LAKELAND, FL. State inspectors visiting Hibachi Buffet at 901 Memorial Blvd on April 28 found that the restaurant was not following parasite destruction procedures, a violation that means customers eating certain fish, pork, or wild game could be exposed to live parasites including Anisakis and Trichinella. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
Inspectors documented seven high-severity violations and two intermediate violations during that visit. The seven high-severity findings cover a range of risks that, taken together, describe a kitchen operating without several of the most basic safeguards required under state food safety law.
What Inspectors Found
Among the high-severity findings: toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled near food, a condition that can cause acute poisoning if chemicals contaminate food or are mistaken for food-safe substances. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, a direct pathway for bacterial transfer from one food to another.
Inspectors also found that required procedures for specialized processes were not being followed. For a buffet serving hibachi-style items, those processes can include specific cooking, holding, or preparation methods that require precise controls to prevent bacterial growth or contamination.
The restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. Without that notice, customers who are pregnant, elderly, immunocompromised, or otherwise at elevated risk have no way to make an informed choice about what they are eating.
Employees were observed using improper handwashing technique. Inspectors noted the restaurant had no written employee health policy, meaning there was no formal system in place to keep sick workers out of the kitchen.
The two intermediate violations involved multi-use utensils that were not properly cleaned and single-use items being reused. Improperly cleaned utensils develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours that standard washing does not remove.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure is the violation with the most direct physical consequence for customers. When fish or pork is not frozen to required temperatures for required durations before service, parasites inside the flesh survive. Anisakis, found in fish, can embed in the stomach or intestinal wall and cause severe pain, vomiting, and in some cases requires surgical removal. Trichinella, found in pork and wild game, causes muscle pain, fever, and swelling. Neither parasite is visible to the eye or detectable by smell.
The toxic chemical violation compounds the risk. Chemicals stored near food or without proper labeling can contaminate food directly, or a worker can mistake a chemical container for a food-safe one. Acute chemical poisoning produces symptoms within minutes to hours and can require emergency medical care.
The absence of an employee health policy is a systemic failure, not a single-incident one. Without a written policy, there is no mechanism requiring workers to report symptoms of illness, no protocol for removing them from food handling duties, and no documentation that the requirement was ever addressed. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads primarily through infected food handlers.
Together, the handwashing technique violation and the employee health policy gap form a linked chain. Even when a worker attempts to wash their hands, improper technique leaves pathogens on the skin. Add a workforce with no formal illness reporting requirement, and the conditions for disease transmission inside the kitchen are compounded.
The Longer Record
The April 28 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Hibachi Buffet has been inspected 43 times and has accumulated 381 total violations across its history. The facility has been emergency-closed twice: once in January 2023 for having no handwashing sink, and once in December 2016 for roach activity.
The inspection record from the past two years shows a facility that has not stabilized. On March 23, 2026, five weeks before this inspection, inspectors found seven high-severity violations and one intermediate violation. On November 21, 2024, there were six high-severity violations and three intermediate violations. On March 5, 2024, there were four high-severity and two intermediate violations.
The only clean inspection in recent memory was April 29, 2025, when inspectors found zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. That was followed the next year by the current inspection: seven high-severity violations on the same calendar date, April 28.
The pattern across eight inspections spanning roughly two years shows a kitchen that cycles between brief compliance and repeated high-severity findings, without any sustained improvement. The March 2026 visit and the April 2026 visit together represent back-to-back inspections, each with seven high-severity violations.
Still Open
State inspectors documented all nine violations on April 28 and left the restaurant operating. Hibachi Buffet at 901 Memorial Blvd was not emergency-closed. It has now accumulated at least 13 high-severity violations across its two most recent inspections alone, with 381 total violations in its record, and it remains open for business.