CLERMONT, FL. A state inspector visiting Hibachi Express at 260 Citrus Tower Blvd on June 10 found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, toxic chemicals stored improperly near food, and surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. The restaurant was not closed.
The June 10 inspection produced six high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. It was the third inspection of this location in 15 days.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking violation is the most direct threat to anyone who ate there. At a hibachi restaurant, where proteins like chicken and beef are cooked on an open grill in front of customers, reaching minimum internal temperatures is not optional. Chicken that does not reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit can carry live salmonella. The show-cooking format does not change that requirement.
Toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly near food prep areas is a separate category of risk entirely. That violation does not require a pest or a sick employee to cause harm. It requires only that a bottle is in the wrong place, unlabeled, or misidentified.
The inspector also cited food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized, and food found in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated. Both violations were classified high severity. The no-consumer-advisory citation means customers were not warned that any menu items were served raw or undercooked, removing their ability to make an informed choice.
What These Violations Mean
Undercooking is one of the most direct paths from a commercial kitchen to a hospital. Salmonella in poultry is destroyed at 165 degrees. Below that threshold, it survives. A customer who orders chicken at a hibachi grill has no way to verify the internal temperature of what lands on their plate.
Improperly stored or unlabeled toxic chemicals represent a different but equally serious hazard. If a chemical container is mislabeled or stored adjacent to food or food prep surfaces, the contamination can be invisible. There is no taste, no smell, and no warning before someone becomes ill.
The food contact surface violation matters because surfaces that are not properly sanitized between uses transfer bacteria from one food to the next. At a hibachi restaurant, where the same grill surface contacts multiple proteins across an evening service, that transfer risk is continuous.
The handwashing technique violation compounds every other risk on this list. Pathogens that survive on hands because of an incomplete wash can move to food, to surfaces, and to the next customer's meal. A handwashing attempt that uses flawed technique provides almost no protection.
The Pattern
The June 10 inspection did not arrive in a vacuum. On May 28, the same location logged seven high-severity and two intermediate violations. The day before that, May 27, inspectors found 10 high-severity and three intermediate violations. That two-day stretch in late May produced 17 high-severity violations across back-to-back inspections.
The facility has 26 inspections on record and 254 total violations. It has never been emergency-closed.
The Longer Record
The inspection history at Hibachi Express stretches back through multiple years, and the pattern does not show improvement. In January 2025, a single inspection produced 10 high-severity and four intermediate violations. A follow-up nine days later found three high-severity violations. By December 2025, the location was back to five high-severity citations in one visit.
The two inspections in December 2023 produced seven high-severity violations in one visit and three in another. The facility has accumulated 254 documented violations across 26 inspections. That is an average of nearly 10 violations per inspection.
What the record does not show is a single emergency closure. The June 10 visit, the third inspection in 15 days and the eighth in roughly 18 months to produce five or more high-severity violations, ended the same way every prior inspection ended.
The restaurant remained open.