South Florida's Worst Restaurant Inspections — Miami-Dade, Broward & Palm Beach

Behind the Kitchen Door — a data-driven series from InspectFL

South Florida is one of the most exciting food scenes in the country — from Little Havana’s ventanitas to Las Olas Boulevard steakhouses to Atlantic Avenue brunch spots in Delray. But behind those Instagram-worthy plates, state inspectors are finding things that would kill your appetite.

We pulled inspection data for 18,486 restaurants across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Among them: 1,436 F-graded restaurants — places where violations were serious enough to earn the worst possible score on our grading system. Here’s what inspectors found at the worst of the worst.

Three Counties at a Glance

Miami-Dade stands out — not just because it’s the largest restaurant market, but because its F rate is double that of Broward and Palm Beach. Nearly 1 in 10 Dade restaurants are failing.

Miami-Dade County

Miami-Dade has it all: world-class dining in Brickell, family spots in Kendall, hole-in-the-wall Cuban joints in Hialeah, and late-night bites in Wynwood. It also has 948 F-graded restaurants — more than Broward and Palm Beach combined.

Here are some of the worst-performing restaurants in the county:

Broward County

Broward County covers everything from the Las Olas strip in Fort Lauderdale to Caribbean kitchens in Lauderhill to family chains in Weston and Pembroke Pines. With 5,471 restaurants, it’s the second-largest market in South Florida — and while its F rate (5.2%) is less than half of Miami-Dade’s, there are still 285 restaurants failing inspections.

Here are the worst-performing Broward restaurants by score:

Palm Beach County

Palm Beach County stretches from upscale Worth Avenue in Palm Beach to the college-town energy of Boca Raton and the working-class neighborhoods of Lake Worth and Belle Glade. With 4,046 restaurants, it has the lowest F rate (5.0%) of the three counties — but the restaurants that do fail tend to fail spectacularly.

Here are the worst in Palm Beach County:

What This Means

A few things stand out across all three counties:

• Miami-Dade’s F rate is alarming. At 10.6%, it’s double the rate of Broward (5.2%) and Palm Beach (5.0%). If you’re dining in Dade, checking inspection reports is especially important.
• Score of 0 is more common than you’d think. Multiple restaurants across Miami-Dade scored a literal zero — meaning they had so many serious violations that our weighted scoring couldn’t give them any credit.
• Repeat violations are everywhere. Many of the worst restaurants had violations flagged as “Repeat Violation” — meaning inspectors found the same problems on previous visits and they still weren’t fixed.
• The grease and roaches combo. When you see heavy grease buildup, dead roaches are usually not far behind. Uncle Joe’s in Palm Beach Gardens is a textbook example.

Check Your Favorite Spot

Every restaurant listed above has a full inspection profile on InspectFL — with violation details, historical grades, and inspector notes when available.

Want to check a specific county? Jump directly to Miami-Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach.

Data sourced from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). Grades are calculated by InspectFL based on inspection results. Last updated April 2026.