SAINT AUGUSTINE, FL. Toxic chemicals were stored improperly near food at Andaman Asian Bistro on A1A South, state inspectors found on July 17, and that was not even the only chemical violation on the list.
The inspection of the restaurant at 1935 A1A South turned up nine high-severity violations and four intermediate violations. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The chemical violations came in two forms. Inspectors cited the restaurant separately for toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and for toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Two distinct high-severity violations, both involving chemicals in a food service environment.
Employees were found not to be reporting symptoms of illness, one of the most direct routes from a sick kitchen worker to a sick dining room. Inspectors also documented inadequate handwashing facilities, meaning that even employees who wanted to wash their hands properly could not.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Inspectors also cited food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, and found no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods.
Shellfish sold without adequate shell stock identification records is a separate category of concern. The restaurant also had no person in charge present or performing duties.
On the intermediate level, multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned, single-use items were being reused, wiping cloths were used improperly, and toilet facilities were inadequate or improperly maintained.
What These Violations Mean
Two separate chemical violations in a kitchen where food is actively being prepared is not a paperwork problem. Chemicals stored near food, or chemicals that are unlabeled or misidentified, can contaminate food directly. A customer would not know the difference between food seasoned in a kitchen and food accidentally exposed to a cleaning agent or pesticide.
The employee illness reporting failure is a transmission risk of a different kind. Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads person-to-person and through food handled by infected workers. A kitchen where employees are not required to report symptoms is a kitchen where an outbreak can start before anyone knows it has begun. Combined with inadequate handwashing facilities at Andaman Asian Bistro, there was no structural check on that transmission route the day inspectors arrived.
Shellfish carry particular risk because they are often consumed raw or lightly cooked, and because they filter water, concentrating whatever pathogens are present. Shell stock identification records exist so that if customers get sick, investigators can trace the shellfish back to the harvest location. Without those records, that chain breaks entirely.
The absence of a person in charge performing duties is not a minor administrative gap. CDC research shows restaurants without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at roughly three times the rate of those with engaged management. Every other violation on the July 17 list existed in part because no one in authority was there to prevent it.
The Longer Record
The July 17 inspection was not an aberration. State records show Andaman Asian Bistro has been inspected 29 times and has accumulated 240 total violations across that history.
The pattern of high-severity violations is consistent and recent. Inspectors found five high-severity violations in February 2026, five more in August 2025, and five more in April 2025. Before that, November 2024 produced eight high-severity violations and four intermediate ones, and May 2024 produced seven high-severity violations and three intermediate ones. The July 2026 inspection, at nine high-severity violations, is the worst single inspection the restaurant has had in at least two years.
Two inspections in that span came back clean: February 2025 and November 2023, both with zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. Those results make the surrounding pattern harder to explain as a matter of bad luck.
The restaurant was emergency-closed once before, in January 2015, for rodent activity. It was allowed to reopen the following day.
Open for Business
After an inspection that documented two separate chemical hazards, a failure to report employee illness, inadequate handwashing infrastructure, improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, shellfish with no traceability records, and no manager on duty, state inspectors did not close Andaman Asian Bistro.
The restaurant at 1935 A1A South remained open.
