GREEN COVE SPRINGS, FL. Food at Dalton's Sports Grill on Henley Road was not cooked to required minimum temperatures during an October 2 inspection, a violation state records classify as a direct pathway for pathogen survival, including Salmonella in poultry that persists below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Inspectors also found toxic chemicals improperly stored and labeled, a second high-severity citation that creates risk of chemical contamination of food. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The October 2 inspection produced 9 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate ones, a total of 12 citations from a single visit. Among the nine high-severity findings, two involved toxic chemicals: one for improper storage or labeling, a second for improper identification, storage, or use of toxic substances. Both citations at the same facility in the same inspection indicate chemicals were accessible near food preparation areas in more than one way.
There was no person in charge present or performing duties during the inspection. Inspectors also cited employees for not reporting symptoms of illness and for using improper handwashing technique.
Shell stock identification records were inadequate, meaning shellfish served at the restaurant could not be traced to a certified source if a customer became ill. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked menu items, leaving customers with no notice that certain dishes carry elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
Undercooking and the absence of a consumer advisory are a compounding problem. When food is not brought to required minimum temperatures, pathogens that would otherwise be destroyed survive. When there is also no advisory on the menu, customers who are elderly, pregnant, immunocompromised, or very young have no way to know they are being served food that carries that risk.
The two chemical citations are among the most immediately dangerous violations a kitchen can receive. Improperly stored or mislabeled chemicals near food can cause acute poisoning if they contaminate a surface, a container, or a dish. The fact that inspectors cited Dalton's for both improper storage and improper identification in the same visit suggests the problem extended beyond a single misplaced bottle.
Employee illness reporting and handwashing technique failures are direct transmission routes for foodborne illness. Food workers who do not report symptoms are the primary mechanism behind multi-victim outbreaks, particularly for Norovirus. Improper technique, the third handwashing-related citation, means pathogens remain on hands even when an employee goes through the motions of washing.
The absence of a person in charge is significant not just as a standalone violation but as context for everything else found that day. CDC data links establishments without active managerial control to three times the rate of critical violations. When no one is running the kitchen, the other eight high-severity findings are easier to understand.
The Longer Record
The October 2 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Dalton's Sports Grill has been inspected 31 times and has accumulated 223 violations across its history. Every inspection on record going back to July 2022 has produced high-severity violations, without a single clean visit in that stretch until a follow-up on October 8, six days after the inspection in this report.
The pattern of high-severity counts is consistent and worsening at the peaks. The July 2023 inspection produced 8 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. The March 2025 inspection produced 6 high-severity violations. The October 2 inspection, at 9 high-severity citations, is the highest single-visit count in the recent record.
The restaurant was emergency-closed once before, on October 25, 2022, for roach activity. It was allowed to reopen the following day. That closure came during a stretch of inspections that has since produced more than 30 additional high-severity violations across multiple visits.
The Facility Remained Open
Six days after the October 2 inspection, a follow-up visit found zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. State records show the restaurant was not emergency-closed at any point following the nine-violation inspection.
Customers who ate at Dalton's Sports Grill between October 2 and October 8 did so while the kitchen was operating under conditions that included undercooked food, improperly stored toxic chemicals, no manager on duty, and no consumer advisory for raw items on the menu.
