Talia’s Tuscan Table on Dixie Highway; image by Google Last week was pretty good for restaurant inspections. The worst of the bunch – and not that bad – was Talia’s Tuscan Table on Dixie Highway in East Boca, just north of Spanish River Blvd. They had nineteen total violations, but only two of those were high priority. The worst of it was the buffet table:
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit, all on buffet, Cut lettuce 75°, cooked eggplant 78°, Greek salad 76°, cooked beans 76°, cooked cauliflower 78°, ham 80°. Operator stated all food placed on buffet at 12:00, 2 hours, discarded. **Warning** Self-service salad bar/buffet lacking adequate sneezeguards or other proper protection from contamination, several deli salads along with vegetables. **Warning**
Whistle Stop in Boca; image by Google Next worst was the Whistle Stop near Dixie Highway in the plaza on the north side of Camino Real. They had fifteen violations, with four marked high priority:
Employee touching ready-to-eat food with their bare hands – food was not being heated as a sole ingredient to 145 degrees F or immediately added to other ingredients to be cooked/heated to the minimum required temperature to allow bare hand contact. Establishment has no approved Alternative Operating Procedure. Employee placing lettuce on a taco. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning** Nonfood-grade containers used for food storage _ direct contact with food, spay bottle used for oil on cookline, intended for chemicals. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning** Raw animal food stored over ready-to-eat food in reach-in cooler, whole she’ll eggs over cooked pasta in reach in cooler. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning** Raw animal foods not properly separated from each other in holding unit, raw beef over raw fish in reach in cooler. Tall 2 door True unit, in prep area. **Warning**
Good News On the positive side, Brendy’s in Lake Ridge plaza (near Doris Market) had a perfect inspection with zero violations. The McDonald’s on Military Trail in Delray was also perfect. Near perfect inspections were reported for: Relish & More on NE 5th in East Boca, with one minor violation on a licensing inspection Walmart in Coconut Creek, with one minor violation Dolce Cafe on Military Trail, with one minor violation on a licensing inspection Carrabba’s on SW 18th with three violations, a very good number for a big place with a broad menu Our spreadsheet from this inspection is below: [gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/allinsp-10-25-2015.pdf”]
Two Japanese restaurants in Royal Palm Place had bad inspections this week. Ichiyami Buffet had the biggest number with 39 total violations including 9 high priority. This is not the first sign of trouble. Last year they had one of the worst inspections we’ve seen, getting shut down with 49 violations including rodents and roaches and caught salvaging fish from old sushi for reuse. They have had some good inspections in between. Another big number was recorded by Yakitori Sake House in the same plaza, with 31 violations including 6 high priority and a couple of “stop sales”. They had a not-so-great inspection in May with 16 violations. Although these were bad, the worst inspection of the week goes to Golden Corral in Margate. They had 28 violations including some doozies, and were closed for a day. The worst of it:
Dented/rusted cans present, 1 can pineapple and mandarin oranges. See stop sale.
Live, small flying insects in kitchen, food preparation area, or food storage area, in dessert area. **Warning**
Roach activity present as evidenced by 5 plus live roaches found in kitchen nestled between tiles in crack by hand wash sink, 1 on wall by chicken prep area, in kitchen 4 plus nestled between wall and crack in tiles by chicken and fish reach in cooler, in kitchen, 1 crawling on wall by buffet area, 1 on floor by reach in cooler, in kitchen, 4 plus in coffee prep area, off ware washing area. **Warning**
Roach excrement and/or droppings present, in various areas of the kitchen. **Warning**
Small flying insects in men’s restroom, approximately 10 plus. **Warning**
Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition, yeast bread dough, with flies on dough, in dessert area. 25 pounds.
