TAMPA, FL. Thinh An Kitchen & Tofu on W Waters Avenue was ordered closed on August 24 after state inspectors found the restaurant operating without potable water, a condition that made basic food safety impossible and triggered an immediate emergency shutdown.
The closure order required the restaurant to vacate by August 25. Inspectors returned that same morning and cleared the facility to reopen at 9:22 a.m., ending a shutdown that lasted less than 24 hours.
What Inspectors Found
Thinh An Kitchen & Tofu: Recent Inspection History
The closure-triggering violation on August 24 was the absence of potable water at the facility. State inspectors also documented six high-severity violations and two intermediate violations during that visit. A separate inspection conducted the same day found three additional high-severity violations.
The reopening inspection on August 25 cleared the water issue but still recorded three high-severity violations. Those violations included an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, improper hand and arm washing technique, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods.
What These Violations Mean
No potable water at a food service establishment is not a paperwork problem. Without a functioning water supply, employees cannot wash their hands, sanitize surfaces, or clean equipment. Every task in a commercial kitchen, from rinsing produce to cleaning cutting boards to handwashing between raw meat and ready-to-eat food, depends on running potable water. State law treats its absence as an immediate threat to public health, which is why it triggers emergency closure authority rather than a standard correction notice.
The violations that remained after the water was restored are serious in their own right. An employee not reporting symptoms of illness is one of the most direct routes to a multi-victim outbreak. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness, spreads rapidly when a sick food worker handles food without disclosure. Inspectors cannot observe every shift, which means this violation depends almost entirely on internal policy and employee compliance.
Improper handwashing technique compounds that risk. Even when an employee makes the attempt, incorrect technique leaves pathogens on the hands. The combination of unreported illness and flawed handwashing at the same facility, on the same clearance inspection, describes a food safety environment where the most basic transmission controls are not consistently in place.
The missing consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods matters for a specific population. Customers who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised face elevated risk from dishes containing raw or undercooked ingredients. Without the required advisory on the menu, those customers cannot make an informed choice.
The Longer Record
The August 24 closure was not an isolated event. State records show Thinh An Kitchen & Tofu has accumulated 515 violations across 48 inspections on record, and this was the facility's third emergency closure.
The first forced shutdown came on August 18, 2021, when inspectors ordered the restaurant closed for roach and fly activity. That closure lasted one day. The restaurant reopened on August 19, 2021.
The inspection record in the months leading up to the August 24 closure shows a facility that was already under sustained scrutiny. Inspectors visited on August 21, just three days before the closure, and documented three high-severity violations and two intermediate violations across two separate visits that day. A July 15 inspection found seven high-severity violations and one intermediate violation. A March 4 inspection found six high-severity violations and five intermediate violations. A July 30, 2025 inspection found eight high-severity violations and three intermediate violations.
That pattern, five inspections in roughly 13 months each producing between three and eight high-severity violations, preceded the emergency shutdown. The closure on August 24 was the outcome of a facility that inspectors had been visiting with increasing frequency and finding with serious violations each time.
The three high-severity violations still on record at the time the restaurant was cleared to reopen are the unresolved fact at the end of this closure. The water was restored. The doors opened again at 9:22 a.m. on August 25. The employee illness reporting problem, the handwashing technique failure, and the missing consumer advisory were still documented violations when the restaurant returned to service.
