‘Yellow green mold.’ Five Pines restaurants hit with high-priority violations
Wondering what your favorite spots scored in this month’s food inspections, Pembroke Pines?
Five restaurants accumulated the highest amount of serious violations during January’s assessments, according to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Six earned squeaky-clean, infraction-free results from inspectors.
Those that underperformed include two Central American eateries, a Jamaican restaurant, a smoothie spot inside an Argentine market and a Peruvian table-service restaurant with a sister location in Miami.
Most were categorized under “Follow Up Inspection Required,” meaning they didn’t pass their inspection, but weren’t considered enough of a threat to customers to shut down.
High-priority violations include any practices that “could contribute directly to a foodborne illness or injury,” according to DBPR. This covers live flying insects, improper sanitation techniques, contamination of raw food with cooked food and other offenses that bacteria like Salmonella and Listeria thrive on.
Eateries with spotless records had no critical or noncritical issues and met the state’s standards during their reviews.
Here are the restaurants that missed the mark during their January 2026 inspections:
El Atlakat, 8984 Taft St.
Routine inspection, 14 total violations, five high-priority violations
Inspectors spotted raw meat — containers of steak and beef — stacked above bags of ready-to-eat carrots and cases of mozzarella at this Salvadoran eatery whose Instagram claims it sells “the best pupusas in South Florida.”
That resulted in two cross-contamination violations from DBPR.
Cooked plaintain, which DBPR says must be kept in cold-holding to prevent bacteria growth and keep food safe to eat, was left on a table above 41 degrees for about an hour. An employee was quick to move the produce into a cooler to rechill, inspectors noted on the report.
No time marking was found on raw shell eggs, raw chicken and raw steak left outside of a cooler and on a fliptop unit for roughly four hours, making its shelf life or “best-by” date indiscernable during the inspection.
One dishwasher failed to wash their hands when switching from rinsing and loading dirty dishes to handling clean ones, a repeat violation that inspectors instructed El Atlakat’s manager to correct.
Among the restaurant’s basic violations were buckets of cooked chicharrones, dried plantain chips, “prepared vegetables” and “prepared foods” improperly stored on the floor and no lids on containers of cut raw vegetables in the cooler.
A required follow-up inspection for El Atlakat to meet the department’s standard had not been completed as of Jan. 28.
El Tipico Guanaco Restaurant & Cafe, 7100 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 1
Routine inspection, 17 total violations, five high-priority violations
One employee was caught washing their hands “for less than 10 seconds” at this Central American kitchen, sparking an impromptu handwashing lesson from inspectors, DBPR reported.
A lengthy list of foods — raw shell eggs, pupusa bean mix, potato puree mix, liquid egg whites, shredded cheese, heavy cream and raw chicken — were kept in too-warm temperatures before being returned to a cooler to rechill.
When a dish machine’s chlorine sanitizer tested “below minimum strength,” DBPR and employees switched to handwashing dishes. That sanitizer proved too weak as well before inspectors corrected workers to add more bleach, reads the report.
Less severe infractions: mold-like building inside an ice machine, clam, mussel and oyster tags sans a “last date served” marking, and DBPR-required food safety training gone expired for all employees.
When the department visited the next day for a follow-up assessment, the tagged seafood still had no date.
El Tipico Guanaco Restaurant & Cafe’s next inspection hadn’t happened as of Jan. 28.
Fiery Irie Jamaican Restaurant, 100 S Flamingo Road
Routine inspection, 24 total violations, six high-priority violations
Soiled surfaces — greasy floors, debris-line ceiling lights and a “yellow green mold like substance inside ice machine” — earned this fast-casual, island spot several basic citations from DBPR, inspectors noted.
Milder infractions included a bucket of onions and case of chicken wrongly stored on the floor and a bug zapper installed above an ice-chest in the lobby.
Fiery Irie’s worst write-ups?
A manual dishwashing sink’s sanitizer proved too weak — employees fixed on site — and raw dough was incorrectly stored in a “to go bag” instead of a food grade container.
Shredded cabbage, cut tomatoes and a pasta salad were improperly chilled within the four-hour time frame, leading inspectors to stop the sale of any meals that included the ingredients.
Below hot-holding temperatures, 135 degrees and up, were fried chicken, cooked plantain, macaroni and cheese and steamed cabbage, improperly warmed for about an hour. Fiery Irie’s operator reheated each dish in an oven when corrected by inspectors.
An inspection the next day saw the Jamaican restaurant rake in nine total violations and one high-priority infraction, meaning Fiery Irie will need a repeat assessment to pass inspection standards.
No future inspection had taken place as of Jan. 28.
Smoothie Spot, 10261 Pines Blvd.
Routine inspection, 10 total violations, five high-priority violations
Raw salmon was seen stacked above chicken soup, sparking cross-contamination concern at this smoothie joint tucked inside the Argentine MORFI Market Pembroke Pines.
Workers raked in several severe infractions, including one employee who didn’t wash their hands before putting on gloves to handle food and another who touched raw gloves and didn’t change their gloves before preparing another dish.
A cooler holding turkey bacon, rice and cooked chicken did not keep food chilled at cold-holding temperatures, wrote DBPR. Rice, quinoa, black beans and cooked chicken were not kept hot enough.
Cooked lentils stored in a walk-in cooler — cooked the day before at 11 a.m., notes the report — had no date mark, forgoing any shelf-like indicators for over 24 hours.
Las Totoritas, 7665 Pines Blvd.
Routine inspection, 15 total violations, five high-priority violations
Thinking of ordering a cup of coffee at this Peruvian eatery with table service? Inspectors found a milk steaming wand “crusted with dried on milk” at its front counter espresso machine.
They also spotted portions of raw chicken incorrectly stored above boxes of raw fish and a container of raw pork stacked above a box of potatoes, according to the DBPR report.
Cooked hominy corn found on a ceviche cutting board was not properly chilled within a two-hour time frame, prompting the manager to discard the produce when cited.
The manager was also quick to transfer bean sprouts stored in a plastic to-go bag to a hotel pan, per DBPR’s standard.
Most items, inspectors noted when browsing a walk-in cooler, were without date marks, including a container of the restaurant’s signature chicha morada drink.
Walls around a triple sink and kitchen hand sink were “soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust,” according to the report.
Despite the infractions, Las Totoritas met DBPR’s inspection standards, forgoing the need for a follow-up visit.
Infraction-free restaurants
Here are the local restaurants that aced their January 2026 inspections:
- Umami Fusion, 17523 Pines Blvd.
- Five Guys Burgers & Fries, 11097 Pines Blvd.
- Bolay, 151 N. Hiatus Road #314
- Sirocco Mediterranean, 521 SW 145th Terrace #7120
- Tradición Hondureña Pollos Yihre #2, 10231 Pines Blvd.
- Firehouse Subs, 10800 Pines Blvd.
