MIAMI, FL. Two restaurants, one in Hialeah and one in Homestead, each accumulated 12 high-severity violations during a single inspection the week of September 15, 2026, leading a sweep across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties that flagged 15 facilities for serious food safety failures.
The Worst of the Week
Taqueria y Pupuseria Lupita on W 12th Avenue drew 12 high-severity citations, including findings that the restaurant had no written employee health policy, that employees were not reporting illness symptoms, and that food was sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers. Inspectors also documented inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, and food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Sam's Country Kitchen on N Krome Avenue in Homestead matched that count with 12 high-severity violations of its own. The inspection found no person in charge present or performing duties, no employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shell stock identification, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, improper use of time as a public health control, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Four more Miami-Dade restaurants came in at 11 high-severity violations each. New York/Roma Pizza and Pasta on SE 2nd Avenue in downtown Miami had employees failing to report illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing, food from unapproved sources, food in poor condition, shellfish without proper identification records, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and food not cooked to required minimum temperatures.
Rio Grande Churrascaria on W 46th Street in Hialeah had no person in charge, no employee health policy, improper handwashing, food from unapproved sources, adulterated food, inadequate shellfish records, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and improper use of time as a public health control.
Raccoon Coffee on Biscayne Boulevard drew 11 high-severity violations despite operating as a coffee shop. Inspectors found no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shellfish identification records, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, improper time controls, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items.
Mitricolor on SW 152nd Street in southwest Miami drew the same count, with inspectors citing no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate shellfish records, parasite destruction failures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, food not cooked to required temperatures, improper time controls, and no consumer advisory.
Across the Counties
The lone Broward County facility in this week's list, Chow Time Grill and Buffet on W Commercial Boulevard in Tamarac, drew 10 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations, the highest intermediate count of any facility this week. Inspectors found no person in charge, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, shellfish without proper identification, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and improper time controls.
Palm Beach County produced two facilities with serious violation tallies. Sushi Kyu on Yamato Road in Boca Raton drew 10 high-severity violations, including no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing by food employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition, and inadequate shellfish identification records. That is four distinct handwashing-related failures documented in a single inspection.
Pirate's Well on Alt A1A in Lake Park also reached 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, food not cooked to required temperatures, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Shorty's Bar-B-Que on S Dixie Highway in Miami drew 7 high-severity violations, two of them involving toxic chemicals. Inspectors found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used, alongside improper handwashing, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, food not cooked to required temperatures, and no consumer advisory. Improper sewage or wastewater disposal was also documented as an intermediate violation.
Lido Bayside Grill on Island Avenue in Miami Beach drew 4 high-severity violations, including parasite destruction failures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, food not cooked to required temperatures, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
Sushi Sake on SW 42nd Street in Miami drew 3 high-severity violations: unsanitized food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. Keik Bakeshop on NW 87th Avenue in Doral drew 2 high-severity violations, one of them for failing to demonstrate allergen awareness, a citation that carries direct risk for the 32 million Americans living with food allergies.
Mmabes Frutas Frescas y Cafe on NE 8th Street in Homestead drew 2 high-severity violations for food not cooked to required minimum temperature and improper use of time as a public health control, alongside an intermediate citation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
What These Violations Mean
The most pervasive violation pattern this week was the cluster of employee illness and handwashing failures. Taqueria y Pupuseria Lupita, Sam's Country Kitchen, New York/Roma Pizza and Pasta, Raccoon Coffee, Chow Time Grill and Buffet, Sushi Kyu, and Pirate's Well all drew citations in this category. When employees have no written health policy and no obligation to report symptoms, a worker with active Norovirus can contaminate food for an entire service without any checkpoint to stop them. Improper handwashing technique compounds that risk: a worker who attempts to wash their hands but does so incorrectly still transfers pathogens to every surface they touch afterward.
Food from unapproved sources, cited at Taqueria y Pupuseria Lupita, Rio Grande Churrascaria, New York/Roma Pizza and Pasta, Chow Time Grill and Buffet, and Pirate's Well, eliminates the traceability chain that investigators rely on when customers get sick. If an outbreak is traced to contaminated shellfish or poultry, inspectors need purchase records and approved supplier documentation to identify the source and pull the product. Without those records, the investigation stops before it starts.
The toxic chemical violations at Shorty's Bar-B-Que are in a separate category from the food-handling failures. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food create a risk of acute poisoning, not just foodborne illness. A mislabeled cleaning solution mistaken for a food ingredient can cause immediate harm to a customer.
Shellfish traceability failures appeared at Sam's Country Kitchen, Rio Grande Churrascaria, New York/Roma Pizza and Pasta, Raccoon Coffee, Mitricolor, Chow Time Grill and Buffet, and Sushi Kyu. Oysters, clams, and mussels consumed raw or lightly cooked are among the highest-risk foods in any kitchen. Without shell stock identification tags, there is no way to verify where those shellfish came from or to pull them from service if a contamination alert is issued.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for the facilities in this week's report, which limits direct comparison of chronic versus newer violators. What the record does show is that several of this week's highest-severity locations carry violation profiles that span multiple interconnected failure categories, suggesting systemic problems rather than isolated oversights.
Sam's Country Kitchen and Taqueria y Pupuseria Lupita both reached 12 high-severity violations in a single inspection, and both showed failures across management, employee health, food sourcing, and sanitation simultaneously. That combination, no person in charge, no health policy, food from unknown sources, and unsanitized surfaces, describes a facility where multiple safety systems have broken down at once, not a facility that missed one compliance detail.
New York/Roma Pizza and Pasta, operating in downtown Miami near SE 2nd Avenue, drew 11 high-severity violations including food not cooked to required minimum temperatures and food from unapproved sources. The location's proximity to a high-density urban lunch and dinner crowd makes the volume of failures notable.
Raccoon Coffee on Biscayne Boulevard drew 11 high-severity violations despite being a coffee shop format where raw shellfish and parasite destruction procedures would not typically be expected concerns. The shellfish identification and parasite destruction citations suggest the menu extends beyond coffee service in ways the facility's safety practices have not kept pace with.
