SUNRISE, FL. Back in April 2026, inspectors visiting CVI.CHE 105 at Sawgrass Mills found no person in charge present or performing duties, a violation that state health data links to a threefold increase in critical violations at a given establishment. It was the first of seven high-severity citations logged that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The inspection on April 8, 2026 turned up two separate handwashing violations. Inspectors cited both inadequate handwashing by food employees and improper hand and arm washing technique, meaning workers were not washing their hands enough, and when they did wash, they were not doing it correctly.
The shellfish citation is particularly significant at a restaurant whose menu centers on raw and lightly cooked seafood. Inspectors found inadequate shell stock identification records, meaning the origin of the oysters, clams, or other bivalves served that day could not be fully traced.
Inspectors also cited food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and found that required procedures for specialized processes were not being followed. At a restaurant that serves ceviche, a dish relying on acid rather than heat to address pathogens, that last citation carries direct weight.
Not a single intermediate violation was recorded that day. Every one of the seven citations was high-severity.
The following day, April 9, a follow-up inspection recorded zero high-severity violations and zero intermediate violations.
What These Violations Mean
The absence of a person in charge is not a paperwork problem. CDC data cited in the inspection record shows establishments without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at three times the rate of those with engaged oversight. Every other violation found on April 8 existed in that context: no one was actively monitoring whether employees were washing their hands, whether shellfish records were complete, whether sanitizing procedures were being followed.
The handwashing citations compound each other. Inadequate handwashing means employees were skipping or shortening the process. Improper technique means that even the attempts being made were leaving pathogens on hands. Together, those two violations describe a kitchen where the most basic barrier between employee illness and customer food was not functioning.
The shellfish traceability failure is acutely dangerous at a ceviche restaurant. Shellfish are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria and viruses, including norovirus and Vibrio, from surrounding water. When shell stock records are incomplete, there is no way to trace an illness outbreak back to a harvest location or a contaminated lot. If a customer got sick after eating there in April, investigators would have had limited ability to identify the source.
The specialized process violation adds another layer of concern. Ceviche is itself a specialized process, one that uses citric acid to reduce, but not eliminate, pathogen load. Without documented procedures and temperature controls, the margin for error narrows considerably.
The Longer Record
The April 8 inspection was not an anomaly. The facility's records show 28 inspections on file and 131 total violations documented over its history, none of which resulted in an emergency closure.
The pattern of high-severity violations followed by a clean follow-up has appeared before. In September 2024, inspectors found five high-severity violations and one intermediate violation. The next day, a follow-up recorded zero violations at either level. In January 2025, the same sequence played out: five high-severity violations and one intermediate on January 3, a clean inspection on January 8. The April 2026 inspection was the third time in roughly 18 months that the facility logged five or more high-severity violations in a single visit.
Going back further, a March 2024 inspection found six high-severity violations and three intermediate violations. A follow-up six days later found one high-severity violation and one intermediate. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The recurring nature of the violations, particularly around management oversight and food handling, suggests these are not isolated lapses. Three separate inspections across 18 months found five or more high-severity violations each time.
Open for Business
After the April 8 inspection, CVI.CHE 105 at Sawgrass Mills remained open to customers. The follow-up visit the next morning found no violations. State records do not indicate any closure at any point in the facility's 28-inspection history.
What the record does show is a restaurant that has cycled through serious violations and clean follow-ups at least three times since early 2024, each time without a closure order. In April, customers eating ceviche made from shellfish with incomplete traceability records, prepared by employees whose handwashing inspectors had just cited as inadequate, did so in a restaurant that regulators left open.