Seven Miami Restaurants, Including Three at Dadeland Mall, Closed Temporarily for Health Violations

One of our most important duties here at Short Order is to ensure our readers are made aware when restaurants are not maintaining healthy standards. Unfortunately for restaurant owners, it often takes just a little negligence for violations to occur. Fortunately for patrons, the Florida Department of Business and Professional...

By Kareem Shaker

February 7, 2013

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One of our most important duties here at Short Order is to ensure our readers are made aware when restaurants are not maintaining healthy standards. Unfortunately for restaurant owners, it often takes just a little negligence for violations to occur. Fortunately for patrons, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation's safety and sanitation inspectors seldom allow violations to go unnoticed during each eatery's two to three annual inspections.

Every week, inspectors order establishments closed that are found to be in direct violation of certain operational standards. It is the nature of the violations, not the frequency or quantity, that determines whether or not it must be closed. Once closed and cited, the restaurant must correct the violation in order to reopen. There are generally only two or three Miami restaurants weekly that have their doors shuttered because of high-priority violations. This past week, inspectors were busier than usual.

Seven Miami eateries were closed between January 28 and January 31 owing to critical violations. La Guira Restaurant & Sport Lounge at 70 NW 107th Ave. in Sweetwater/Tamiami; El Pinareno Restaurant at 1971 NW 17th Ave. in Allapattah; Café Enrique, CrêpeMaker, and Café Espersito in Dadeland Mall; Redland Café at 19130 Krome Ave. outside Homestead; and Gibara Restaurant at 158 E. Hialeah Dr. in Hialeah were all closed due to violations last week. All except for Redland Café, which was found to be operating without a valid license, were allowed to reopen after correcting the violations within 24 hours.

See also:

-- The Inspector Archives

La Guira, a Mexican sports bar that has been cited three times in the past four years, was closed due to the the presence of roaches near the handwash sink and underneath the prep tables in the kitchen. Management declined to comment, but the restaurant was allowed to open the next morning after cleaning.

El Pinareno is another repeat offender, having been cited nearly every time it was inspected over the past two years. This time the inspector observed live roaches near the food prep area but allowed the restaurant to reopen the very same day after cleaning up, storing food correctly, and disposing of spoiled food allowed to remain in its active food supply.

Café Enrique and Café Espersito at Dadeland Mall were both closed due to roach activity. . CrêpeMaker, which has become quite popular since opening this past November at Dadeland, did not have health violations. The eatery was forced to close because it had no running water when inspectors visited. The problem was corrected, and the restaurant was allowed to reopen the very next morning.

Gibara Restaurant in Hialeah had eight critical violations, including rodent activity and the presence of roaches in the food prep area. No one at the restaurant could be reached for comment.

For more information about these or any other restaurants, visit the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation website.

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