Dead rodents. Ice machine mold. Miami metro area restaurants too unsanitary to be open
South Florida’s vermin spread the contamination, as Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach each contributed two restaurants to this week’s Sick and Shut Down List.
To reiterate what we tell you most weeks: State inspectors, not The Miami Herald nor Miami.com, choose the restaurants to inspect and do the inspecting. We’re merely reporting what they found.
In alphabetical order...
Atlantis Pizzeria, 5925 S. Congress Ave., Atlantis: Routine inspection, 11 total violations, three High Priority violations.
Is it appropriate or ironic that Atlantis got closed not by roaches or rodents but by water?
The fuller explanation of the violation “Sewage/wastewater backing up through floor drains” says the “drain next to the walk-in cooler was backing up after the handwash sink was used at the pizza/hot line station.”
Above the hot line garbage can, the “wall was soiled with accumulated grease, food debris and/or dust.”
Also, “cut sausage was stored in to-go bags,” which is a to-go bag no-no because those aren’t food grade bags. They’re fine for touching styrofoam, not food.
Atlantis passed a same-day re-inspection.
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Grio Express, 4308 N. State Rd. 7, Lauderdale Lakes: Routine inspection, 13 total violations, four High Priority violations.
Temperature issues got Grio closed.
Never mind the “containers of frozen chicken and pork sitting on the freezer chest in room temperature,” the kind of thawing that can lead to late night refunding if served.
Or, in-use kitchen utensil sitting in standing water that was so far under 135 degrees, it was air conditioned room temperature (75 degrees).
But what closed shop for Grio was “no potable running water...no running water at the three-compartment sink or handwash sink in the employee bathroom.”
The plumbing issues must have gotten repaired enough for Grio to pass a same-day re-inspection.
Hunan City, 9101 Lakeridge Blvd., Unincorporated Palm Beach County: Routine inspection, six total violations, three High Priority violations.
The license misstates the address as “1901 Lakeridge Blvd.,” which doesn’t seem to exist according to Palm Beach County property records.
The floor under the cookline equipment was described as “soiled, has an accumulation of debris,” but Hunan got hammered for being too buggy.
Also under that cookline equipment and on the cookline were 20 dead roaches.
Running around them were a total of five live roaches among the 15 counted in the restaurant.
Hunan City passed re-inspection the next day.
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Le Genie Restaurant, 176-178 NE 167th St., North Miami Beach: Routine inspection, 42 total violations, eight High Priority violations.
Another restaurant on North Miami Beach’s main east-west strip to rodent poop the bed (or the shelf) on inspection. We told you earlier this week about the rodent droppings on shelves near seasonings and clean plates at Le Genie.
READ MORE: About 100 rodent droppings dotting North Miami Beach’s Le Genie Restaurant
Also, the place had an odor.
It took three inspections but Le Genie made the rodents (or at least their poop pellets) disappear long enough to get reopened.
Randy’s Restaurant & Lounge, 13420 NW Seventh Ave., North Miami: Routine inspection, seven total violations, one High Priority violation.
The other Miami-Dade restaurant on this list also had an “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”
A can opener was “soiled.”
But, Dead Pixie & Dixie canceled the rest of Randy’s day. “Observed two dead rodents on glue traps on the floor underneath the shelves in the dry storage room by the kitchen area.”
Passed inspection the next day.
Rio’s Cafe & Grill, 3937 N. Federal Hwy., Pompano Beach: Routine inspection, seven total violations, one High Priority violation.
Not sure why you’d store bagged rice directly on the floor or a “single serve cup” on the kitchen floor where you’ve got 5 dead roaches. Surely, they were alive at some point, similar to the three live roaches behind the handwash sink faucet, the live roaches in boxed foil by the handwash sink, in a storage drawer under the handwash sink, in a dry storage cabinet and in a water heater pan next to the cookline.
What, nobody saw the dead roach next to the front counter reach-in cooler or the one in the kitchen light shield? Don’t be afraid to pay attention.
The re-inspection went fine until the inspector saw two dead roaches, a live roach on single serve trays at the front counter and three live roaches on the front counter floor.
Rio’s could dance to an upbeat version of Mais Que Nada after the re-re-inspection.
