VENICE, FL. An inspector visiting Fuji Sushi Hibachi Noodles at 12205 Mercado Drive on April 22 documented food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning some of what was being served to customers that day had bypassed federal safety inspections entirely.
That was one of eight high-severity violations cited during the visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food sourcing violation is among the most serious a food service inspector can document. When food enters a restaurant outside regulated supply chains, there is no record of where it came from, how it was handled, or whether it passed federal inspection. If a customer becomes ill, traceback is nearly impossible.
Alongside that finding, the inspector cited an employee for failing to report symptoms of illness, and documented that the restaurant had no written employee health policy. Those two violations together describe a kitchen where sick workers have no formal obligation to stay away from food and no established system requiring them to disclose symptoms.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Food was found in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated. Items were not cooked to required minimum temperatures.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, a notice required specifically because a sushi operation routinely serves dishes that carry inherent pathogen risk. Customers who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised have no way of knowing that risk without the advisory posted.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no health policy, no illness reporting, and improper handwashing technique describes a kitchen where contamination from a sick food worker has the fewest possible barriers stopping it from reaching a plate. Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants, spreads primarily through infected food handlers. A single symptomatic worker preparing sushi rolls can expose dozens of customers in a single shift.
The food sourcing violation compounds that risk. Sushi-grade fish requires a documented cold chain and, in many cases, parasite destruction through controlled freezing. Fish from an unknown or unapproved supplier carries no such guarantee. There is no federal inspection stamp, no lot number, and no way to issue a recall if someone gets sick.
Undercooking violations at a hibachi and noodle operation raise a separate concern. Poultry that does not reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit can carry live Salmonella. The inspector found that minimum cooking temperatures were not being met, which means some food served to customers that day may not have been safe to eat.
Taken together, these eight high-severity violations cover the full arc of a contamination event: food from an unknown source, improperly handled by workers who may have been ill, cooked below safe temperatures, plated on surfaces that were not properly sanitized, and served without disclosing the risk.
The Longer Record
Fuji Sushi Hibachi Noodles: Inspection History
April's inspection was not an anomaly. State records show 14 inspections on file for this location and 172 total violations across that history.
Every inspection on record since September 2022 has produced at least five high-severity violations. The September 2023 visit produced 11. The February 2025 visit produced 7. The April 2026 visit produced 8.
That is eight consecutive documented inspections, each generating multiple high-severity findings, with no emergency closure on record at any point.
The facility has never been shut down by the state. Despite violations in overlapping categories across multiple years, including food handling, employee illness procedures, and food safety practices, the restaurant has continued operating after each inspection.
After the April 22 visit, with eight high-severity violations documented and a customer base that includes anyone who walked through the door that day, Fuji Sushi Hibachi Noodles on Mercado Drive remained open for business.