Inspectors shut down Ichimi’s Midtown Miami ramen restaurant for a couple of days after a routine visit turned up 23 total violations, including three high-priority issues and rodent droppings scattered across five different areas of the kitchen and storage spaces. The restaurant, located at 118 Buena Vista Blvd. — also listed as 3251 N.E. First Ave. — passed a second re-inspection two days later, allowing it to reopen in time for the weekend rush.
The violations were detailed in a report from the Miami Herald, whose restaurant inspection coverage forms the backbone of this account. During Wednesday’s routine inspection, inspectors counted 15 rodent droppings behind a freezer in the storage area, 18 droppings in single-service storage near the bathrooms’ hallway, and 10 droppings in the alcohol storage room. Ten more droppings turned up behind a freezer next to the walk-in cooler, according to the same report.
A Dishwasher With Nothing Left To Sanitize
Beyond the pest activity, inspectors found the restaurant’s dishwasher sanitizer measuring zero parts per million — a reading with real consequences, since Florida’s sanitation rules, adopted from the U.S. FDA Food Code, require chlorine sanitizing solutions in commercial dishwashers and warewashing stations to sit between 50 and 100 parts per million, according to state licensing records. Inspectors also noted that Ichimi lacked a chlorine chemical test kit for sanitizer use at the three-compartment sink, warewashing machine, or wiping cloths, according to the Herald’s report.
The kitchen had other problems too. The report describes standing water under the triple sink and a reach-in cooler, soiled ceilings and vents in the kitchen and prep area with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or a mold-like substance, and a black or green mold-like substance built up inside the ice machine and bin. Inspectors also found a handwash sink by the cookline that had been removed, missing plumbing pipes under the handwash sink at the front counter, and a hole or other damage to a wall near storage and the hallway bathroom wall. Soy sauce and cooking oil were also found stored on the floor by the dishwashing area, per the same account.
The Follow-Up Inspection
When state inspectors returned Thursday, some rodent droppings remained, though in smaller numbers. The follow-up found five droppings behind the freezers next to the back-door exit, four behind the freezer next to the walk-in cooler, eight under single-service storage, six by the alcohol storage room, and five under the three-compartment sink, the Herald reported. Ichimi passed its second re-inspection on Friday, clearing it to reopen for the weekend…