Fresh Rodent Droppings and 35 Violations Close Sapphire

ByWarren Redlich

Four Asian restaurants in East Boca “top” our list for this report: Sapphire, Kanpai, Nori and Lemongrass.

Sapphire Restaurant in Royal Palm Place; image by Google.

It’s tough when we see a bad inspection for a place we like. Sapphire is our favorite Indian restaurant in Boca – and yes it still is even after this.
On May 18th Sapphire was hit with 35 violations (5 high priority) and a temporary closure. The worst of it was this:

Rodent activity present as evidenced by approximately 50 plus fresh rodent droppings under dry storage shelf. 30+ fresh rodent droppings under shelf next to walk in cooler 15 fresh rodent droppings under shelf contains bag in the box sodas 25+ fresh rodent droppings under fryer and grill at cook line 10+ fresh rodent droppings under prep table at cook line . No door between dry storage and kitchen.

They were able to reopen the next day with a total of 8 violations, none high priority.
Others with over 20 violations include:

  • Kanpai at Palmetto Park and Federal Highway (29 violations, 7 high priority)
  • Nori on East Palmetto Park (28 violations, 10 high priority)
  • Lemongrass, just south of Mizner Park (22, 7)

Good News
On the good news side of things, there were some perfect inspections with zero violations. Most notable were Lucille’s BBQ in Delray Marketplace and Chick N Chop in the Kmart plaza on Palmetto Park Road.

Also perfect: Rocksteady Jamaican on Federal Highway, the Marriott at Boca Center, and a perfect licensing inspection for Paladium Sports Bar on Sample in Margate.
Cafe 5150 and The Mirage at the Marriott were both near perfect with just one violation each. Other notable good inspections were as noted below.

  • Steak N’ Shake on 441 in Coral Springs: 1 minor violation
  • Sicilian Oven off St. Andrews near Town Center: 2 violations
  • Apura on Powerline near Olive Garden: 3 minor violations
  • Shake Shack on Glades near FAU: 3 minor violations
  • Sybarite Pig: 4 violations


Last but maybe not least, there appears to be a new restaurant replacing the short-lived West Boca location of Hot Dog Opolis. “Hummus Culture” had a licensing inspection on May 17th with 3 violations. We’re not sure if they’re open yet. We were in the plaza Friday and didn’t notice it. Regardless we hope to try it soon and wish them luck.
As usual our spreadsheet is below.
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/allinsp5-28-2017.pdf”]