Raw shellfish with no traceability records. Undercooked food. Tasca Paella stayed open anyway.

MIAMI, FL. Inspectors visiting Tasca Paella at 401 Biscayne Blvd on April 22, 2026 found food that had not been cooked to required minimum temperatures, a violation that puts every customer who ordered that day at direct risk of consuming live pathogens. The restaurant, which specializes in paella and Spanish cuisine in downtown Miami, was not closed.

The inspection produced six high-severity violations and two intermediate violations, a total that mirrors findings from four of the restaurant's six prior inspections on record.

What Inspectors Found

The undercooking violation was not the only finding that put customers at risk. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, meaning customers may have been served food that was spoiled, contaminated, or not what it was represented to be.

Shellfish records were missing. Inspectors cited inadequate shell stock identification, meaning the restaurant could not document where its oysters, clams, or mussels came from. There was also no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, the notice that warns elderly diners, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems that certain menu items carry elevated risk.

Two violations directly concerned handwashing. Inspectors found inadequate handwashing facilities and cited staff for improper hand and arm washing technique. Both violations were flagged as high severity.

The intermediate violations covered multi-use utensils not properly cleaned and inadequate ventilation and lighting.

What These Violations Mean

The undercooking violation is among the most direct routes to foodborne illness in any kitchen. Salmonella in poultry survives at temperatures below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When food is pulled from heat before reaching required minimums, any bacteria present in the raw product survives into the finished dish and onto the customer's plate. At a restaurant that serves paella, a dish that routinely contains chicken, shellfish, and rice held at varying temperatures, this is not a theoretical risk.

The shellfish traceability failure compounds that concern. Shellfish are among the highest-risk foods in any kitchen because they are frequently consumed raw or lightly cooked and can carry Vibrio bacteria, norovirus, and hepatitis A. Shell stock tags are required precisely because, when someone gets sick, public health officials need to trace the product back to its harvest bed to warn others and pull contaminated stock. Without those records at Tasca Paella, that chain of accountability does not exist.

The handwashing violations deserve equal weight. Inadequate facilities means the infrastructure for proper hygiene was not in place. Improper technique means that even when employees attempted to wash their hands, they were not doing so effectively. Together, those two violations mean pathogens from raw proteins, from surfaces, from employees who may be ill, had a clear path onto food being prepared and served to customers.

Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours. Those biofilms are resistant to routine cleaning and can transfer bacteria to every dish the utensil touches.

The Longer Record

The April 2026 inspection is the seventh on record for Tasca Paella. Across those seven inspections, the restaurant has accumulated 66 total violations. It has never been emergency-closed.

The pattern in those records is consistent and specific. Five of the seven inspections produced at least four high-severity violations. The single clean inspection, in April 2024, was followed one week later by an inspection that found two high-severity violations, and then by a run of four consecutive inspections, spanning October 2024 through April 2026, each producing between four and eight high-severity violations.

The October 2024 inspection was the worst on record, with eight high-severity violations and two intermediate. The most recent inspection, in April 2026, matches the January 2025 visit almost exactly: six high-severity violations, two intermediate. The handwashing failures documented this April were also present in multiple prior inspections.

A restaurant with seven inspections and 66 violations, none of which triggered an emergency closure, has been found in serious violation in nearly every encounter with state inspectors over the past two years.

Open for Business

After the April 22 inspection, Tasca Paella remained open to the public. Customers who dined there that day, or in the days following before any corrective action was verified, did so at a restaurant where inspectors had just found undercooked food, shellfish with no sourcing records, no advisory for raw items, and employees unable to wash their hands properly or lacking the facilities to do so.

The restaurant has now logged six high-severity violations in two consecutive annual inspections, both times without a closure order.