5 restaurants in a strip mall cited for rodents. Issues from Keys to Miami to Palm Beach

A strip mall that could use some extermination is the home to 5 of the 13 restaurants on this week’s list of restaurants closed after failing state inspections.

And this week’s Sick and Shut Down List includes restaurants from the Florida Keys to Miami to Broward County to Palm Beach.

In alphabetical order:

Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, 115 NE Sixth Ave., Delray Beach: Complaint inspection, nine total violations, eight High Priority violations.

Those weren’t sausage crumbs at the server station. “Two rodent droppings in a cabinet at the server station. Nine rodent droppings by the floor drain inside a cabinet at the server station.”

Also at the service station soda dispenser were four “live small insects.” Another five were under the dishwasher.

The water at the employee handwash sink didn’t get hot enough.

Not cooled enough (41 degrees or under) were basic foods six hours after cooking. Chicken wings, meatballs and marinara sauce in the walk-in cooler all got hit with Stop Sales.

The problems in this Valentine’s Day inspection got remedied in time for Anthony’s to pass a same-day re-inspection.

Blu Bistro, 19 Sombrero Blvd., Marathon: Routine inspection, 18 violations, four High Priority violations.

“Accumulation of lime scale on the inside of the dishmachine.”

As for the ice machine, it “has no panel and is rusting on the outside.” And the nearby handwash sink was “covered in dried concrete.” Another handwash sink was “blocked by a table and tray of bacon” and didn’t have any way to dry hands.

The pool bar’s soda gun holster was “soiled with mold-like substance.”

The dishwasher sanitizer measured zero parts per million.

So, there was no sanitizing dishes being washed in a machine that had 15 rodent droppings on top of it. But maybe better there than a slicer table and under the slicer (10 droppings) and a wood shelf over food storage (five easy pieces of poo).

Blu was no longer blue after re-inspection the next day.

China One, 15711 Sheridan St., Davie: Routine inspection, 13 total violations, one High Priority violation.

China One could have survived no soap at the handwash sink and way too much grease and food debris on a dry goods storage rack, the stove, fry canisters and hood filters. But the roaches killed them.

That dead roaches numbered 15, six of which were under a prep table and seven of which were next to where sugar bags were stored.

The live roach count reached nine, five of which were on the cookline.

China One reopened after passing the callback inspection the next day.

Hook Fish & Chicken, 715 E. Main St., Pahokee: Routine inspection, four total violations, one High Priority violation.

Two months after making this list, the Hook is still a rodent winter vacation spot.

The inspector counted trios of rodent droppings in a dry storage corner “where single service items are stored;’ under a bathroom table; and the back of a front counter reach-in cooler.

Did the three dead roaches in that dry storage corner lose a rumble to the rodents?

Go to the bathroom, wash your hands, come out dripping all over the place because there wasn’t any way to dry your hands. And you’d be dripping cold water because there was no hot water at the handwash sinks in the bathroom and near the cookline.

Managers told the inspector workmen would be coming to address the problem by the following week.

Apparently, the Roto Rooter man or a reasonable facsimile got by there by the next day’s re-inspection because Hook was back open by the next evening.

House of Cheung, 499 NE 20th St., Boca Raton: Routine inspection, six total violations, six High Priority violations.

Welcome to our first restaurant at the Winfield Plaza strip mall, the first strip to put five restaurants on the list in one week. Looks like Winfield Plaza owner 20th Street Investments, LLC, needs to get its Orkin on to deal with the rodents.

In House of Cheung, there were 10 rodent droppings under shelves at the three-compartment sink, two under a nearby prep table, five on a shelf under the prep table and two droppings in a kitchen bowl. Another 13 dotted food storage racks.

A Stop Sale got slapped on sweet and sour chicken cooked the previous day, but still not properly cooled.

Also too warm were tofu, chicken and egg rolls in the walk-in cooler. The manager said the “door was not closed for the lunch rush.” The inspector allowed the food to stay but with the cooler door properly shut.

House of Cheung passed re-inspection the next day.

Island Palace, 4170 N. State Rd. 7, Lauderdale Lakes: Routine inspection, 16 total violations, five High Priority violations.

Five live roaches hung out in the gaskets of the cookline reach-in cooler, a cooler in which the “interior/shelves and bottom have an accumulation of soil residues.”

The walk-in cooler and freezer had a “buildup of food debris/soil residue on equipment door handles.”

No sanitizer in the dishwasher means the dishwasher didn’t do the whole job.

The Palace passed inspection the next day.

