Peking One, a Chinese restaurant in West Kendall’s Kendall Park Plaza, was ordered shut after health inspectors documented a jaw dropping list of problems. The visit turned up 70 violations, the highest count for any restaurant in South Florida so far this year, including signs of rodent and roach activity along with unsafe food storage and temperature issues. A Surfside cafe, La Vita e Bella, was also closed after inspectors found live roaches, and both spots were later cleared to reopen after cleanup and re inspection.
According to Local 10, Peking One at 16229 SW 88th Street was ordered closed on March 30 after inspectors "observed approximately 40 rodent droppings inside an empty walk in cooler" and noted "roach excrement and/or droppings." The inspection report also flagged raw chicken stored over cooked noodles and multiple time and temperature violations that regulators say can lead to foodborne illness. Those are not the kind of numbers any restaurant wants on its scorecard.
AOL reported that inspectors placed stop sale orders on contaminated pork and other items at the Kendall restaurant and that it remained closed until it later passed a re inspection. That coverage noted that the violation total dropped into the mid 60s during a later visit before Peking One was allowed to resume service.
What Inspectors Found At Peking One
The initial inspection report did not mince words. Inspectors counted roughly 40 rodent droppings in a walk in cooler, about 15 behind a water heater, and approximately 30 roach droppings on a storage container, according to Local 10. They also cited heavy grease buildup, damaged cutting boards, broken plumbing and problems with sanitizer use, with some of those issues listed as repeat violations, all of which make thorough cleaning and safe food handling a lot harder to pull off.
Follow Up Inspections And Re Openings
When inspectors returned to Peking One for a follow up, they still logged dozens of violations. A re inspection listed about 66 issues before regulators accepted the corrective work and cleared the restaurant to reopen, according to AOL. A similar pattern played out at La Vita e Bella in Surfside, where subsequent checks after the shutdown continued to turn up live and dead roaches.
What Diners Should Know
Health inspectors use emergency closures to remove immediate risks from the public and require a successful re inspection before a restaurant can unlock the doors again. Diners who want to track a restaurant’s current status should check the inspection portal for their county. If you ate at either of these locations and are concerned, watch for any signs of foodborne illness and contact your health care provider with questions.
