POMPANO BEACH, FL. State inspectors walked into Grace Restaurant at 2710 West Atlantic Blvd on April 21, 2026, and found that the food being served to customers had come from unapproved or unknown sources, meaning it had bypassed USDA and FDA safety inspections entirely. That was one of nine high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The full violation list from April 21 reads like a compendium of the failures most likely to put someone in a hospital. Inspectors documented food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly, placing them in proximity to food preparation areas.
Employees were not reporting symptoms of illness, and the handwashing technique documented was flagged as improper, meaning pathogens can remain on hands even after a washing attempt is made. There was no person in charge present or performing supervisory duties during the inspection.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and shellfish on the premises had inadequate identification records, meaning there was no way to trace where those oysters, clams, or mussels came from if a customer became sick.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved sources is not a paperwork problem. When a restaurant cannot document where its food came from, there is no traceability chain. If a customer gets sick, investigators cannot identify the contaminated batch, cannot issue a recall, and cannot warn others who may have eaten the same product. Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli have all been linked to uninspected food supply chains.
The undercooking violation compounds that risk directly. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When food arrives from an unknown source and is then undercooked, two of the most basic safeguards against foodborne illness have been removed at once. Grace Restaurant had both violations on the same inspection date.
The illness reporting failure is the violation that most directly threatens other diners. Food workers who do not report symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, or jaundice remain on the line, handling food. Norovirus, one of the most contagious pathogens in food service, spreads through exactly this route. A single ill employee can trigger a multi-victim outbreak within hours.
The shellfish traceability gap carries its own acute risk. Shellfish are consumed raw or lightly cooked, and without harvest tags and dealer records, a restaurant cannot identify the source if a customer develops Vibrio or hepatitis A. State law requires those records precisely because the consequences of not having them can be severe and fast-moving.
The Longer Record
The April 21 inspection was not the beginning of this story. State records show Grace Restaurant has 13 inspections on file and 132 total violations across its history. It has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern in those records is consistent. On September 29, 2025, inspectors cited the restaurant for 7 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate ones. On July 1, 2025, the count was 10 high-severity violations and 2 intermediate ones. That July inspection remains the single worst on record for the facility.
After the April 21 inspection with 9 high-severity violations, state records show inspectors returned the following day, April 22, and found 5 high-severity violations in one visit and 4 high-severity violations in a second visit the same day. On April 24, there were two more inspections, one yielding 3 high-severity violations and one yielding 1 high-severity violation. The only inspection in the facility's recent history with no high-severity violations was a single visit on September 30, 2025, the day after the 7-violation inspection.
Open for Business
The violations from October 2024 included 4 high-severity citations. The July 2025 inspection, with 10 high-severity violations, did not result in a closure. The April 21, 2026 inspection, with 9 high-severity violations including food from unknown sources and undercooked food, did not result in a closure either.
As of the most recent inspection in the state record, April 24, 2026, Grace Restaurant remained open.