COLLIER COUNTY, FL. A Naples restaurant and lounge racked up seven high-severity violations in a single inspection last week, the worst performance in a county sweep that flagged serious food safety failures at 12 of 35 facilities inspected between May 6 and May 12, 2026.
The Worst of the Week
La Trova Restaurant & Lounge on 4th Avenue North in Naples drew all seven of its citations at the high-severity level. Among them: food in poor condition or adulterated, inadequate shell stock identification records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and no person in charge present or performing duties.
The shellfish records violation is not a paperwork technicality. Without proper tagging and harvest records, there is no way to trace a raw oyster or clam back to its source if a customer falls ill. At La Trova, inspectors also noted that employees were not reporting symptoms of illness and that handwashing facilities were inadequate, with technique violations on top of that.
China Wok on Golden Gate Parkway came in second with six high-severity citations. The facility had no written employee health policy, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. Inspectors also flagged employees not reporting illness symptoms and improper handwashing technique. The shellfish records violation appeared here as well.
Champion Billiards on Tamiami Trail East collected five high-severity violations, including one that stands apart from most food service citations: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled. Inspectors also found food in poor condition, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and improper handwashing technique.
Emilio Sanchez Academy on Airport Pulling Road, which operates a food service component, drew five high-severity violations and one intermediate. The high-severity list included food not cooked to required minimum temperature, no allergen awareness, no consumer advisory, employees not reporting illness, and no person in charge. The intermediate violation involved multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
Greyhawk at GC of the Everglades HOA on Horned Lark Drive was cited for food not cooked to minimum temperature, inadequate handwashing facilities, no consumer advisory, and no person in charge. An intermediate violation for inadequate toilet facilities rounded out the inspection.
Davide Italian Cafe and Deli on Bald Eagle Drive on Marco Island drew four high-severity violations: improper handwashing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Bice on Fifth Avenue South in Naples was cited for food from an unapproved or unknown source, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, toxic substances improperly identified or stored, and no allergen awareness. Multi-use utensils not properly cleaned was flagged as an intermediate violation.
Nacho Mama's on South Collier Boulevard on Marco Island drew two high-severity violations: food from an unapproved or unknown source, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Three more facilities each collected three high-severity violations. Keewaydins on 5th Avenue South was cited for employees not reporting illness, improper handwashing technique, and inadequate shellfish records. Goldies Restaurant on Taylor Road drew the same handwashing and illness-reporting violations, plus no written employee health policy, and added an intermediate citation for improperly cleaned multi-use utensils. TwinEagles Club Main Kitchen on Twin Eagles Boulevard was flagged for no person in charge, employees not reporting illness, and inadequate handwashing facilities.
Barbatella on 3rd Street South received one high-severity violation: food not cooked to required minimum temperature.
What These Violations Mean
The most frequently cited high-severity violation across Collier County this week was employees not reporting symptoms of illness, which appeared at La Trova, China Wok, Bice, Keewaydins, Goldies, TwinEagles, and Emilio Sanchez Academy. This is not a procedural gap. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads directly from sick food workers to customers through contaminated food. A worker who does not report symptoms, and whose employer has no policy requiring it, can infect dozens of customers in a single shift.
The absence of a written employee health policy, documented at China Wok and Goldies, compounds that risk. Without a formal policy, there is no documented standard for what symptoms require a worker to stay home, no training record, and no accountability if an outbreak occurs.
Inadequate shellfish records, cited at La Trova, China Wok, and Keewaydins, represent a specific and serious traceability failure. Shellfish are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria and viruses from the water they grow in. They are frequently served raw. When harvest tags and source records are missing, there is no way to identify a contaminated lot after someone becomes ill, and no way to pull it from circulation before others are served.
Food not cooked to minimum temperature, documented at Emilio Sanchez Academy, Greyhawk, Davide Italian Cafe, and Barbatella, means that pathogens capable of causing serious illness may survive and reach a customer's plate. Salmonella in poultry is not destroyed below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. A plate that looks done is not the same as a plate that is safe.
The Longer Record
The inspection data does not include prior inspection counts for the facilities cited this week, which limits direct comparison of current findings against each facility's full history. What the record does show is the pattern visible in a single week: seven of the twelve worst-performing facilities were cited for illness-reporting failures, five for handwashing deficiencies, and four for food temperature violations. When those three categories cluster together at a facility, they describe a kitchen operating without the basic controls that prevent outbreaks.
The management failure violation, cited at La Trova, Emilio Sanchez Academy, Greyhawk, and TwinEagles, is a marker that inspectors treat as predictive. CDC data links the absence of active managerial control to three times as many critical violations at a facility. At La Trova, the person-in-charge violation appeared alongside six other high-severity citations, a combination that suggests the absence of oversight was not incidental to the other findings.
Bice on Fifth Avenue South and Nacho Mama's on Marco Island were both cited for food from unapproved or unknown sources. That violation means food entered those kitchens without passing through a USDA- or FDA-inspected supply chain. If a customer becomes ill after eating at either location, investigators would have no reliable record of where the food originated.
TwinEagles Club Main Kitchen was cited for inadequate handwashing facilities alongside the person-in-charge and illness-reporting violations. A kitchen without functional handwashing infrastructure cannot comply with handwashing requirements regardless of employee intent, which makes that citation one of the harder ones to address with training alone.