Roaches and basic cleaning failures got a South Beach restaurant closed by inspection
Roaches around a mixer, general uncleanliness and some handwashing issues helped a Miami Beach Ocean Drive restaurant fail state inspection on Wednesday.
A routine inspection uncovered 20 violations, one of which was High Priority, at Ocean Enoteca e Forno aka Ocean 5 Cafe, 444 Ocean Dr. After passing a Thursday re-inspection, the restaurant reopened to resume serving Italian cuisine to South Beach residents, visitors and tourists.
READ MORE: Roaches in food. Rodents (a lot). A Sbarro. Broward and Palm Beach restaurant issues
Here’s some of what the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation inspector found:
Four roaches scurrying under a mixer behind the kitchen prep area and one live roach on top of that mixer. Another roach “crawling on the floor approximately 4ft from cook line in the kitchen.”
No soap or paper towels or mechanical hand-drying device at the handwash sinks by the kitchen prep area and next to the three-compartment sink.
On the cookline, “In-use knife/knives stored in cracks between pieces of equipment.”
“In-use tongs stored on an equipment door handle between uses.”
“Interior of oven/microwave has an accumulation of black substance/grease/food debris.”
Throughout the kitchen, the wall was “soiled with accumulated grease, food debris and/or dust” and the reach-in coolers had “an accumulation of soil residues” on shelves and interior sides.
“Ceiling vents and ceiling tiles soiled throughout the establishment.”
A prep area “cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable.”
After washing, “Equipment and utensils not properly air-dried — wet nesting.”