Golden Corral “recovered” the next day with only 10 violations, still the 5th worst inspection of the week. Back in Royal Palm Place, Boca Breakfast & Lunch Club had 12 violations including 4 high priority. Good News Turning to the good news, it looks like we’re getting a new steakhouse. Mr. Prime Steakhouse had a perfect licensing inspection. The address puts it in the same location as the former Grill Time on the north side of Glades just west of the Turnpike (near Party City). The Subway in Sandalfoot had only one minor violation. Mama’s Pizza in Logger’s Run Plaza had only two violations. Moving to the not-terrible inspections, Stir Crazy in Town Center had 6 violations with 2 high priority; and Saquella Caffe in Royal Palm Place had 8 violations with 2 high priority. As usual, our spreadsheet for the week is below: [gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/allinsp-10-18-2015.pdf”]
Once in a while we start with the good news. This week’s inspection winner is Armadillo Cafe, which had the best inspection of all major restaurants in West Boca. They had two minor violations. Also with two minor violations is “Hollywood at the Hamptons” on Kimberly. They had a similarly good inspection last year and we still don’t know what the place is. A few hotels did well, including the Best Western University Inn (1 violation) and the Quality Inn (3 violations) on Federal Highway; and with two each the Wyndham Hotel on Glades near I-95 (2 violations), the Holiday Inn Express on Glades near Lyons, and the Hilton Suite Hotel near the Turnpike. TGI Friday’s in Mission Bay also had just 2 violations, though one was marked high priority. The new Pei Wei in Westwinds of Boca had 3 violations, with 2 high priority. Dominic’s in the same plaza, near Home Depot, had 5 violations with 1 high priority. Original Pancake House and Jimmy John’s had 4 violations each, still pretty good numbers. Other notables include: Jimmy the Greek with 6 violations, all minor Shake Shack (Glades across from FAU) with 7 Cabo Flats (Delray Marketplace) and Farmer’s Table (Military Trail) each with 9 violations, all minor On the down side, four places had 10 or more violations including Orchid’s Garden (near Century Village, 10 violations); City Fish Market (13); Saito’s Japanese Steakhouse (Somerset Shoppes, 13); and Sweet Dewey’s BBQ (25). Despite the numbers, we looked at the details and none of them looked that bad. Our spreadsheet for this week’s report is below: [gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/allinsp-10-11-2015.pdf”]
A couple Japanese places lead our inspection report this week in number of violations, though overall their reports aren’t really the worst of the bunch. Tempura House on Clint Moore had the most violations with 24, including 6 marked high priority. Saito in Coconut Creek’s Promenade was next with 18 violations, 3 high priority. The big violations for Tempura House were:
Employee failed to wash hands before changing gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. – food handlers changing cloves without washing hands. **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
Employee handled soiled equipment or utensils and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. – dishwasher dirty to clean without handwashing. **Warning**
In-use utensil stored in unclean water at or above 135 degrees Fahrenheit. – Spoons for rice – **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. – REACH IN COOLER – (Cook Line Cold Table/Undercounter Unit) scallops 54° shrimp 54° raw beef 53° cooked shrimp 53° tripe 54° raw ground pork 53° AMBIENT COOLER TEMPERATURE 42° – COOK LINE – (Held Open at Room Temperature) mushrooms 74° noodles 73° sprouts 74° water chestnuts 72° corns 72° **Repeat Violation** **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
Thermotape failed to turn black to indicate the sanitization temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit was achieved on the dish surface. Discontinue use of dishmachine for sanitizing and set up manual sanitization until dishmachine is repaired. – tested on Three Cycles. **Warning**
Vacuum breaker missing at hose bibb or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb. – at rear mop sink. **Warning**
As we noted in our review a few years ago, Tempura House seems very popular. But we’ve never really liked it and we’re not alone – Jeff Eats hated it several years ago. Their inspection record has been spotty, with some good ones and some terrible, like in 2014. We started going to Saito (Lyons and Glades) and haven’t looked back. The 18-violation inspection we just saw for the Coconut Creek location is a minor turn-off, but it’s a different spot and the details make the inspector seem picky. Although it’s a lower number, the worst inspection this week goes to Lemon Tree Cafe, on Lyons Road just south of the Sawgrass. They were closed for a day after a 14-violation inspection including the dreaded roaches: Observed: Roach activity present as evidenced by 5 live roaches found in dishwashing area, 4 live roaches in dry storage behind GE chest freezer, 5 live roaches in cookline under food prep table, 2 live roaches in service station next to Bianchi coffee machine. **Warning** That was one of the high priority violations. Two of the “basic” ones are also troubling.
