‘Employee picked nose and touched clean bowls,’ 100+ flies, moldy ice: 5 South Florida restaurants shut

Rodent droppings near Ragu sauce, roaches in a paper towel dispenser and a nose-picking employee forced the state to temporarily order shut five South Florida restaurants last week.

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 spotted 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.)

Grande’s Bella Cucina, Palm Beach Gardens

4580 Donald Ross Road, Suite 119

Ordered shut: Feb. 23 and 24; reopened Feb. 26

Why: A whopping 40 violations (14 high-priority), including 155 live flies in areas such as the “handwash sink and behind glass cooler at the bar inside the dining room,” “landing on all the equipment and linen used to cover clean utensils,” on “salt and pepper shakers,” “by soda machine and clean cups shelves above the soda machine in the kitchen” and “under the prep table where flour containers are stored by cook line.”

The report included multiple employee violations:

• One “employee picked nose and touched clean bowls.”
• An employee “left cook line (and) went to the back of the kitchen, returned, put gloves on without washing hands and started working with foods.”
• An employee “washed hands with no soap, dried hands on apron, put gloves on and started preparing food.”
• An employee was asked to remove their “backpack with personal clothes stored on prep table next to meatballs by cook line.”
• An employee’s beverage container was seen “on a food preparation table or over/next to clean equipment/utensils — at cook line and on top of dishwasher.”

The restaurant was ordered to stop selling and trash its Bolognese sauce, marinara sauce, cooked chicken, ground beef, filet mignon, veal, lasagna and mozzarella cheese “due to temperature abuse.”

A “mold-like substance” was seen on ice cubes inside ice machine; and the restaurant was ordered to toss them as well. In fact, the report noted a “heavy mold presence inside the ice (bin) at the back of the kitchen.”

The state also red-flagged the “presence of broken glass and food debris” at “ice sink/chest at the bar,” a can of roach and ant spray next to ice machine, and the presence of a “sanitizer bottle stored next to clean utensils at front counter” and “clean glasses stored on rusty rack at the bar area.”

There were also “unwashed fruits/vegetables stored with ready-to-eat foods like marinara and Bolognese sauce in walk-in cooler,” standing water at the bottom of a reach-in cooler and on the floor underneath the ice maker, and “objectionable odors in bathroom or other areas of the establishment — at outside bar.”

The state shut down the restaurant the next day, but a third inspection yielded a couple of basic and intermediate violations and Grande’s was cleared to reopen on Feb. 26.

Gabriel’s Café & Grille, Wellington

12793 Forest Hill Blvd.

Ordered shut: Feb. 22; reopened Feb. 23

Why: Nine violations (six high-priority), including 12 rodent droppings spotted “between shelves in dry storage area behind metal prep table where clean pots are stored in kitchen,” “under storage rack for clean pans,” “next to Ragu sauce on dry storage shelf with seasonings” and “under dry storage shelf with big containers of sugar, flour.”

The restaurant was ordered to stop selling and toss its turkey soup, hard-boiled eggs and cut watermelon “due to temperature abuse.”

Finally, the restaurant was caught improperly storing “raw beef steak fritters over ready-to-eat sweet potato fries.”

During its next-day inspection, the restaurant was ordered to toss its cooked potatoes, pancake batter and brown gravy “due to temperature abuse,” and then it was cleared to reopen.

Zips’ Pizzeria Trattoria, Jupiter

836 W. Indiantown Road

Ordered shut: Feb. 22 and 23; reopened Feb. 24

Why: Six violations (five high-priority), including nine cockroaches seen crawling in areas such as “in paper towel dispenser at hand sink on cook line, next to stove,” “under pizza oven,” “on the floor under hand sink” and “on wood crate in front of stove.”

The restaurant was ordered to stop selling and trash a pot filled with cooked tomato sauce that was “not prepped or cooked today.”

Meanwhile, an employee was ordered to throw away personal “bottle of Minute Maid stored in ice” that was being used for drinks “due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition.” The ice was also tossed.

The pizzeria was shut again the next day, but its third inspection on Feb. 24 yielded zero violations and the state let it reopen.

Rotelli Pizza and Pasta, Delray Beach

15064 Jog Road

Ordered shut: Feb. 20; reopened Feb. 21

Why: Three violations (two high-priority), including five cockroaches spotted crawling in areas of the kitchen such as a “four-drawer reach-in cooler under eight-burner stove on cook line” and “under two-tier table on cook line.”

There were also about 10 dead roaches found “on ground under fryer on cook line” and “under right-side triple sink drain board directly next to cook line.”

A next-day inspection found no new problems, clearing Rotelli to reopen. The restaurant was previously ordered shut in March 2023.

Wally Caramel Restaurant, Lauderhill

4711 NW 14th St.

Ordered shut: Feb. 19; reopened Feb. 20

Why: 13 violations (five high-priority), including at least 37 rodent droppings in the kitchen — “by water heater,” “on cooking lids stored on dry storage shelves” and “behind chest freezer” — and “inside office located at front counter away from kitchen.”

There was also one “dead roach in bathroom located in kitchen.”

The restaurant was ordered to stop selling and toss its cooked goat, marinated fish and gravy sauce “due to temperature abuse.”

Finally, the state noted multiple sanitation and disrepair violations, including “yellow food container lids soiled with grease,” “floor not cleaned” and “sink clogged.”

After finding a single basic violation during its next-day inspection, the state cleared the restaurant to reopen.