DAVIE, FL. Inspectors visiting Elvis Italian Grille on Griffin Road on June 5 found the restaurant serving food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means there is no paper trail if a customer gets sick.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented during the inspection. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source violation was not the only finding with direct consequences for customers. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for failing to cook food to required minimum temperatures, meaning pathogens that heat is supposed to kill had a chance to survive and reach a plate.
Toxic substances were found improperly identified, stored, or used. That is a separate and immediate risk from the food itself: chemical contamination can occur when cleaning agents or pesticides are kept near or above food preparation areas without proper labeling or separation.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep counters, and equipment that touches every meal served, were found not properly cleaned or sanitized. Inspectors also cited employees for improper handwashing technique. Washing hands incorrectly leaves pathogens on skin even when an attempt is made, and those pathogens transfer directly to food.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items. That notice is the only formal warning available to elderly diners, pregnant women, and customers with compromised immune systems who face the highest risk from undercooked food.
On the intermediate side, inspectors documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, single-use items being reused, and inadequate ventilation and lighting. That is ten violations total across the two tiers.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved or unknown sources is one of the most consequential violations an inspector can document, and it is rarely understood by diners. Every licensed food supplier in Florida operates under USDA or FDA inspection requirements that create a chain of documentation. When that chain is broken, there is no way to trace an illness back to its origin. If a customer becomes sick after eating at Elvis Italian Grille, investigators would have no records to pull.
The undercooking violation compounds that risk. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If the food entering the kitchen already bypassed safety inspections and is then not cooked to the temperature that would neutralize bacteria, both safeguards have failed simultaneously.
The toxic substance violation carries a different and more immediate danger. Improper storage of cleaning chemicals near food or food-contact surfaces can result in chemical contamination of a meal with no visible sign that anything is wrong. Combined with unsanitized food contact surfaces and flawed handwashing, the June 5 inspection at Elvis Italian Grille documented multiple overlapping failure points in the same kitchen on the same day.
Improper sewage disposal creates a risk that extends beyond the kitchen. Raw sewage contains E. coli, Hepatitis A, and norovirus. Its presence anywhere in a food service facility puts every surface, utensil, and food item in the building at potential risk of fecal contamination.
The Longer Record
The June 5 inspection was not an anomaly. Elvis Italian Grille has accumulated 212 violations across 32 inspections on record, a number that averages out to more than six violations per visit over the facility's documented history.
The pattern of high-severity violations is consistent. Inspectors found five high-severity violations in November 2023. Four high-severity violations in January 2025. Five high-severity violations again in the inspection immediately preceding June 5. The restaurant has never gone more than a few inspection cycles without a high-severity citation.
The facility was emergency-closed once before, also on June 5, 2026, for roach and fly activity. That closure and reopening happened on the same day as the ten-violation inspection. The roach and fly activity was resolved quickly enough for the restaurant to reopen, but the six high-severity violations documented that day were not grounds for closure under the standards applied.
The one clean inspection in the record, June 6, 2024, with zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations, stands alone across 32 visits. Every other recent inspection has produced at least one high-severity finding.
Open for Business
State inspectors documented food from an unknown source, undercooking, unsanitized food contact surfaces, improperly stored toxic substances, faulty handwashing, no consumer advisory, improper sewage disposal, unclean multi-use utensils, reused single-use items, and inadequate ventilation, all in a single visit to a restaurant that has now accumulated 212 violations across three decades of inspections.
Elvis Italian Grille on Griffin Road remained open after the June 5 inspection.