FORT MYERS, FL. XiXi Hibachi and Sushi on Gladiolus Drive drew 10 high-severity violations in a single inspection this week, the highest count of any Fort Myers restaurant in the August 14 through August 20 inspection period. Inspectors cited the restaurant for failing to follow parasite destruction procedures for fish, for not cooking food to required minimum temperatures, and for serving raw and undercooked items without a consumer advisory posted anywhere customers could see it.
The shellfish violations at XiXi compounded the picture. Inspectors found inadequate shell stock identification records, meaning that if a customer became ill after eating oysters or clams, there would be no documented chain of origin to trace. The restaurant also had no written employee health policy and an employee was found not reporting symptoms of illness.
XiXi has only three prior inspections on record.
What Inspectors Found Across the City
Tung Hing Chinese Restaurant on Fowler Street followed with eight high-severity violations. Inspectors cited the restaurant for food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, and for toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Food contact surfaces were found not properly cleaned or sanitized, and no allergen awareness was demonstrated by staff.
Fortune Cookie on Palm Beach Boulevard drew seven high-severity violations, including a failure to follow required procedures for specialized food processes and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces. Inspectors also noted inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment as an intermediate violation, a finding that compounds the temperature risk when specialized processes are not followed correctly.
Nick and Stellas Pizza Perfecto on McGregor Boulevard also reached seven high-severity violations. The most striking single finding there was food from an unapproved or unknown source, meaning inspectors could not confirm that ingredients entering the kitchen had passed USDA or FDA inspection. The restaurant also lacked adequate handwashing facilities, a structural gap that makes proper hygiene impossible regardless of employee intent.
Blazewing Spot on Fowler Street was cited for six high-severity violations, and the first on that list was the absence of a person in charge performing supervisory duties during the inspection. That absence coincided with employees found not reporting illness symptoms and using improper handwashing technique. Inspectors also documented food from an unapproved or unknown source at Blazewing.
Jax Diner on Tamiami Trail and Cibo on McGregor Boulevard each drew five high-severity violations. Jax Diner's list included inadequate shell stock identification records, parasite destruction procedures not followed for fish, and an improper sewage or wastewater disposal finding as an intermediate violation. Cibo's citations included food from an unapproved source, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, and toxic substances improperly stored.
Mizuki Japanese Cuisine on Alico Mission Way was cited for four high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved source and time as a public health control not properly used. When time replaces temperature as a control method, there are strict rules about how long food can remain in the danger zone. Inspectors found those rules were not being followed.
Sweet Tomatoes on South Tamiami Trail drew four high-severity violations including no person in charge and food not cooked to minimum required temperature. The restaurant also had inadequate cooling equipment, an intermediate finding that directly undermines the ability to keep cooked food safe after service.
Iguana Mia on South Cleveland Avenue was cited for four high-severity violations, among them toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used, and improper handwashing technique. Bahama Breeze on South Tamiami Trail drew three high-severity violations, including two separate chemical storage findings: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
Kabab Spot on South Cleveland Avenue was cited for three high-severity violations, including parasite destruction procedures not followed and no allergen awareness demonstrated. Hilton Garden Inn Fort Myers Airport on Corporate Commerce Way drew three high-severity violations, including inadequate handwashing facilities and time as a public health control not properly used.
Homewood Suites Dining Room on Big Pineway was cited for food from an unapproved or unknown source alongside no employee health policy and no allergen awareness. Miller's Fort Myers Ale House on Kernel Circle drew the week's lowest high-severity count at two, for parasite destruction procedures not followed and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces.
What These Violations Mean
The most widespread violation category this week was the absence of a written employee health policy, cited at XiXi Hibachi and Sushi, Tung Hing Chinese Restaurant, Fortune Cookie, Nick and Stellas Pizza Perfecto, Sweet Tomatoes, and Homewood Suites Dining Room. Without that policy, there is no mechanism requiring a sick employee to stay home or notify a supervisor. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads from an infected food worker to dozens of customers in a single shift.
Parasite destruction failures at XiXi, Jax Diner, Kabab Spot, and Miller's Fort Myers Ale House represent a different category of risk. Fish served raw or undercooked, including sushi and sashimi, must be frozen to specific temperatures for specific durations to kill parasites such as Anisakis. When those protocols are skipped or improperly documented, the parasite reaches the customer's plate intact.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, found this week at Nick and Stellas, Blazewing Spot, Cibo, Mizuki Japanese Cuisine, and Homewood Suites Dining Room, removes the traceability that makes outbreak investigation possible. If a customer becomes ill after eating at one of those restaurants, health investigators cannot determine where the ingredient came from, who else received it, or how to issue a recall.
The toxic substance violations at Tung Hing, Cibo, Iguana Mia, and Bahama Breeze are acutely dangerous in a different way. Chemicals stored improperly near food or mislabeled as something else can cause immediate poisoning, not the delayed onset typical of bacterial illness. A customer would have no way to know the risk from a menu or a table.
The Longer Record
Iguana Mia on South Cleveland Avenue carries 41 prior inspections on record, the longest documented history of any facility cited this week. This week's four high-severity violations, including a toxic substance handling failure and improper handwashing technique, are not aberrations for a new operation still finding its footing. They are additions to a record four decades in the making.
Tung Hing Chinese Restaurant and Fortune Cookie each have more than 30 prior inspections on record, 33 and 31 respectively. Tung Hing's eight high-severity violations this week included allergen awareness failures and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, categories that appear repeatedly across long-tenured facilities in this roundup. Nick and Stellas Pizza Perfecto and Kabab Spot also each exceed 30 prior inspections on record, at 32 and 36 respectively.
By contrast, XiXi Hibachi and Sushi, the week's highest violator with 10 high-severity citations, has only three prior inspections on record. Sweet Tomatoes, with four high-severity violations including a missing person in charge and undercooking, has only two. Those low inspection counts mean there is almost no historical baseline to judge whether this week's findings are a one-time lapse or the beginning of a pattern.
Blazewing Spot, with 23 prior inspections, was cited for no person in charge during the inspection visit, a condition that CDC data links to three times the rate of critical violations compared to supervised operations. The violations inspectors found at Blazewing this week, including food from an unapproved source and no allergen awareness, are consistent with what typically accumulates when supervisory oversight is absent at the moment inspectors arrive.
The Longer Pattern
Eleven of the fifteen facilities cited this week were flagged for violations directly tied to employee behavior: handwashing technique, illness reporting, health policies, or the absence of a person in charge. That concentration points to a training and supervision gap rather than a purely physical infrastructure problem.
Jax Diner on Tamiami Trail was cited for improper sewage or wastewater disposal as an intermediate violation alongside five high-severity findings. The sewage finding has not been resolved in this report.
