Flies landing in sauce containers, beef broth stored in Home Depot buckets and leaking AC pipes prompted state inspectors to briefly shut down three South Florida restaurants last week.
During a visit to a Chik-fil-A in Lake Park, one of the 47 flies found in the restaurant landed on an inspector’s arm. More flies were found in the food prep areas at Talkin’ Tacos in Miramar, and a few were seen buzzing in a case storing tortilla chips at La Reyna in Cooper City.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel highlights restaurant inspections in Broward and Palm Beach counties from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Here’s how it works: We cull through hundreds of restaurant and bar inspections that happen weekly and spotlight places ordered shut for “high-priority violations,” like improper food temperatures or dead cockroaches. On occasion we may highlight the weirder violations we notice, like this pizzeria that put a dead 80-pound iguana in its freezer.
Sun Sentinel readers can browse full Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade county reports on our state inspection map, updated weekly (usually Monday) with fresh data pulled from the Florida DBPR website.
Any restaurant that fails inspections must stay closed until it passes a follow-up state inspection. If you spotted a possible violation and wish to file a complaint, contact Florida DBPR here. (But don’t contact us: The Sun Sentinel doesn’t inspect restaurants.)
Talkin’ Tacos
3456 Red Road, Miramar
Ordered shut: June 16 (reopened June 17)
Why: 13 violations (six high priority) ranging from 31 live flies in the kitchen, food prep areas and on the dining tables, to no soap or paper towels at the hand-washing sink. Inspectors found live flies “landing on clean in-use prep table and cutting board,” as well as 20 live flies landing on a dining table in the outside corridor of the restaurant. Food was also stored improperly at the restaurant, with beef broth stored in Home Depot construction buckets in the walk-in cooler. Several employees weren’t wearing hair restraints while they were in the food prep area, inspectors noted.
The restaurant met inspection standards the next day, with only a minor violation found.
La Reyna
5822 S. Flamingo Road, Cooper City
Ordered shut: June 15 (reopened June 16)
Why: Inspectors came across 10 violations in the Mexican restaurant, three of which were high priority. They spotted 36 live flies; four flies landed on tables in the dining room, and more were flying in a glass case with tortilla chips, prompting a stop sale. Employees didn’t change gloves after handling raw sausage, going to touch flat bread without washing their hands or changing their gloves. Onions also were stored on the floor in containers near the cookline.
They passed a follow-up inspection the next day.
Chik-fil-A
1262 Northlake Blvd, Lake Park
Ordered shut: June 15 (reopened June 16)
Why: Seven violations (two high-priority), including 47 live flies throughout the restaurant near open containers of iced tea, landing in containers of sauce and flying in the dining room. A fly even landed on the inspector’s arm during the inspection process. They also found basic violations, with the AC pipe leaking onto the floor, unwashed vegetables stored near “ready to eat food” and soup stored on the floor in the walk-in freezer.
They met all inspection standards the following day.
