KEY BISCAYNE, FL. A state inspector walked into Sushi Siam at 630 Crandon Boulevard on June 8 and found fish and other food items sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means there is no paper trail to follow if a customer gets sick.
That was one of ten high-severity violations documented that afternoon. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most serious an inspector can document at a raw-fish restaurant. Sushi-grade fish sold through unapproved channels bypasses federal safety inspections designed to screen for Listeria, Salmonella, and parasites.
The illness reporting violations compound that risk. Inspectors found no written employee health policy and documented that employees were not reporting symptoms of illness, two separate high-severity citations. Together, they describe a kitchen with no formal mechanism to keep a sick worker away from raw fish being served directly to customers.
Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique and inadequate handwashing facilities, a pairing that means the physical infrastructure for basic hygiene was deficient and the technique being used was insufficient regardless. The citation for food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized was also recorded, a finding that, at a sushi counter where the same cutting boards and knives touch every piece of fish, carries direct cross-contamination implications.
The remaining high-severity findings included food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, time not properly used as a public health control, no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked items, and toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly. One intermediate violation, for multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, rounded out the inspection report.
What These Violations Mean
At a sushi restaurant specifically, the combination of unapproved food sources and absent consumer advisories is acutely dangerous for a specific group of diners. Pregnant women, elderly customers, and people with compromised immune systems are the populations most at risk from raw fish, and a consumer advisory is the mechanism that allows them to make an informed choice. Without it, they have no warning.
The illness-reporting failures documented at Sushi Siam on June 8 are not administrative paperwork problems. Food workers infected with Norovirus are the leading cause of multi-victim outbreaks in restaurant settings, and the pathogen transmits through direct food contact. No written health policy means no protocol exists to require a sick worker to stay home, and the separate citation for employees not reporting symptoms means that gap was already being felt in practice.
The temperature and time violations matter differently at a raw-fish establishment than they do at a burger counter. Sushi restaurants that use time as a public health control, keeping fish at room temperature for a defined window rather than refrigerating it, operate on a narrow margin. When that time tracking is not properly documented or followed, fish sits in the bacterial growth zone with no reliable record of how long it has been there.
Improperly stored chemicals near food preparation areas carry a straightforward risk: mislabeled or misplaced cleaning compounds can contaminate food directly, and the symptoms of acute chemical poisoning can be difficult to distinguish from foodborne illness in the immediate aftermath.
The Longer Record
The June 8 inspection was not an aberration. State records show Sushi Siam has been inspected 22 times, accumulating 228 violations in total.
The pattern across the most recent eight inspections is consistent. The April 2024 inspection produced 8 high-severity and 6 intermediate violations. January 2023 matched June 8's count exactly, with 10 high-severity and 6 intermediate violations. The February 2025 inspection found 5 high-severity violations, and December 2025 found 4 high-severity violations, suggesting the facility did not sustain whatever corrections followed those visits.
High-severity violation counts of 5 or above appear in six of the eight most recent inspections on record. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when an inspector determines that continued operation poses an immediate threat to public health. Ten high-severity violations at a raw-fish restaurant, including unknown food sourcing, no sick-worker policy, and no consumer advisory, did not meet that threshold on June 8.
Sushi Siam remained open after the inspection.