MIAMI, FL. Toxic chemicals were stored improperly near food at Tayrona on NW 2nd Avenue when state inspectors arrived on April 20, according to state records. That single finding, which can cause acute poisoning through direct contamination of food or mislabeled containers, was one of seven high-severity violations documented that day at the restaurant. The facility was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The April 20 inspection produced ten total violations, seven of them carrying the state's highest severity designation. Inspectors cited employees for both failing to wash their hands at all and for using improper technique when they did, a combination that effectively means pathogens moved from hands to food during the entire inspection window.
Food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated was also on the list. So were food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized, which inspectors flagged as a cross-contamination vehicle for bacteria moving from surface to food to customer.
The restaurant had also failed to post a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked menu items. That notice exists specifically to warn elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system that certain dishes carry elevated risk.
The intermediate violations added a sewage disposal problem, improperly cleaned multi-use utensils, and inadequate ventilation and lighting to the tally.
What These Violations Mean
The handwashing citations together represent the most direct contamination pathway documented in the inspection. Failing to wash hands is serious. Washing with improper technique and believing the job is done may be worse, because employees are handling food under the assumption their hands are clean when they are not. Studies have shown that improper technique leaves viable pathogens on hands after a wash attempt.
The chemical storage violation adds a separate and distinct risk. When toxic chemicals are stored near or among food, a single mislabeled container or a spill can introduce substances into a dish that no amount of cooking will neutralize. Unlike bacterial contamination, chemical poisoning does not require a temperature failure or a cooling window. It can happen the moment a contaminated ingredient enters a pan.
The sewage disposal citation at Tayrona is not a plumbing inconvenience. Raw sewage carries a concentrated load of fecal pathogens, including E. coli and norovirus, and improper disposal means those pathogens have a route into the facility environment. Combined with the handwashing failures documented the same day, the fecal-oral transmission route that health officials consider most preventable was left open on both ends.
The missing consumer advisory may appear procedural beside those findings. For a diner with HIV, an organ transplant, or a pregnancy, it is not. Without that notice, they have no way to know a dish they are ordering carries a risk the restaurant itself is required to disclose.
The Longer Record
The April 20 inspection was not a departure for Tayrona. It was a continuation. State records show 23 inspections on file for the NW 2nd Avenue location, with 157 total violations documented across that history.
Every inspection listed in the prior record shows high-severity violations. The February 2026 visit produced six high-severity and two intermediate citations. The December 2023 visit matched this week's tally exactly at seven high-severity and two intermediate. The February 2023 inspection also reached seven high-severity violations.
There have been no emergency closures in Tayrona's inspection history. That means that across 23 inspections and 157 violations, the facility has never been ordered shut by the state.
The pattern across inspections is not one of a restaurant struggling with a specific isolated problem. Handwashing failures, food contact surface issues, and temperature or time control citations appear across multiple inspection cycles. These are not new findings. They are recurring ones.
Open for Business
After the April 20 inspection concluded with seven high-severity violations on the record, including improper chemical storage near food, a sewage disposal failure, and dual handwashing breakdowns, Tayrona remained open.
Customers who walked in that evening had no visible indication that inspectors had been there hours earlier. The orange closure sticker that state law reserves for emergency shutdowns was never posted on the door.
The restaurant has now reached 157 documented violations without a single closure in its history.