FORT MYERS, FL. State inspectors cited Wanfu Buffet on Colonial Boulevard for five high-severity violations during the week of June 11, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and a failure to use time as a public health control correctly. The buffet at 10676 Colonial Blvd was one of eight Fort Myers restaurants to draw high-severity citations in a single week.
Seven other facilities across the city accumulated violations in the same inspection window, from a country club on Washingtonia Palm Way to a sandwich chain on College Parkway to a pair of neighboring bars on Hendry Street.
What Inspectors Found
Wanfu Buffet's five high-severity violations covered nearly every critical category. Inspectors cited improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, unsanitized food contact surfaces, improper use of time as a public health control, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Three intermediate violations accompanied those findings, including inadequate cooling and cold holding equipment and multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
Metro Cafe on Metro Parkway drew four high-severity violations with no intermediates. Inspectors found no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Lodge on First Street was cited for three high-severity violations, including toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used alongside the same handwashing technique failure and a missing consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Inspectors also noted inadequate cooling equipment and inadequate toilet facilities.
Heritage Palms Country Club on Washingtonia Palm Way drew three high-severity violations centered on seafood handling. Inspectors cited inadequate shell stock identification records, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. Multi-use utensils not properly cleaned rounded out the findings.
Firehouse Subs on College Parkway also drew three high-severity violations, including the same pair of shellfish and parasite violations found at Heritage Palms, plus a failure to follow required procedures for specialized processes. An intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal accompanied those findings.
10 Twenty Five on Patio de Leon was cited for inadequate handwashing facilities and failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, plus an intermediate for multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
On Hendry Street, two neighboring establishments were each cited for two high-severity violations. Cowboy Up Saloon drew citations for food in poor condition or adulterated and no allergen awareness demonstrated, along with improper sewage or wastewater disposal. Taco Works, operating just two doors down at 1615-1617 Hendry St, was cited for failure to follow parasite destruction procedures and failure to follow required procedures for specialized processes, with multi-use utensils not properly cleaned as an intermediate.
What These Violations Mean
The food from unapproved or unknown source citation at Wanfu Buffet is among the most consequential violations in this week's data. When food bypasses USDA and FDA inspection channels, there is no traceability if customers become ill. That means if a batch of shellfish or poultry carries Listeria or Salmonella, investigators cannot trace it back to a supplier, cannot issue a recall, and cannot identify other affected customers or facilities.
The employee health violations at Metro Cafe carry a different but equally direct risk. A facility with no written employee health policy and an employee not reporting illness symptoms has removed the first line of defense against Norovirus transmission. Norovirus causes an estimated 20 million infections annually in the United States, and food workers who continue working while symptomatic are the most common cause of multi-victim outbreaks.
Parasite destruction failures appeared at four facilities this week: Heritage Palms Country Club, Firehouse Subs, 10 Twenty Five, and Taco Works. Proper parasite destruction requires fish to be frozen to specific temperatures for defined periods before serving raw or undercooked. When those procedures are skipped, parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm larvae can survive into the finished dish.
The allergen citation at Cowboy Up Saloon reflects a gap that sends roughly 30,000 Americans to emergency rooms each year. When staff cannot demonstrate allergen awareness, customers with serious allergies to peanuts, shellfish, or other common triggers have no reliable way to assess their risk before ordering.
The Longer Record
Lodge on First Street and 10 Twenty Five on Patio de Leon each arrive at this week's inspection with 29 prior inspections on record, the longest histories of any facility in this group. Both facilities are still drawing high-severity violations after nearly three dozen documented visits, and Lodge's citation for toxic substances improperly stored is not a minor administrative note.
Metro Cafe carries 25 prior inspections, Heritage Palms Country Club 26. Metro Cafe's four high-severity violations this week, including the employee illness reporting failure, represent the kind of systemic breakdown that accumulates when health policy infrastructure is never put in place. The country club's shellfish traceability and parasite destruction failures are not new categories of risk in a facility with that inspection volume.
Wanfu Buffet has 19 prior inspections on record. Five high-severity violations in a single week at a buffet operation, where large quantities of food cycle through temperature-sensitive holding for extended periods, is a more acute concern than the same number at a limited-menu counter service location.
Firehouse Subs has 18 prior inspections, and Cowboy Up Saloon has 10. Taco Works, with only 8 inspections on record, is among the newest facilities in this group and has already drawn parasite destruction and specialized process failures in the same week its neighbor on Hendry Street was cited for adulterated food and missing allergen training.
The Pattern
Handwashing failures ran through this week's inspections in two distinct forms. Wanfu Buffet, Metro Cafe, and Lodge were all cited for improper handwashing technique, meaning employees made an attempt to wash their hands but did not do so correctly enough to remove pathogens. That is a different citation from the inadequate handwashing facilities violation at 10 Twenty Five, where inspectors found the physical infrastructure itself was insufficient to permit proper hygiene.
The parasite destruction citation connecting Heritage Palms, Firehouse Subs, 10 Twenty Five, and Taco Works is notable because it crossed four very different types of establishments in the same week: a private country club, a national sandwich chain, a downtown bar, and a taco restaurant. The violation does not require a common supplier to appear at multiple facilities. It requires only that each kitchen skip the freezing or cooking protocols that kill parasites in fish and other high-risk proteins.
Cowboy Up Saloon's sewage or wastewater disposal violation shares an intermediate citation category with Firehouse Subs down on College Parkway. Both facilities have sewage-related findings sitting alongside their high-severity violations, a combination that inspectors flag as a compounding risk because sewage contamination can spread rapidly through a kitchen environment.
Taco Works on Hendry Street had only 8 inspections on record entering this week. Whether this week's citations represent a pattern or an early stumble is a question the next inspection will begin to answer.