KEY WEST, FL. A Key Largo sushi bar serving raw fish to tourists had food from an unapproved source, no consumer advisory warning diners about raw or undercooked items, and no written employee health policy, all in the same inspection week, according to state records covering September 24 through September 30, 2026.
Sushi Sake at 103400 Overseas Highway led all seven flagged facilities with seven high-severity violations, the most of any restaurant inspected in the Keys corridor that week. The citations included inadequate shell stock identification records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and improper use of time as a public health control for items kept out of refrigeration.
What Inspectors Found Along the Overseas Highway
Mrs. Mac's Kitchen at 99336 Overseas Highway drew six high-severity citations. Inspectors found no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, food from an unapproved source, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Lazy Days Restaurant at 79867 Overseas Highway in Islamorada was cited for five high-severity violations, including food not cooked to the required minimum temperature and improper use of time as a public health control. Inspectors also noted employees not reporting illness symptoms and no consumer advisory. On the intermediate level, the restaurant had an improper sewage or wastewater disposal citation.
Habanos Tapas and Bar at 73814 Overseas Highway in Islamorada received four high-severity violations: no employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items.
Key Thai Restaurant and Sushi Bar at 99611 Overseas Highway was cited for four high-severity violations, including food contact surfaces not properly cleaned and no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff. Employees were also found not reporting illness symptoms and using improper handwashing technique.
Habanos Ocean Front at 73501 Overseas Highway drew three high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved source and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned. The facility also had an intermediate citation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
Three Waters Resort Marina's main kitchen, tiki bar, and Kokomos operation at 84001 Overseas Highway was cited for two high-severity violations: food from an unapproved source and parasite destruction procedures not followed. That second citation is specific to raw fish service, where proper freezing protocols are required before fish is served uncooked.
What These Violations Mean
Five of the seven facilities were cited for no consumer advisory covering raw or undercooked foods. For a tourist corridor built around fresh catch and sushi, that gap is direct. Visitors with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, elderly travelers, and young children are at elevated risk from raw shellfish and undercooked seafood, and the advisory requirement exists specifically to let those customers make an informed choice. Sushi Sake, Mrs. Mac's Kitchen, Lazy Days, Habanos Tapas and Bar, and Key Thai Restaurant and Sushi Bar all lacked adequate advisories during this inspection period.
Food from unapproved sources was cited at four locations: Sushi Sake, Mrs. Mac's Kitchen, Habanos Ocean Front, and Three Waters Resort Marina. When food enters a kitchen outside the licensed supply chain, there is no traceability if a customer gets sick. Inspectors and health officials cannot trace an illness back to a specific harvest lot, a specific farm, or a specific delivery. In a region where much of the menu centers on seafood, that traceability gap is not theoretical.
Three Waters Resort Marina was also flagged for failing to follow parasite destruction procedures. Fish served raw or undercooked must be frozen to specific temperatures for specific durations to kill parasites including Anisakis, a roundworm found in marine fish. Skipping that step and serving the fish anyway puts every customer who orders it at risk, not just vulnerable populations.
The handwashing violations at Mrs. Mac's Kitchen, Lazy Days, Habanos Tapas and Bar, Key Thai, and Habanos Ocean Front are worth reading carefully. The citation is not for skipping handwashing entirely. It is for improper technique: employees went through the motion and still left pathogens on their hands. Combined with the illness-reporting failures at Sushi Sake, Lazy Days, and Key Thai, inspectors documented a pattern where the two most basic barriers between a sick worker and a sick customer were both absent in the same facilities.
The Longer Record
The Florida Keys corridor draws millions of visitors annually, and several of the restaurants flagged this week are established operations with long inspection histories, not new businesses on their first few cycles. Mrs. Mac's Kitchen on Overseas Highway in Key Largo is one of the most recognizable names in the Keys, with a history that predates many of the tourists now eating there. The depth of the inspection record at a facility like that means this week's six high-severity violations do not arrive without context.
Lazy Days Restaurant in Islamorada is similarly a waterfront fixture, drawing both local regulars and travelers working their way down U.S. 1. Five high-severity violations in a single inspection week at an established location, including a food not cooked to temperature citation and an improper sewage disposal finding, represent the kind of combination that warrants attention beyond a single inspection cycle.
The two Habanos locations in Islamorada, Habanos Tapas and Bar and Habanos Ocean Front, share an address corridor and some violation categories. Both were cited for handwashing failures. Habanos Ocean Front added a food from unapproved sources citation and an improper sewage disposal finding. Two restaurants operating in close proximity under related branding drawing overlapping violation types in the same inspection week is a pattern worth tracking across future visits.
Three Waters Resort Marina was the only resort property in this week's group. Its two high-severity violations, unapproved food sourcing and failed parasite destruction procedures, are the kind of findings that matter most in a hotel environment, where guests may eat multiple meals on property without any alternative and where the population of diners includes every demographic that inspectors flag as high-risk. Parasite destruction procedures at Three Waters remained out of compliance as of the September 30 inspection close.
