FORT MYERS, FL. China Xpress on Altamont Avenue drew seven high-severity violations during a single inspection this week, including a citation for an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, toxic chemicals stored or labeled incorrectly, and improper sewage disposal, the most concentrated cluster of serious findings among the 12 Fort Myers restaurants cited for high-severity violations between May 14 and May 20, 2026.
The sewage violation at China Xpress was not isolated. Two other restaurants, Twisted Crab Seafood and Bar on Cleveland Avenue and Daruma Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Lounge on US 41, were cited for the same improper sewage or wastewater disposal violation in the same week.
What Inspectors Found
China Xpress also drew citations for food in poor condition or adulterated, inadequate shell stock identification records, and failure to follow required procedures for specialized processes. That last category covers techniques like reduced-oxygen packaging, smoking, and fermenting, processes that require precise controls because they can suppress oxygen-dependent spoilage signals while allowing anaerobic pathogens like Clostridium botulinum to grow undetected.
House of Omelets on South Tamiami Trail was cited for four high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, improper handwashing technique, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and failure to properly use time as a public health control. That fourth citation is significant: when a facility substitutes time for temperature to keep food safe, strict tracking is required, and when that system breaks down, food can sit in the bacterial growth range of 41 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit for hours without any visible sign of danger.
Ruby Tuesday at Park Royal Drive was cited for three high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved source, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled. Inspectors also noted inadequate cooling equipment, a condition that compounds the food contact surface violation by limiting the facility's ability to recover food to safe temperatures after contamination risk events.
Daruma Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Lounge was cited for three high-severity violations that together describe a specific hazard for raw fish consumers. The facility drew citations for food from an unapproved source, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. A sushi and steakhouse serving raw or lightly cooked fish without documented parasite-destruction freezing protocols, and without staff who can field allergen questions, presents a compounded risk to any diner who is immunocompromised, pregnant, elderly, or allergic.
Taco Works on Hendry Street was cited for food not cooked to required minimum temperature, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. The combination of undercooking and no posted advisory means customers have no way of knowing they may be receiving food that has not reached the temperatures required to kill Salmonella in poultry or E. coli in ground beef.
Bahama Bar on Canal Grande Drive was cited for food not cooked to required minimum temperature alongside a citation for the person in charge not being present or not performing duties. The management-absence violation matters here because undercooking rarely happens in isolation when supervision is active.
Wendy's on Park 78 Drive was cited for food from an unapproved source and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces. Courtyard by Marriott on Gulf Center Drive drew two high-severity citations, one for improper handwashing technique and one for no allergen awareness demonstrated, a pairing that matters in a hotel food service environment where guests have no ongoing relationship with staff and no way to gauge whether allergy questions will be handled competently.
Texas Roadhouse on Dani Drive was cited for an employee not reporting illness symptoms and inadequate shell stock identification records. Dunkin on Terminal Access Road was cited for food from an unapproved source and inadequate shell stock identification records. Shell stock traceability citations at a Dunkin are unusual enough to note: the violation suggests shellfish-containing product on site without the required tags or records that would allow health officials to trace an outbreak back to a harvest location.
Arborwood Preserve Community Property Owners Association on Arborwood Preserve Drive was cited for no employee health policy and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
What These Violations Mean
The illness-reporting failures at China Xpress and Texas Roadhouse sit at the top of the public health concern list this week. When food workers do not report symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, or jaundice, they continue handling food while actively infectious. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, can be transmitted by a single infected worker touching ready-to-eat food. A written health policy, the violation cited at Twisted Crab and Arborwood Preserve, is the mechanism that makes illness reporting enforceable.
The parasite destruction failure at Daruma represents a distinct category of risk. Raw and undercooked fish served without documented freezing protocols can harbor Anisakis larvae, which cause severe gastrointestinal illness, or tapeworm species that can establish in human tissue. The violation does not mean parasites were present, but it means the procedure designed to ensure they were not present was not being followed.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, cited at House of Omelets, Ruby Tuesday, Daruma, Wendy's, and Dunkin, removes the traceability chain that health officials rely on to identify the origin of an outbreak. When a customer gets sick, inspectors look for harvest records, supplier invoices, and USDA or FDA inspection stamps. Food that enters a kitchen outside that system cannot be traced. Five facilities in one week sharing that same citation is a pattern worth noting.
The toxic chemical storage violations at China Xpress, Ruby Tuesday, and Arborwood Preserve describe a physical proximity risk: cleaning agents, pesticides, and sanitizers stored near or above food or food contact surfaces can contaminate product through drips, mislabeling, or accidental use. Chemical poisoning from this type of cross-storage does not always produce symptoms immediately, which means customers and staff may not connect illness to a meal until hours or days later.
The Longer Record
China Xpress has 39 prior inspections on record, the longest history of any facility cited this week. Seven high-severity violations in a single visit at a location with that many prior inspections suggests the record has not produced sustained compliance. Ruby Tuesday on Park Royal Drive and Wendy's on Park 78 Drive each have 30 prior inspections on record. Both drew food-source violations and food contact surface violations this week, two of the most fundamental categories in food safety.
Texas Roadhouse on Dani Drive has 27 prior inspections on record and was cited this week for an employee illness-reporting failure, one of the violation types most directly linked to multi-victim outbreaks. House of Omelets has 24 prior inspections and drew four high-severity violations this week, including an unapproved food source and a time-as-public-health-control failure.
Taco Works on Hendry Street has only 7 prior inspections on record, the shortest history in this week's group, and is already accumulating high-severity findings including undercooking and no consumer advisory. Bahama Bar has 10 prior inspections and drew both an undercooking citation and a management-absence citation in the same visit.
Dunkin on Terminal Access Road, with 11 prior inspections, drew a shell stock traceability citation this week. Whether a Dunkin location is regularly receiving shellfish-containing product, and whether that practice predates this inspection, is not addressed in the records available.