Bad news for a Coral Gables restaurant: A state inspector closed it last week after an inspection that included “roach excrement.”
Worse news: That might not have been Namaste Miami’s worst inspection of January. An earlier inspection featured 15 more violations and “food with mold-like growth.”
Namaste Miami owner Shravan Kulshrestha said the “food with mold-like growth” wasn’t food and the growth wasn’t mold, but said he took immediate action after the Jan. 16 inspection.
“I told the inspector, ‘Even if you don’t close us, I’m going to close us,’” said Kulshrestha, who also said he and restaurant staff worked all night getting the place to where they got back open after a 9 a.m. re-inspection.
“We took care of it in one night,” Kulshrestha said. “I was embarrassed, to be honest. But, we took care of it.”
Though Namaste Miami is back open at 211 Navarre Ave., around the corner from the Target on Ponce de Leon Boulevard, it still doesn’t have a “Met Inspection Standards” result from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation inspector.