Jack’s Pizzeria & Restaurant, 14856 S. Military Tr., Delray Beach: Routine inspection, three total violations, two High Priority violations.

Those little things running around weren’t red pepper shavings.

In one of the wheels of the stove, 15 roaches congregated. Five were in broken floor tiles under the steam table, another five were under cookline equipment. One was on the wall behind the warewashing machine.

The dishwasher control panel apparently kills roaches better than Raid or feet because that’s where over 30 dead bodies were found. About 10 were in a cookline oven. One dead roach lay on a cookline cutting board. Two were “hanging from a shelf directly above the cookline work station...”

Jack’s passed re-inspection the next day.

JoJo’s Raw Bar & Grill, 13889 Wellington Trace in Wellington Marketplace, Wellington: Routine inspection, 17 total violations, eight High Priority violations.

With 12 restaurants on this list, you knew one had to have an ”Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.” The inspector explained, the “interior of the ice machine was heavily soiled with a black/green mold-like substance.”

Speaking of ice machines, between ice machines and in the bar area, the inspector counted 20 flies. Another three buzzed the dessert prep area.

Roaches crawled at the three-compartment sink and “at the side of the cooler that stores glasses,” three in each place.

The restaurant’s dead roach count was 69. About 12 were under a cooler, and 20 were in “an opening along the lower section of wall.” Six were near an ice machine. About 10 were under and behind a storage shelf with sugar and rice. Two were on a storage rack with cans.

Cans of baked beans and sauerkraut, dented as they were, were among the monsoon of Stop Sales that fell on the food.

Oxygen packed tuna that should have been kept frozen until time to use got thawed. Food not properly cooled to prevent foodborne illness bacteria included Swiss cheese, sliced cheddar cheese, clam chowder, vegetable soup and potato soup.

Flies and both kinds of roaches — “Manager was able to kill some of the roaches” — ruined the first two callback inspections before JoJo’s passed a third.

Midnight Cookies & Cream, 489 NE 20th St., Boca Raton: Routine inspection, nine total violations, one High Priority violation.

Also at Winfield Plaza, the restaurant handwash sink lacked soap.

“Food stored in a prohibited area. Beverages and single serve utensils, lids, and containers were stored in the bathroom.”

You don’t want anything stored in a place people urinate and defecate. Plus, as noted on the inspection, you’re not keeping them safe from Pixie & Dixie: “six rodent droppings in the bathroom used for the storage of single service articles and beverages. One rodent dropping outside that bathroom.”

Midnight passed re-inspection the next day.

Nick Caribbean Restaurant, 14530 W. Dixie Hwy., North Miami-Dade: Routine inspection, 16 total violations, four High Priority violations.

Rodents, roaches and wastewater on the kitchen floor, as described in the Miami Herald earlier this week.

READ MORE: 70 rodent droppings. Live roaches. Wastewater backup. Nick Caribbean problems

Nick passed re-inspection on Saturday.

The Pampa Grill, 515 NE 20th St., Boca Raton: Routine inspection, seven total violations, four High Priority violations.

One dead roach on the office floor. But, that wasn’t the real problem for another Winfield Plaza restaurant.

If you order pizza from this place, you might want to dine-in. The inspector spotted “25 rodent droppings on the store shelf with to-go pizza boxes.” Another two were on a plastic bag of single service lids.

Pampa got the rodents to move along — or at least to poop in places less visible to the inspector — by the next day’s re-inspection.

Panaderia y Pasteleria Ahtziri, 475 NE 20th St., Boca Raton: Routine inspection, 10 total violations, three High Priority violations.

The Winfield Plaza restaurant had 15 pieces of rodent regularity on the “cabinet floor, on aprons and inside a bag of single service straws.”

A employee wet one hand for less than 10 to 15 seconds with a spray hose, didn’t use soap and called it “washing his hands.”

The can opener on the main prep table was “rusted and soiled with food debris.”

Passed re-inspection the next day.

Señor Burrito, 513 NE 20th St., Boca Raton: Routine inspection, eight total violations, two High Priority violations.

Winfield Plaza’s got a full length rodent problem And, while Señor Burrito and Pampas Grill are at one end of this very long strip mall, House of Cheung is near the middle and Midnight and Panaderia at near the opposite end.

Five rodent droppings underneath a bar table and three under a wine cooler got the Burrito shut down.

Also, a dead roach was on the wall and 55 flies swarming and landing on “bags of onions, rice, clean pots, cases of tortillas, containers of sauce and dry seasoning.”

Like the other Winfield Park restaurants closed by inspection, it turned out to be a one-day timeout.