PEMBROKE PINES, FL. Inspectors visiting Chow Time Grill & Buffet on Pembroke Road on September 4 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning some of what was set out on the buffet line had bypassed every federal safety inspection designed to catch Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli before it reaches a plate.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The September 4 inspection produced a ten-violation total: seven high-severity citations and three intermediate ones. The high-severity list included food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, food found in poor condition or adulterated, and inadequate shellfish identification records.
Three of the seven high-severity violations centered on the same failure point: sick workers. Inspectors cited the facility for having no written employee health policy, for employees not reporting illness symptoms, and for improper handwashing technique. Those three violations form a chain, each one making the others worse.
The shellfish traceability citation added a separate layer of risk. Inspectors found inadequate identification records for shell stock, meaning that if a customer became ill after eating oysters, clams, or mussels, there would be no reliable paper trail to identify the source.
On the intermediate side, inspectors documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms is what public health officials describe as an outbreak waiting for a trigger. Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads almost entirely through infected food workers who either do not know they are required to report symptoms or work through them anyway. A buffet format amplifies that risk: one infected worker touching shared serving utensils or food pans can expose dozens of customers in a single service period.
The improper handwashing technique violation compounds both of those. An employee who attempts to wash their hands but does so incorrectly still transfers pathogens to every surface and food item they touch afterward. The attempt at compliance provides no actual protection.
Food from an unapproved or unknown source is a different category of risk entirely. When food enters a facility without passing through USDA or FDA-regulated supply chains, there is no inspection record, no temperature log from transit, and no recall mechanism if a contamination event is later identified. At Chow Time Grill & Buffet on September 4, some portion of what was being served fell into that category.
The undercooked food violation means at least one item did not reach the internal temperature required to kill Salmonella, Campylobacter, or other heat-sensitive pathogens. For poultry, that threshold is 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Below that, the bacteria survive.
The Longer Record
The September 4 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Chow Time Grill & Buffet has been inspected 43 times and has accumulated 440 total violations across that history.
The eight most recent inspections before September 4 tell a consistent story. The facility logged 8 high-severity violations in September 2025, 8 more in November 2025, 8 again in March 2025, and 7 in July 2024. There has not been a single inspection in that stretch where high-severity violations were absent.
The facility was emergency-closed once, on November 3, 2025, for roach and fly activity. It passed a follow-up inspection the next day and reopened. That closure came during a visit that also produced 8 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations, the same profile as several surrounding inspections.
The pattern in the violation categories is as notable as the counts. Violations tied to food sourcing, employee illness protocols, and food temperatures appear across multiple inspection cycles, not as isolated incidents but as recurring citations at the same facility.
Still Open
State inspectors documented ten violations on September 4, seven of them high-severity, at a facility with 43 inspections and 440 violations on record. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
Chow Time Grill & Buffet on Pembroke Road was open for business when inspectors left.
