FORT MYERS, FL. Mastello Italian Restaurant and Steak House on Summerlin Lakes Drive drew six high-severity violations during the week of October 5, more than any other facility inspected in Fort Myers that week, including citations for food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, failure to cook food to required minimum temperatures, and no person in charge present or performing duties.
Fourteen other Fort Myers restaurants and food service operations were also cited for high-severity violations during the same seven-day stretch, according to state inspection records.
What Inspectors Found
At Mastello, inspectors also documented that an employee was not reporting symptoms of illness and that parasite destruction procedures were not being followed for fish or other applicable menu items. The restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods.
Club at Shell Point-Vue on On Par Boulevard accumulated five high-severity violations, including toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used, and no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff. Inspectors also cited improper hand and arm washing technique and the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items.
Cheesesteaks.com on Gladiolus Drive drew five high-severity violations as well. Among them: inadequate shell stock identification records, meaning inspectors could not verify where the shellfish on hand had come from; food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized; and time as a public health control not properly used.
Fort Myers Dinner Theatre LLC on Crystal Drive was cited for four high-severity violations, including improper hand and arm washing technique, unclean food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no allergen awareness demonstrated.
Quality Inn Fort Myers Central on South Cleveland Avenue also drew four high-severity violations. Inspectors found food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated on the premises, along with food contact surfaces not properly cleaned and an employee not reporting illness symptoms.
Grimaldi's Pizzeria on Cleveland Avenue South was cited for food from an unapproved or unknown source, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, unclean food contact surfaces, and no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff.
Perkins Restaurant and Bakery on North Cleveland Avenue drew four high-severity violations including no person in charge present or performing duties, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate shell stock identification records, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
Three facilities on the list each drew three high-severity violations. Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre on Colonial Boulevard was cited for food from an unapproved source, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, and no allergen awareness. Tres Amigos Taqueria on Gladiolus Drive was cited for food from an unapproved source, unclean food contact surfaces, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
Los Molcajetes on Cleveland Avenue drew citations for no employee health policy, food in poor condition or adulterated, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned. La Kasita LLC on Fowler Street was cited for no employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, and required procedures for specialized processes not followed.
Dunkin on Colonial Boulevard drew three high-severity violations including no employee health policy, food from an unapproved or unknown source, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned. Lindy's Cafe on Shell Point Plaza was cited for no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and no allergen awareness demonstrated.
Discovery Village at the Forum on Forum Boulevard, a senior living dining operation, drew three high-severity violations: inadequate shell stock identification records, parasite destruction procedures not followed, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
European American Bakery Cafe on Metro Parkway was cited for two high-severity violations, time as a public health control not properly used and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, plus an intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
What These Violations Mean
The food-from-unapproved-sources citation, which appeared at Mastello, Grimaldi's Pizzeria, Tres Amigos Taqueria, Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, and Dunkin, means inspectors could not confirm that the food in those kitchens passed through a licensed, inspected supply chain. If a customer gets sick, there is no tag, no invoice, no harvest record to trace the ingredient back to its origin. That traceability gap is not an administrative detail; it is what public health investigators rely on to stop an outbreak from spreading.
The parasite destruction violations at Mastello, Grimaldi's Pizzeria, Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, and Discovery Village at the Forum are directly connected to menu items served raw or lightly cooked. Fish served without proper prior freezing can carry Anisakis, a parasitic worm that embeds in the stomach lining. The consumer advisory citations at those same facilities compound the problem: customers who are pregnant, elderly, or immunocompromised have no way to know they are ordering something that was not handled with the additional safeguards those conditions require.
The cluster of employee illness-reporting failures and absent health policies across Mastello, Club at Shell Point-Vue, Cheesesteaks.com, Quality Inn Fort Myers Central, Perkins Restaurant and Bakery, Los Molcajetes, La Kasita LLC, and Dunkin represents a systemic gap. A sick food worker with no obligation to report symptoms and no written policy directing them to stay home is the most direct route from a single ill employee to a multi-customer outbreak. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States annually, spreads exactly this way.
Toxic substance violations at Club at Shell Point-Vue, Perkins Restaurant and Bakery, Tres Amigos Taqueria, and Lindy's Cafe are among the most immediately dangerous findings in any inspection report. Cleaning chemicals stored near or above food, or unlabeled containers mistaken for food-safe products, can cause acute poisoning with no warning. Unlike bacterial illness, which takes hours or days to present, chemical contamination can sicken a customer within minutes of eating.
The Longer Record
Several of this week's facilities carry inspection histories that stretch back dozens of visits. Grimaldi's Pizzeria has 35 prior inspections on record, the longest history of any facility cited this week, and still drew four high-severity violations including unapproved food sourcing and parasite destruction failures. Fort Myers Dinner Theatre LLC has 34 prior inspections on record and was cited this week for four high-severity violations, among them no allergen awareness and unclean food contact surfaces.
La Kasita LLC has 32 prior inspections behind it and drew violations this week for missing employee health policy and improper specialized process procedures. European American Bakery Cafe has 31 prior inspections on record, the third-highest count in this week's group, and was still cited for improper sewage disposal alongside its high-severity findings.
At the other end of the history spectrum, Dunkin on Colonial Boulevard has only four prior inspections on record, making this week's three high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved source, an early and serious signal for a relatively new location. Lindy's Cafe has seven prior inspections and drew toxic chemical storage and allergen awareness violations this week.
Discovery Village at the Forum serves a senior population with 20 prior inspections on record, and this week's findings included both parasite destruction failures and missing shell stock traceability records. Those violations carry elevated risk in a dining environment where many residents fall into the categories health officials identify as most vulnerable to foodborne illness.
The three-high-severity violation count at Los Molcajetes, which has only 12 prior inspections, included a finding that the facility had no employee health policy at all, not an outdated one or an incomplete one.
