MIAMI, FL. Two South Florida restaurants, one in Weston and one in Hialeah, each racked up 12 high-severity violations during the week of August 29, and a Miami IHOP landed on the same list alongside a taqueria and a pizzeria that couldn't show inspectors where their food came from.
State inspectors flagged 15 restaurants across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties during the week, logging a combined 113 high-severity violations. Eleven of the 15 facilities are in Miami-Dade. Three are in Broward. One is in Palm Beach County.
The Violations
Moon Thai and Japanese on Weston Road tied for the week's worst record with 12 high-severity violations, including food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, inadequate shellfish traceability records, and parasite destruction procedures that were not followed for fish. Inspectors also found no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, and improper handwashing technique, all in a single visit.
El Patio Live on West 49th Street in Hialeah matched that count exactly, also citing food from unapproved sources alongside food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. The facility had no employee health policy, an employee not reporting symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, and improper technique, and no person in charge was present or performing duties during the inspection.
Dona Neli Restaurant 2 on SW 184th Street in Miami drew 11 high-severity violations. Inspectors found food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, along with food from unapproved sources and inadequate shellfish identification records. The facility also lacked an employee health policy, had an employee not reporting illness symptoms, and had no person in charge on duty.
Q' Onda Taqueria on SW 109th Court also reached 11 high-severity violations. The list included food from unapproved sources, inadequate shellfish records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and time used as a public health control without proper procedures. No person in charge was present, no employee health policy existed, and an employee was not reporting symptoms of illness.
Di Piazza Pizzeria on West 49th Street in Hialeah logged 10 high-severity violations, among them food not cooked to required minimum temperatures and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked items. Inspectors also cited food from unapproved sources and food contact surfaces not properly sanitized.
Chicos Restaurant on West 12th Avenue in Hialeah drew 10 high-severity violations as well, including food from unapproved sources, inadequate shellfish identification, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and no handwashing facilities available to employees.
Ol'Days on NE 1st Avenue in Miami reached 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors found food not cooked to minimum temperature, time as a public health control not properly used, inadequate shellfish records, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
IHOP 36-130 on SW 88th Street in Miami also hit 10 high-severity violations, a notable total for a national chain. The inspection turned up food from unapproved sources, inadequate shellfish records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to minimum temperature, no consumer advisory, and no person in charge present.
Q-Ban Cafe on SW 184th Street recorded 9 high-severity violations, including food from unapproved sources, inadequate shellfish records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and time as a public health control not properly used.
Korner 67 on Main Street in Miami Lakes also drew 9 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited food from unapproved sources, inadequate shellfish records, improperly cleaned contact surfaces, no consumer advisory, and no handwashing facilities.
Sea Siam on South Dixie Highway accumulated 8 high-severity violations, including parasite destruction procedures not followed, food not cooked to minimum temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and required procedures for specialized processes not followed.
Colombian Coffee House on NE 20th Street in Boca Raton was the sole Palm Beach County entry this week, with 5 high-severity violations. Those included food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, toxic chemicals improperly stored, no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff, and no person in charge on duty.
Rinconcito de Alex El Paisa on SW 112th Street in Miami drew 3 high-severity violations, including toxic chemicals improperly stored near food and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items. Four intermediate violations accompanied those findings, among them improper sewage or wastewater disposal and single-use items being reused.
Asados El Paisa Broward on North University Drive in Lauderhill had 2 high-severity violations, food from unapproved sources and food not cooked to required minimum temperature, along with multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
Bellini Italian Bistro on Weston Road had the lightest record of the 15, with 1 high-severity violation for an employee not reporting symptoms of illness.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved or unknown sources showed up at eight facilities this week, including Moon Thai and Japanese, El Patio Live, Dona Neli Restaurant 2, Q' Onda Taqueria, Di Piazza Pizzeria, Chicos Restaurant, Q-Ban Cafe, Korner 67, IHOP 36-130, and Asados El Paisa Broward. This violation means the food bypasses USDA and FDA safety inspections entirely. If a customer gets sick, there is no supply chain to trace. The food could carry Listeria, Salmonella, or other pathogens with no accountability.
Inadequate shellfish identification records turned up at seven facilities, including Moon Thai and Japanese, Dona Neli Restaurant 2, Q' Onda Taqueria, Chicos Restaurant, Ol'Days, IHOP 36-130, Q-Ban Cafe, Korner 67, and Sea Siam. Oysters, clams, and mussels are consumed raw or lightly cooked and are among the highest-risk foods served in any restaurant. Without the required shellfish tags, there is no way to identify the harvest area or date if a customer becomes ill, and no way to trace a contamination event back to the source.
No employee health policy, combined with employees not reporting illness symptoms, appeared together at Moon Thai and Japanese, El Patio Live, Dona Neli Restaurant 2, Q' Onda Taqueria, Di Piazza Pizzeria, Chicos Restaurant, Q-Ban Cafe, and Bellini Italian Bistro. These two violations are linked. A written health policy is the mechanism that tells workers they must report symptoms and stay home. Without it, a worker with Norovirus or Salmonella has no formal instruction to do anything other than show up.
Parasite destruction procedures not followed, cited at both Moon Thai and Japanese and Sea Siam, means that fish served raw or undercooked, including sushi and sashimi preparations, was not frozen to the temperatures and time periods required to kill Anisakis and tapeworm larvae. Both restaurants serve Japanese or Thai cuisine with raw fish preparations. This is not a paperwork gap. It is a direct exposure pathway.
The Longer Record
The prior inspection history for most of these facilities is not included in this week's data set, which limits what can be said with confidence about chronic patterns at specific locations. What the violation counts alone establish is that nine of the 15 facilities reached 9 or more high-severity violations in a single inspection week, a concentration that is not typical of routine compliance snapshots.
Several of these facilities share a cluster geography worth noting. El Patio Live and Di Piazza Pizzeria are both on West 49th Street in Hialeah, within blocks of each other. Chicos Restaurant is also in Hialeah. All three hit 10 or more high-severity violations this week, and all three had no person in charge present during the inspection.
Dona Neli Restaurant 2 and Q-Ban Cafe are both on SW 184th Street in Miami, within the same commercial corridor. Both drew 9 or more high-severity violations. Both had food from unapproved sources cited. Dona Neli also had food in poor condition or adulterated, a violation that Q-Ban did not share.
The IHOP on SW 88th Street in Miami stands apart from the rest of this list because it is a franchise location of a national chain with standardized training and corporate compliance systems. Ten high-severity violations at a location like this, including food from unapproved sources and no person in charge present, raise questions that go beyond a single bad inspection day. Colombian Coffee House in Boca Raton was the only Palm Beach County facility on the list this week, and its citation for no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff is the only allergen-related violation across all 15 facilities.
