JACKSONVILLE, FL. Inspectors visiting Hibachi Express on University Boulevard West on May 21, 2026 found that the restaurant was serving food from unapproved or unknown sources, a violation that means inspectors cannot trace where that food came from, what safety checks it passed, or who to contact if customers get sick.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented in a single inspection. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for inadequate handwashing by food employees. That violation was accompanied by a finding that food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that touch food directly, had not been properly cleaned or sanitized.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food. That was a fifth high-severity citation, on top of a finding that the restaurant was not properly using time as a public health control, a specific protocol that governs how long food can sit in the temperature danger zone before it must be discarded.
The sixth high-severity violation involved shellfish. Inspectors cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock identification and records, meaning there was no documentation to trace where shellfish on the premises had come from.
One intermediate violation rounded out the inspection: equipment in poor repair or condition.
What These Violations Mean
The unapproved food source violation is the one that most directly strips away any safety net. When food enters a restaurant through channels that bypass USDA or FDA inspection, there is no record of where it was processed, how it was handled, or whether it was tested for pathogens like Listeria or Salmonella. If a customer gets sick, investigators have nowhere to start.
The shellfish traceability violation compounds that risk. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently consumed raw or lightly cooked, which means any contamination present at harvest survives to the plate. Shell stock tags are required precisely because shellfish-related illness outbreaks, including those linked to Vibrio and norovirus, require rapid source identification to prevent wider harm. At Hibachi Express on May 21, those records were inadequate.
The handwashing and unsanitized food contact surface violations work together. Employees who do not wash their hands properly, and then work on surfaces that are not sanitized, create a continuous contamination loop across every dish prepared during that shift. The risk is not theoretical; it is the documented mechanism behind the majority of restaurant-linked foodborne illness outbreaks.
Improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals near food carry a different category of risk: acute chemical poisoning. A mislabeled container, or a chemical stored above or beside food, can contaminate an entire prep area without anyone noticing until customers are already ill.
The Longer Record
The May 2026 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Hibachi Express has been inspected 23 times and has accumulated 161 total violations across that history.
Hibachi Express: Recent Inspection Pattern
Of the eight most recent inspections with violations on record, six produced four or more high-severity citations. The restaurant passed two inspections, in September 2024 and January 2024, with zero high or intermediate violations. But those clean inspections sit between stretches of serious findings, not at the end of one.
The restaurant was emergency-closed once before, on July 1, 2020, for roach activity. It reopened the same day. The pattern since then has not been one of sustained improvement.
The August 2025 inspection produced seven high-severity violations. The December 2025 inspection produced four. The May 2026 inspection produced six.
Still Open
State inspectors documented six high-severity violations at Hibachi Express on May 21, 2026, including food from an unverifiable source, toxic chemicals stored improperly near food, employees not washing their hands, and shellfish with no traceability records.
The restaurant was not emergency-closed.