Three Palm Beach County restaurants shut last week for inspection violations

Issues included rodent droppings, odors and sewage water

State inspectors temporarily closed three Palm Beach County restaurants last week, with violations ranging from flies on liquor bottles and at least 370 rodent droppings. (No Broward County restaurants were ordered shut.)

The South Florida Sun Sentinel typically highlights restaurant inspections conducted by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation in Broward and Palm Beach counties. We cull through inspections that happen weekly and spotlight places ordered shut for “high-priority violations,” such as improper food temperatures or dead cockroaches.

Sun Sentinel readers may browse full Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade county reports through our state inspection map, updated weekly (usually Mondays) with fresh data pulled from the Florida DBPR website.

Any restaurant that fails a state inspection must stay closed until it passes a follow-up. If you spotted a possible violation and wish to file a complaint, contact Florida DBPR. (But please don’t contact us: The Sun Sentinel doesn’t inspect restaurants.)

The Station House, Lantana 233 W. Lantana Road Ordered shut: Jan. 31; reopened Feb. 1

Why: Nine total violations (five high-priority), led by 20-plus flies at the “bar on dish machine and liquor bottles,” along with three “live cockroaches on wall behind chest freezer in wait area” near the kitchen.

Inspectors also uncovered at least 60-plus rodent droppings “under A/C unit at restaurant entrance/waiting room,” “under A/C in prep area,” and under a flip-top cooler at the kitchen’s cook line.

The state also red-flagged an “accumulation of debris under refrigeration at cook line, under soda machine in wait area and under refrigeration in prep area.” The restaurant reopened the next day after a follow-up inspection yielded no new issues.

Granger’s Grille, Delray Beach 802 SE Fifth Ave.

Ordered shut: Feb. 1 and twice on Feb. 2; reopened Feb. 3

Why: 14 violations (nine high-priority), including 370 rodent droppings discovered in spots such as “at bar under triple sink,” “at bar under right-side ice bin” and under the bar shelves around two rodent traps, “in cabinet under [point-of-sale terminal] to left of bar,” “inside cabinets under expo line,” and “on floor and shelves used to store food and paper/ single-service items” in the dry storage area.

The restaurant was ordered to stop selling and trash its prepared chili “due to temperature abuse.”

Finally, an inspector caught one employee “cooking raw poultry and beef and plating ready-toeat food without washing hands or changing gloves.” Inspectors also noted one employee who “washed dishes in middle sink, rinsed in third sink and placed to air dry” without sanitizing them in the dishwasher first.

Most of Granger’s rodent-dropping woes continued during the state’s reinspection and the restaurant was ordered shut two more times on Feb. 2 before it was cleared to reopen on Feb. 3.

Jojo’s Take-Out Restaurant, West Palm Beach

1700 45th St., Suite 1745

Ordered shut: Feb. 1; reopened Feb. 3

Why: Nine violations (four high-priority), including “sewage/wastewater backing up through floor drains in kitchen, dishwashing area,” with one employee seen “stepping on gray water.”

The restaurant was ordered to stop selling and toss its cooked turkey, coleslaw and cut lettuce in the kitchen’s reach-in cooler “due to temperature abuse.” The state also noted “objectionable odors” in the restaurant.

The state’s follow-up inspection on Feb. 3 found zero new problems, clearing the restaurant to reopen. The restaurant was previously ordered shut three times in August 2022 for rodent droppings and sewage back-up issues.