NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – For the fourth time, Sang’s Chinese and Dim Sum in North Miami Beach has been ordered shut due to food safety violations.
State inspectors found rodent droppings, roaches, and unsafe food storage, yet the restaurant was allowed to reopen after re-inspection.
This raises the question of why the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) allows establishments with repeated violations to continue operating.
Sang’s has a long record of food safety violations. Records show the restaurant, located at 1925 NE 163rd St., has been shut down in July 2014, April 2017, May 2022, and March 2025. Despite this history, it continues to operate and serve unsuspecting customers.
Local 10 News’ Jeff Weinsier has reported on Sang’s violations multiple times. In 2022, an employee accused him of unfairly targeting Asian restaurants.
“I saw you on the TV show. Ninety percent going to Asian restaurants?” the employee asked.
“So you think I only go after Asians?” Weinsier responded.
“Yes!” she replied.
Weinsier pushed back, saying, “No, no, no. Do not pull that on me. This is not my fault. The inspector shut you down.”
Fast forward to last week, and the scene repeated itself.
When Weinsier approached a woman at the restaurant’s back door, she refused to comment and shut the door in his face.
At another door, he asked, “Why can’t you talk to us, ma’am? You guys are shut over and over again?” Again, the door slammed shut. A man arriving in a Lexus also refused to answer any questions.
During last week’s unannounced food safety inspection, state records revealed eighteen violations, including over seventy rodent droppings found on a shelf with clean plates, on a soy sauce container, and in an area where rice, flour, and sugar were stored. There was a roach infestation. Pork was being thawed improperly.
A stop-sale order was placed on raw chicken, spring rolls, and wontons due to unsafe storage temperatures.
Weinsier confronted an employee, asking, “Don’t you all get it? You have a responsibility to your customers to do it right. This is the fourth time you have been shut down.”
Sang’s pattern of violations is not unique. According to state records, Florida has not permanently revoked a restaurant’s license in more than six years. Statewide, the number of restaurants ordered shut four times or more has surged by three hundred eighteen percent in the past four years.
“How does the state allow a place like this to continue to operate and serve us food after emergency closure after emergency closure?” Weinsier pondered.
Local 10 reached out to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation for an explanation.
In a statement, it said:
“The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) Division of Hotels and Restaurants’ disciplinary process follows the requirements in Chapter 120, Florida Statutes as well as the disciplinary guidelines adopted in section 61C-1.005 of the Florida Administrative Code.
Per statute, license revocations occur when an establishment has two or more disciplinary final orders filed within 24 months, and other disciplinary actions have not resulted in compliance of the violations that present a risk to the public.
It is important to note that public health and safety is paramount to DBPR’s mission. The Department works to bring food service licensees into compliance with Florida’s rigorous health and safety standards as quickly as possible by conducting routine inspections and working closely with licensees. Following a complaint or serious violation, DBPR inspectors often visit the establishment several times to educate the operator and bring the establishment into compliance. Any restaurant ordered to be temporarily closed by the department must successfully pass a reinspection before they are permitted to reopen. This proactive approach allows us to prioritize public safety while minimizing disruption to business operations.”
DBPR statement
Despite these repeated infractions, Sang’s has once again passed re-inspection and is open to customers.
As Weinsier emphasized, “Remember, we do not inspect. We do not shut places down. We disseminate public information from the inspector’s report.”