no consumer advisory.
Shorty's Bar-B-Que on South Dixie Highway in Miami was cited for 7 high-severity violations, including parasite destruction failures, undercooking, improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals, toxic substances improperly identified or used, and improper sewage or wastewater disposal. Inspectors also noted unclean food contact surfaces and no consumer advisory.
Casa Juan on NW 7th Street in Miami drew 6 high-severity violations. The restaurant was cited for toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, toxic substances improperly identified or used, undercooking, no consumer advisory, unclean food contact surfaces, and improper handwashing. Inspectors also noted improper sewage or wastewater disposal as an intermediate violation.
Lido Bayside Grill on Island Avenue in Miami Beach, situated in a tourist-heavy stretch of the city, drew 4 high-severity violations, including parasite destruction failures, undercooking, unclean food contact surfaces, and toxic substances improperly identified or used.
Miller's Ale House on Oakwood Boulevard in Hollywood, the second Broward County facility cited this week, also recorded 4 high-severity violations, including parasite destruction failures, undercooking, toxic substances improperly identified or used, and unclean food contact surfaces. Inspectors additionally noted improper sewage or wastewater disposal and inadequate cooling or cold holding equipment.
Victory Restaurant and Lounge on NE 1st Avenue in Miami drew the week's minimum threshold of 3 high-severity violations: unclean food contact surfaces, undercooking, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
What These Violations Mean
The single most widespread violation across this week's 15 facilities was improperly cleaned or sanitized food contact surfaces, cited at nearly every restaurant on the list, including Sams Country Kitchen, Keik Bakeshop, Raccoon Coffee, Hallyu Korean BBQ, and Shorty's Bar-B-Que. Cutting boards, prep tables, and countertops that are not properly sanitized between uses become direct transfer routes for bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli, moving from raw proteins onto ready-to-eat foods without any cooking step to kill them.
The failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, documented at Raccoon Coffee, Arepa.Bar, Tran An, Shorty's Bar-B-Que, Lido Bayside Grill, and Miller's Ale House, means that fish or pork served at those establishments may not have been frozen or cooked to the temperatures required to kill parasites including Anisakis and Trichinella. Lido Bayside Grill and Raccoon Coffee, both of which also lacked consumer advisories for raw or undercooked foods, gave diners no way to know they were taking on that risk.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, flagged at Keik Bakeshop, Arepa.Bar, Tran An, Caffe Portofino, and Paraiso Tropical, is a traceability problem as much as a quality problem. If a customer becomes ill, investigators need to trace the food back to its origin to identify a contaminated batch and prevent further cases. Food that entered the kitchen through unregulated channels has no paper trail.
At JJ's Cuisine, inspectors found no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff, a violation that directly threatens the estimated 32 million Americans living with food allergies. That finding, combined with improperly stored toxic chemicals at the same location, represents two distinct routes to acute harm at a single small restaurant in Homestead.
The Longer Record
Homestead stands out this week not for one troubled restaurant but for three: Sams Country Kitchen, Mmabes Frutas Frescas y Cafe, and JJ's Cuisine all appear on the same week's list, all within a few blocks of each other in a small city that rarely generates this level of concentrated enforcement activity. The pattern at Mmabes is particularly notable, with an employee not reporting illness symptoms combined with no person in charge, a combination that inspectors and public health researchers consistently identify as the conditions under which outbreaks are most likely to go undetected until customers are already sick.
Hallyu Korean BBQ in Tamarac and Miller's Ale House in Hollywood represent Broward County's contribution to this week's list. Hallyu's 10 high-severity violations place it among the week's worst performers despite being outside Miami-Dade, where the bulk of the enforcement activity was concentrated. Miller's Ale House, a chain location in a busy commercial corridor, was flagged for inadequate cooling equipment alongside its high-severity violations, a combination that suggests the facility's ability to maintain safe temperatures is structurally compromised, not just procedurally.
Shorty's Bar-B-Que on South Dixie Highway in Miami is a long-established institution in the city, which makes its 7 high-severity violations, including improper sewage or wastewater disposal, notable for reasons beyond the citation count. Sewage violations at a facility serving barbecue, where surfaces and hands are already in frequent contact with raw meat, compound the risk of fecal contamination reaching food.
Raccoon Coffee on Biscayne Boulevard drew 11 high-severity violations despite being a coffee shop rather than a full-service restaurant, a finding that suggests the violations at that address are not incidental to a complex kitchen operation. The shellfish traceability citation at a coffee concept is the detail that remains unexplained in the record.
