BOCA RATON, FL. State inspectors visiting Casa Vera at 3249 N Federal Highway on May 18 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers sitting inside a restaurant that had no written employee health policy, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. Six of the seven violations documented that day were high-severity. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most serious an inspector can document. Food from unapproved or unknown suppliers has not passed USDA or FDA safety inspections, meaning there is no traceable supply chain if a customer gets sick. That traceability gap matters: it is the mechanism that allows public health officials to identify a contaminated batch and pull it before more people are exposed.
Compounding that finding, inspectors also cited food in poor condition, described in state records as spoiled, contaminated, mislabeled, or adulterated. Both violations were present on the same day, in the same kitchen, with no person in charge actively overseeing operations.
The food contact surfaces citation, also high-severity, means the cutting boards, prep tables, or equipment where food was handled had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. Improperly cleaned surfaces are a direct transfer point for bacteria between raw and ready-to-eat food. The intermediate violation for multi-use utensils not properly cleaned reinforces the same pattern: cleaning and sanitization were failing across multiple points in the kitchen on the same visit.
What These Violations Mean
The absence of a written employee health policy is not a paperwork technicality. Without a formal policy, there is no documented process for keeping a sick worker out of the kitchen. Norovirus, one of the leading causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads through exactly this route: an infected food handler with no instruction to stay home.
The missing consumer advisory is a separate but direct risk for specific customers. When a restaurant serves raw or undercooked proteins and does not post a disclosure, elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system have no way of knowing they are eating food that carries an elevated pathogen risk. That advisory exists specifically for them.
The management failure violation ties the rest together. CDC data cited in the inspection record notes that establishments without active managerial control record three times more critical violations than those with engaged oversight. At Casa Vera on May 18, the person in charge was either absent or not performing their duties. Every other violation found that day occurred in that context.
The Longer Record
The May 2026 inspection was not an outlier. State records show Casa Vera has been inspected 36 times and has accumulated 148 violations across its inspection history.
The most recent prior inspection, in December 2025, found one high-severity and four intermediate violations. Before that, a March 2024 visit documented five high-severity and two intermediate violations, and an October 2023 inspection found four high-severity violations with no intermediates. High-severity findings have appeared in six of the eight most recently recorded inspections.
The restaurant has also been emergency-closed twice before, both times for roach activity. Inspectors ordered the restaurant shut on September 9, 2016, and again on September 23, 2016, two weeks later. Both closures were resolved the same day they were issued.
The pattern across the full inspection record is one of recurring high-severity findings without a sustained period of clean inspections. The sole stretch without high violations in recent history runs from June 2022 through October 2022, a four-month window. Before and after it, high-severity citations reappear.
Open for Business
Florida's emergency closure threshold requires inspectors to find conditions that pose an immediate threat to public health, including active pest infestations, sewage backups, or loss of potable water. Six high-severity violations, including food from an unknown source and food in poor condition, did not meet that threshold on May 18.
The state's own inspection risk categories treat food from unapproved sources as a high-priority violation, the same tier as temperature abuse and employee illness. It is not a minor citation.
Casa Vera remained open after the inspection.