MIAMI, FL. A restaurant on SW 137th Avenue in Miami racked up 14 high-severity violations in a single inspection last week, the highest total among 15 South Florida facilities that each drew three or more critical citations between August 27 and September 2, 2026.
Rinconcito Miami 2 on SW 137 Ave drew citations covering nearly every category inspectors track: no person in charge performing duties, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, missing shellfish traceability records, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and food not cooked to required minimum temperatures. That is eight distinct high-severity categories, with 14 total high-severity violations and 6 intermediate ones recorded in the same visit.
The Week's Worst Findings
Moon Thai & Japanese on Weston Rd in Weston followed with 12 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate. Inspectors there cited the absence of an employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, missing shellfish traceability records, and parasite destruction procedures not followed. That restaurant and Rinconcito Miami 2 share five of the same high-severity violation categories.
Fontana Restaurant at 1200 Anastasia Ave in Coral Gables drew 11 high-severity violations and 7 intermediate citations, the highest intermediate count of the week. The Coral Gables location sits inside the Biltmore Hotel, one of Miami-Dade's most prominent tourist destinations. Inspectors cited no person in charge, employees not reporting illness, improper handwashing, food from unapproved sources, missing shellfish records, parasite destruction failures, unclean food contact surfaces, and food not cooked to minimum temperature.
Four facilities tied at 10 high-severity violations. Ol'Days on NE 1 Ave in Miami was cited for missing shellfish records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to required temperature, and a violation for time as a public health control not properly used, meaning food was held in the temperature danger zone without proper documentation or time tracking. Baires Grill on S Miami Ave drew the same count, with inspectors noting food from unapproved sources, parasite destruction failures, and also a time-as-public-health-control violation.
Chicos Restaurant on W 12 Ave in Hialeah was cited for inadequate handwashing facilities alongside the absence of both a person in charge and an employee health policy, and food from unapproved sources. Di Piazza Pizzeria, also in Hialeah, matched the 10-violation total, with inspectors flagging food not cooked to minimum temperature and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Colombian Coffee House on NE 20 St in Boca Raton was Palm Beach County's sole entry this week at the three-or-more threshold, drawing 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors there cited food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, a category that can indicate spoiled product being held or items without proper identification.
The Whitelaw Hotel & Lounge on Collins Ave in Miami Beach drew 9 high-severity violations and zero intermediate citations. The Collins Avenue address places it in the heart of South Beach's tourist corridor. Inspectors cited inadequate handwashing facilities, food from unapproved sources, food not cooked to minimum temperature, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Bagel Express on SW 88 St in Miami drew 8 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate citations. Inspectors flagged toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and a separate violation for toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Those two citations, together in the same inspection, indicate chemical hazards were documented in more than one form during the same visit.
Sea Siam on S Dixie Hwy in Miami drew 8 high-severity violations, including a citation for required procedures for specialized processes not followed, a category that covers smoking, curing, fermenting, and reduced-oxygen packaging. Rinconcito de Alex El Paisa on SW 112 St in Miami drew 3 high-severity violations but added an intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal, a citation uncommon enough to stand apart from the week's other findings.
Broward County's remaining two facilities drew lower totals. Asados El Paisa Broward on N University Dr in Lauderhill drew 2 high-severity violations, food from unapproved sources and food not cooked to required minimum temperature. Bellini Italian Bistro on Weston Rd drew 1 high-severity violation for an employee not reporting illness symptoms.
Tropical Smoothie on SW 120 St in Miami drew 1 high-severity violation for food not cooked to required minimum temperature, alongside an intermediate citation for inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment.
What These Violations Mean
The most common high-severity citation this week, appearing at Rinconcito Miami 2, Moon Thai & Japanese, Fontana Restaurant, Chicos Restaurant, Di Piazza Pizzeria, Colombian Coffee House, Ol'Days, Baires Grill, and Bagel Express, was the absence of an employee health policy or the failure of employees to report illness symptoms. These two violations often appear together because they are structurally linked: without a written policy, workers have no formal obligation to disclose when they are sick. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million infections annually in the United States, spreads almost exclusively through infected food handlers who continue working. A single symptomatic employee can contaminate every dish that leaves a kitchen.
Parasite destruction failures, cited at Rinconcito Miami 2, Moon Thai & Japanese, Fontana Restaurant, Sea Siam, and Baires Grill, are particularly acute for restaurants serving raw or lightly cooked fish. The parasite Anisakis, found in many marine fish species, can survive sushi preparation unless the fish has been frozen to specific temperatures for a defined period. Restaurants that skip that step serve no visible warning to customers.
The food-from-unapproved-sources violation, documented at Rinconcito Miami 2, Moon Thai & Japanese, Fontana Restaurant, Baires Grill, Chicos Restaurant, Di Piazza Pizzeria, The Whitelaw Hotel & Lounge, and Asados El Paisa Broward, is a traceability problem as much as a safety one. When product enters a kitchen without a verifiable supply chain, there is no way for investigators to trace the source if a customer becomes ill. That gap is what turns a single sick diner into an unresolvable case.
Bagel Express drew two separate chemical-hazard citations in the same visit: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. The distinction matters. The first citation typically covers cleaning products or pesticides stored near food. The second covers a broader failure in how those substances are tracked and handled. Both in the same inspection point to a kitchen where chemical management had broken down across multiple points.
The Longer Record
The data provided for this week does not include prior inspection counts for each facility, which limits direct comparison of chronic versus new violators. What the violation profiles do reveal is a pattern of compounding failures. Facilities like Rinconcito Miami 2, Moon Thai & Japanese, and Fontana Restaurant each accumulated violations across management, hygiene, sourcing, and cooking temperature in a single visit. That combination, person in charge absent, no illness policy, food from unapproved sources, and undercooking, is not a cluster of isolated oversights. It is a picture of a kitchen operating without foundational controls in place.
Fontana Restaurant's location inside the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables and The Whitelaw Hotel & Lounge's Collins Avenue address in South Beach are relevant facts. Both serve tourist populations who have no local knowledge of a restaurant's inspection history and no practical way to check it before sitting down. The Whitelaw drew 9 high-severity violations with zero intermediate citations, an unusual ratio that suggests inspectors moved quickly past baseline concerns to document more serious ones.
Colombian Coffee House in Boca Raton was the only Palm Beach County facility to clear the three-high-severity threshold this week, but its 10-violation total matched the highest count seen in Broward and tied four Miami-Dade facilities. Its citation for food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated was one of only two such citations issued across all 15 facilities this week, the other appearing at Bagel Express in Miami.
Rinconcito de Alex El Paisa's improper sewage or wastewater disposal citation remains the week's most structurally unusual finding. Fecal contamination from improperly routed wastewater can spread throughout a facility without any visible indicator, reaching food preparation surfaces, equipment, and stored product. That violation appeared in an inspection that also flagged single-use items being reused and inadequate ventilation, a facility where multiple systems were documented as failing at once.
