PALM HARBOR, FL. A state inspector walked into Plaza Mexico Restaurant Bar Grill on US 19 North on September 8 and documented that food was not being cooked to the minimum required temperature, toxic substances were improperly identified or stored, and no one in the building was actively performing the duties of a person in charge. The restaurant was cited for nine high-severity violations and four intermediate violations. It was not closed.
The inspection on September 8 is not a one-off. It is the latest entry in a 34-inspection record that shows 286 total violations and two prior emergency closures.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooked food citation is among the most direct threats to a customer's health. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. A plate that looks finished is not necessarily safe.
Toxic substances improperly stored or identified creates a separate, immediate hazard. Chemical contamination from cleaning agents or pesticides stored near food or in unlabeled containers can sicken a customer with no warning and no visible sign.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock identification records. Shellfish consumed raw or lightly cooked, including oysters, clams, and mussels, carry a traceability requirement precisely because illnesses linked to them can be fatal. Without proper records, there is no way to trace an outbreak back to its source.
What These Violations Mean
Three of the nine high-severity citations on September 8 relate directly to sick employees transmitting illness to customers. The restaurant had no written employee health policy, employees were not required to report symptoms of illness, and inspectors found improper handwashing technique in use. That combination describes a facility where a worker who is contagious with Norovirus has no formal obligation to stay home, and where even a worker who tries to wash their hands may not be doing it effectively. Norovirus accounts for roughly 20 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States annually.
The citation for no person in charge performing duties matters because active managerial oversight is what prevents other violations from occurring. CDC data cited in the inspection record shows establishments without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at three times the rate of those with it. On September 8, that oversight was absent.
Improper sewage or wastewater disposal, cited as an intermediate violation, carries a distinct risk: fecal contamination can spread through a facility when waste lines fail or back up. Combined with improperly cleaned multi-use utensils and improper waste disposal that draws pests, the inspection describes an environment where contamination pathways were open from multiple directions simultaneously.
The Longer Record
The September 8 inspection does not stand alone. The 34 inspections on record at Plaza Mexico have produced 286 total violations. Two of those inspections ended in emergency closure orders.
The first emergency closure came on March 10, 2022, for fly activity. The second came on April 1, 2025, for roach and rodent activity. The restaurant reopened the following day, April 2, 2025, after a re-inspection. Two months later, on June 3, 2025, inspectors returned and found four high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. A follow-up visit the next day showed zero high-severity violations, a pattern that has repeated itself across this facility's history.
The March 2026 record illustrates that pattern clearly. On March 16, inspectors found four high-severity violations. On March 24, they found five high and two intermediate. By March 25, the record showed zero violations. By April 8, zero again. Then, on September 8, nine high-severity violations in a single visit.
That cycle, serious violations followed by a clean inspection followed by serious violations again, appears across multiple years in this facility's record. The question the record raises is not whether Plaza Mexico can pass an inspection. It is whether the conditions that produce nine high-severity violations in one day are being fixed or simply paused.
Open for Business
State inspectors returned on September 9, the day after the nine-violation inspection, and found four high-severity violations and two intermediate violations still present. That follow-up visit did not result in a closure either.
The restaurant at 34726 US 19 North in Palm Harbor remained open through both inspections. Customers who ate there on September 8 did so while food was not being cooked to the required minimum temperature, toxic substances were improperly stored, and no one was actively managing the kitchen.
