Another week of vermin on the Sick and Shut Down List, this time with one local and two national chains.
So let’s take a look at our list of failed restaurant inspections in South Florida. First, a few quick reminders:
This applies to Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward and Palm Beach counties, but not every county has restaurants fail inspections every week.
We do not determine who gets inspected, nor do we perform the inspection. Both are done by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation based on customer complaints and a routine inspection schedule.
We do this without passion or prejudice, but with a bit of humor and judgment.
In alphabetic order:
Champet Restaurant and Bar, 7920 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines: Complaints inspection, 10 violations in total, five violations with high priority.
“One dead cockroach on the wall above the poster about workers’ rights.”
Two live cockroaches were crawling across the ceiling of a back room.
Stop Sales made the mistake of preparing sausage at 54 degrees and cut lettuce at 50 degrees, which had to be cooled to 41 degrees after a night in the refrigerator. Also, cooked chicken was prepared at 80 degrees, an hour after it should have been cooled to 70 degrees.
In a cooler, “the marinade was left uncovered in a large bucket container.”
And who was supposed to watch the “small child running around the kitchen while food was being prepared?” Management was told to keep the child away from the prep area.
The next day the inspection was approved.
Diner By-the-Sea, 215 Commercial Blvd., Lauderdale by the Sea: Routine inspection, total of 14 violations, three of which were high priority.
I think the mice (or whatever) like to lie on the floor here, because how about “24 rodent droppings were on a kitchen shelf with audio equipment.”
Maybe they were responsible for the music for the rodent party that left 12 rodent droppings under a microwave on a kitchen shelf, four under and behind a steam table, and two on top of the dishwasher. For those of you who don’t want to do the math, that’s 42 rodent droppings in the kitchen. Another two were in a back storage room.
Besides, the three dead cockroaches, one of which was found next to the stove and the other on a shelf on the counter, don’t seem that bad, right?
You’d think a place with “By-the-Sea” as part of its name would know how to store fish. Alas, the two mahi mahi in oxygen-restricted packaging “with a label that says to remain frozen until ready to use” were taken out of the freezer the day before and thawed overnight. Stop Sale on the fish.
“Buildup of dirt on the outside of the dishwasher.”
There was water behind an ice machine.
The Diner restaurant was found during its re-inspection on Saturday to have “four rodent droppings under a pipe along the counter.”
Finally, after a few days, there was a successful inspection on Wednesday, barely — “Follow-up inspection required.”
IHOP, 1503 Belvedere Blvd., West Palm Beach: Routine inspection, five violations in total, five high priority violations.
The former International House of Pancakes was the International House of Rodents during this inspection, with ‘nesting material (chewed/collected insulation/debris) from the rodents in the kitchen behind the boiler.’
That’s Mickey and Minnie’s living room. As for where they marked their toilets, it was the kitchen floor next to the walk-in cooler (two droppings), under the dishwasher (three), in dry storage (three), and by the food dispatch line (three).
An “employee broke raw eggs and then touched a clean plate to serve a cooked omelette, without washing his hands.”
After a re-inspection the next day, IHOP put the pancake pigs back in a blanket.
Islands Roti Delight, 1480 S. Military Tr., Unincorporated Palm Beach County: Inspection of complaints, three violations in total, one violation with high priority.
Time for one more question: What’s worse?
About 26 live cockroaches in the kitchen, two of which are crawling out of a paper towel holder and 20 of which are crawling around the boiler in the kitchen?
Or a whole lot of dead cockroaches, as in: “over 100…scattered throughout the establishment?”
It took two days for Islands to pass the callback inspection.
Quarterdeck Seafood Bar & Grill, 12310 W. Sunrise Blvd., Plantation: Inspection of complaints, six violations in total, four violations with high priority.
A favorite spot for fans of the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers (that feels good to say) to grab a drink and a bite to eat before and/or after the game, ever since the team moved from Miami Arena to Sunrise and ended up in the penalty box.
“Six live cockroaches crawl across a storage rack and syrup boxes.”
In the cooling drawer of the main grill, the chicken fillet that was cooked the day before (or before that) was 47 degrees, when it should have been 41 degrees or lower to prevent it from becoming a breeding ground for bacteria. Stop selling the chicken.
The aft deck was released from the inspection room after the re-inspection on Tuesday.
Quates Mexican Restaurant II, 9858 Clint Moore Rd., Unaffiliated Palm Beach County: Inspection of complaints, six violations in total, one violation with high priority.
“One dead cockroach on a dining table.”
We’re taking a quick break from the cockroaches to tell you about the “stained/dirty” cutting boards with cut marks that were “beyond clean.”
Back to the bugs. Five dead cockroaches were on the kitchen floor, near a linen washroom. Another quintet were in a machine near the bar. A drink station shelf in the dining room and a liquor pantry shelf each had a cockroach with its legs up.
And as for the cockroaches running with their legs down, they were ubiquitous.
Five on the underside of a beverage station table. One on the floor at the beverage station. One on an electrical cord behind the beverage station. One on a dry storage shelf of a kitchen cook line. Five in the gasket of a cook line cooler. Five in the door frame of a beverage storage room. Two on a table top at the food dispatch line in front of the cook line.
The inspector counted 34 live cockroaches.
Quatas passed the inspection the next day, but with “Follow-up Inspection Required” and not “Inspection Standards Met”.
Stoner’s Pizza Joint, 1509 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale: Routine inspection, total of 11 violations, two of which were high priority.
Earlier this week, we took an in-depth look at the odors and fecal pellets that caused the pizza chain’s Fort Lauderdale location to spill onto the floor during three inspections.
READ MORE: Smelly, stagnant water and rodents at Stoner’s Pizza Joint
A fourth inspection, just hours after 10 rodent droppings caused Stoner to fail his third inspection, allowed the restaurant to reopen for family pizza on Friday night and the rest of the weekend.
Tacos Al Carbon Bar and Grill, 2161 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., West Palm Beach: Routine inspection, nine violations in total, eight high priority violations.
The individual area with the most pieces of rodent feces was the kitchen floor in the beverage storage area (seven), followed by kitchen shelves above the prep table and sink (six). The prep area floor had four, as did the tops of food containers near the microwave. There were another three in a prep sink in the kitchen, and three in dry storage “on top of single-use food containers.”
An “employee picked up dirty dishes as he was taking them to the dishwashing area, then returned to the cook line and began preparing food without washing his hands.”
If you put the cooked beans in the cold room overnight, it should not be 46 degrees or five degrees too warm to survive. Stop selling the beans.
Also thrown away via Stop Sales were raw beef (50 degrees), raw chicken (49) and sliced tomatoes (46). The inspector noted that although they had been in the cool box overnight, they were also “too full in the pans”, which does not provide for proper cooling.
After the re-inspection on Friday, tacos were served again.