Observed: Accumulation of dead or trapped birds, insects, rodents, or other pests, in control devices. Dead flies **Warning** Observed: Dead roaches on premises, approximately 30 dead roaches in dish washing area under dishwashing machine, approximately 10 dead roaches in storage under GE chest freezer, approximately 10 dead roaches under food prep table on cook line. **Warning**
Usually we wouldn’t consider 9 violations to be that bad but PF Chang on Glades in East Boca had four marked high priority:
All potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) foods in reach-in cooler cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. 2 door glass reach in cooler- cookline cheese cake 52° vegetable spring rolls 49° egg rolls 53° salmon 46°. Moved all TCS foods to working cooler, all items in cooler >2 hours. **Corrective Action Taken** **Warning**
Employee failed to wash hands beforechanging gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. On cookline. Hands washed properly. Single-use gloves not changed as needed after changing tasks or when damaged or soiled. On cookline. Hands washed properly. **Corrected On-Site** **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
Raw animal food stored over ready-to-eat food in WALK in cooler. Raw pork over sauce and pasteurized eggs in WIC. All items stored properly. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
Raw animal foods not properly separated from one another based upon minimum required cooking temperature in walk-in cooler. Raw chicken over raw beef. All items stored properly. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
The Good News Five places had perfect inspections, including a food truck (Tastee Express 10), two places inside Boca Pointe, one inside Boca Grove, and Cherry Smash Ice Cream in Coral Springs (we went there a few weeks ago and liked it). Maggiano’s on St. Andrews by Town Center had another near perfect inspection, with only one violation. Tricky Dick’s Pub, Boston Market (Beracasa Way), and Lime Fresh in Promenade each had only 2 minor violations. Yokohama Sushi in Polo Club and Giovanni’s Pizza (Powerline) each had 3 minor violations. A few other notable restaurants had inspections that were neither terrible nor great. Burt & Max in Delray Marketplace had 7 violations but all were minor. Chipotle in Westwinds had 9 violations, with one high priority (vacuum breaker). The one on Glades in East Boca had 7 violations. Our full inspection spreadsheet is below: [gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/allinsp-10-2-2015.pdf”]
The worst inspection of the week goes to La Bamba II on Sample Road in Margate, with 32 violations and live roaches. Six of the violations were marked high priority:
Employee washed hands with no soap. Employee washed in prep sink without using soap. Rewashed hands correctly in proper sink. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
Evidence of mop/cleaning wastewater dumped onto ground. Behind restaurant **Warning**
Live, small flying insects in kitchen, food preparation area, or food storage area. In ware washing area **Warning**
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Tuna 44° at prep line cooler in kitchen. Put on ice **Corrective Action Taken** **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
Raw animal foods not properly separated from one another based upon minimum required cooking temperature in walk-in cooler. Ground beef stored over steaks. Moved **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 3 live roaches in ware washing area next to the dish machine **Warning**
The worst West Boca inspection goes to Hashi Sushi Thai in Shadowood. They normally have decent inspections. We’ve never seen a particularly bad one for them. But on the 25th they got hit with 24 violations in a routine inspection. Four of the violations were marked high priority:
Employees failed to wash hands before changing gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food.
Nonexempt fish offered raw or undercooked has not undergone proper parasite destruction. Fish must be fully cooked or discarded. – 37.7 lbs. of fresh Scottish Salmon delivered on 9/24/15.
Raw animal foods not properly separated from each other in holding unit. – raw seafoods and raw chicken stored together in ice in a large ‘Coleman’ cooler
Vacuum breaker missing at hose bibb or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb. – at rear mop sink.
On the Good News part of the inspections, Southwinds Golf Course (west side of Lyons south of Yamato) had a perfect inspection. The Pizza Hut delivery place on St. Andrews had only one minor violation. Holloway’s Irish Pub on SW 18th on the east side of Powerline (near Carrabba’s) had 2 minor violations. Maggiano’s on St. Andrews had only 2 violations, which is impressive for a restaurant that is so big with such a diverse menu. Pinon Grill at Town Center had 3 violations. Steve’s Wood Fired Pizza on the south side of Glades near Lyons had just four minor violations. Miller’s Ale House in the same plaza had seven violations. In other not so great news, a couple places we like in Promenade did not do so well. Mama’s Asian Noodle had 16 violations, and Ethos Greek Bistro had 15. Viking Steak and Seafood in Delray had 15 violations, after recording 22 in our last report a week ago. Efe’s Bistro in Somerset Shoppes had 11 violations. Bluefin Sushi in Parkland had 10. Brendy’s (Yamato at Lakeridge, near Doris Market) had 10 violations. Our full spreadsheet is below: [gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/allinsp-9-27-15.pdf”]
