WILDWOOD, FL. A state inspector walked into Casa Agave Mexican Grill on South Main Street on May 4 and found food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, a violation that means pathogens like Salmonella, which survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit in poultry, were left alive on plates going to customers.
That was one of eight high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector also cited employees for not reporting symptoms of illness, a violation that sits alongside undercooked food as one of the most direct routes to a multi-victim outbreak. The two violations together, underkilled pathogens in the food and sick employees not flagging themselves, describe a kitchen where contamination had multiple open doors.
Handwashing was cited twice: once for inadequate facilities, meaning the physical infrastructure to wash hands properly was not in place, and once for improper technique, meaning employees were attempting to wash hands and still leaving pathogens behind. Both violations were logged on the same inspection.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and multi-use utensils were cited at the intermediate level for the same failure. The inspector also documented single-use items being reused, shellfish without adequate identification records, no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items, and no person in charge present or performing supervisory duties.
The person-in-charge violation may explain the rest of the list. CDC data links the absence of active managerial control to three times the rate of critical violations at comparable establishments.
What These Violations Mean
The undercooked food violation is the most immediate hazard on this inspection record. Salmonella in poultry and E. coli in ground beef are destroyed by heat, and when internal temperatures do not reach required minimums, those pathogens survive to the plate. A customer who ate undercooked food at Casa Agave on May 4 had no way of knowing it.
The illness-reporting failure compounds that risk. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants, spreads through food handled by symptomatic workers. When employees are not required to report symptoms, or do not do so, an infected worker can contaminate dozens of meals before anyone connects the cases.
The shellfish traceability violation carries a different kind of danger. Shellfish, including oysters, clams, and mussels, are consumed raw or lightly cooked and carry a higher baseline risk than most proteins. Without proper identification tags and records, there is no way to trace shellfish back to its harvest source if customers become ill. If an outbreak occurred, investigators would have no thread to pull.
The absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods left the most vulnerable diners, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems, without the information they would need to make a safe choice from the menu.
The Longer Record
The May 4 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Casa Agave has been inspected 31 times and has accumulated 281 violations across its history.
The pattern of high-severity violations in recent years is consistent. Inspectors found 5 high-severity violations in October 2025, 6 in June 2025, and 7 in December 2024. The May 4 count of 8 is the highest single-inspection tally in that recent stretch, but it does not represent a sudden collapse. It represents the top of a range the restaurant has been operating within for at least two years.
The restaurant was emergency-closed twice in 2015, both times for roach activity. Both closures lasted a single day. The pest violations that triggered those closures do not appear in the most recent inspection record, but the high-severity citation counts from 2024 and 2025 suggest the underlying culture of compliance has not stabilized.
Three days after the May 4 inspection, a follow-up visit on May 7 found zero high-severity violations and one intermediate. That rapid turnaround is consistent with prior inspection cycles at this location, where violation counts spike and then drop before climbing again.
Still Open
Florida law gives inspectors the authority to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Eight high-severity violations, including undercooked food and employees not reporting illness, did not meet that threshold on May 4.
The restaurant served customers through the rest of that day and the days that followed.