The state temporarily closed two South Florida restaurants — one each in Palm Beach and Broward counties — last week due to issues ranging from standing water underneath dining room tables and sewage water backing up through floor drains to an employee handling raw chicken then cooking pork without washing their hands.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel typically highlights restaurant inspections conducted by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation in Broward and Palm Beach counties. We cull through inspections that happen weekly and spotlight places ordered shut for “high-priority violations,” such as improper food temperatures or dead cockroaches.
Any restaurant that fails a state inspection must stay closed until it passes a follow-up. If you spot a possible violation and wish to file a complaint, contact Florida DBPR. (But please don’t contact us: The Sun Sentinel doesn’t inspect restaurants.)
BROWARD COUNTY
Benihana
3261 SW 160th Ave., Miramar
Ordered shut: Oct. 11
Why: Two violations (one high-priority), including:
- “Sewage/wastewater backing up through floor drains” in areas such as the bar, sushi station, kitchen and dishwasher areas, and “outside of back entrance door by the grease trap.” (An employee was seen “stepping on sewage.”)
- “Floor area(s) covered with standing water” — in the dining room “below customers’ tables and seats,” as well as in bar and kitchen areas and by a “front counter facing sushi station.”
Status: Reopened Oct. 12 after a follow-up inspection found no violations.
PALM BEACH COUNTY
El Mariachi Mexican Restaurant
1937 N. Military Trail, Suite F, West Palm Beach
Ordered shut: Oct. 7
Why: 13 violations (10 high-priority), including:
- 14 roaches in the kitchen “crawling on power outlet strip attached to wall behind prep table,” “on triple sink,” “on back of white chest freezer” and “inside of walk-in cooler/freezer not in use/no food stored.”
- “Employee handled raw chicken to place on grill to be cooked and then handled cooked pork to be reheated without washing hands.”
- “Employee went from handling soiled dishes, washed hands at triple sink with no soap and then handled clean plates to serve food.”
- Stop sale ordered for cooked beans and cooked pork due to time/temperature issues. Other temperature issues involved cooked rice, peppers, onions, tomato salsa and chicken.
- “Raw shell eggs over liquid butter” and “raw beef stored over ready-to-eat arepas.”
Status: Reopened Oct. 8 after a follow-up visit found no violations.
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