WEST PALM BEACH, FL. Banh Cuon Tan Dinh on North Military Trail racked up six high-severity violations during the week of April 21, the worst single-facility tally in a sweep that flagged 12 West Palm Beach restaurants for serious health code failures.
Inspectors found no person in charge present or performing duties at the Vietnamese restaurant. There was no written employee health policy, no employee reporting symptoms of illness, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper hand and arm washing technique, and food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. All six violations carry the highest severity classification under Florida's inspection system.
What Inspectors Found
On Clematis Street, Batch New-Southern Kitchen and Tap drew five high-severity violations and six intermediate ones, the highest combined total of any facility this week. Among the high-severity findings: food from an unapproved or unknown source, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
The food sourcing violation stands out. When a restaurant cannot document where its food came from, there is no chain of records to follow if a customer gets sick.
Cafe Centro Allora on North Dixie Highway was cited for five high-severity violations, including inadequate shell stock identification records and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, alongside no written employee health policy, inadequate handwashing facilities, and improper handwashing technique.
The shellfish traceability violation appeared at three facilities this week. Let's Dish Caribbean Restaurant on Okeechobee Boulevard was cited for it, along with four other high-severity violations: no person in charge, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Los Catrachos Restaurant on Gun Club Road also lacked adequate shell stock identification records. Inspectors there additionally found an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
Renegades Country WPB on Village Boulevard was cited for food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, one of the most direct pathogen-survival risks in the inspection code. The country bar and kitchen also drew violations for inadequate handwashing facilities, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Amara Temple Holding Corporation on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard received three high-severity violations: improper handwashing technique, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
Inti Sandwich on North Military Trail had no person in charge present, improper handwashing technique, and inadequate shell stock identification records.
Three more facilities each drew two high-severity violations. Agora Mediterranean Restaurant on North Dixie Highway was cited for improper handwashing technique and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, along with no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. French Grill House on Northwood Road received the same pairing of handwashing technique and food contact surface violations. Two doors down, Celona on Northwood Road was cited for no person in charge and an employee not reporting illness symptoms.
45 Street Cafe on Village Boulevard rounded out the week's high-severity list with violations for an employee not reporting illness symptoms and improper handwashing technique.
One Restaurant Closed
On April 23, state inspectors ordered Belle and Maxwells at 3700 S Dixie Highway shut down for rodent activity. The closure came midweek, during what is typically a busy stretch for a South Dixie dining corridor that draws both lunch and dinner traffic.
No reopening confirmation was included in this week's inspection records.
What These Violations Mean
The handwashing failures documented this week, at Banh Cuon Tan Dinh, Cafe Centro Allora, Renegades Country WPB, Inti Sandwich, Agora Mediterranean, French Grill House, and 45 Street Cafe, are not paperwork problems. Improper technique means pathogens remain on hands even when a worker goes through the motions of washing. Inadequate facilities, cited at Banh Cuon Tan Dinh, Cafe Centro Allora, and Renegades, mean the infrastructure to wash hands correctly does not exist in the first place.
The illness-reporting failures compound that risk directly. At Banh Cuon Tan Dinh, Batch, Let's Dish, Los Catrachos, Renegades, Celona, and 45 Street Cafe, inspectors found no system requiring employees to report symptoms. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads most efficiently when a sick worker handles food without anyone knowing they are ill.
The food sourcing violation at Batch New-Southern Kitchen is a different category of risk. Food from an unapproved or unknown source has not passed USDA or FDA inspection checkpoints. If a customer becomes sick, investigators have no supplier records to trace. That absence of documentation does not just complicate an investigation, it can prevent one entirely.
The shellfish traceability failures at Cafe Centro Allora, Let's Dish, Los Catrachos, and Inti Sandwich carry a similar logic. Oysters, clams, and mussels are often consumed raw or lightly cooked, and they filter large volumes of water, concentrating whatever pathogens were present in their harvest environment. Without shell stock tags linking each batch to a certified harvest location and date, there is no way to identify the source of a Vibrio or hepatitis A exposure after the fact.
The Longer Record
Let's Dish Caribbean Restaurant has the longest inspection history of any facility flagged this week, with 40 prior inspections on record before this visit. Five high-severity violations at a restaurant that has been through 40 inspections is a different finding than five violations at a new location still learning the code.
Cafe Centro Allora and Los Catrachos each have 36 prior inspections on record. Both were cited this week for shellfish traceability failures and food contact surface violations, categories that experienced operators have had ample opportunity to address.
Batch New-Southern Kitchen and Tap has 31 prior inspections on record and this week produced the highest combined violation count of any facility in the roundup. Inti Sandwich, with 32 prior inspections, was still missing a person in charge when inspectors arrived.
Amara Temple Holding Corporation has only 5 prior inspections on record, making it one of the newest operations in this week's data. It drew three high-severity violations, including improperly stored toxic substances, on what is still an early stretch of its inspection history.
Celona, with 7 prior inspections, is also relatively new and already accumulating management-level failures: no person in charge and no employee illness reporting policy in the same visit.
Belle and Maxwells, the one facility ordered closed this week, does not appear in the prior inspection data provided. What is documented is that rodent activity was serious enough to warrant an emergency closure on April 23, and as of the close of this reporting week, no reopening record had been filed.