TAMPA, FL. Back in April 2026, state inspectors walked into Hook Seafood & Chicken on N. Nebraska Avenue and found food on the premises that could not be traced to any approved or known source.
That single finding, logged as a high-severity violation on April 14, sits at the center of an inspection that produced six high-severity citations in total. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation means inspectors could not verify where some of the restaurant's food came from. At a seafood operation, that matters in a specific way: if a customer gets sick, there is no supply chain to trace.
Compounding that, inspectors also cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock identification and records. Hook Seafood & Chicken serves seafood, including shellfish, which are consumed raw or lightly cooked and carry an elevated risk of Vibrio, norovirus, and other pathogens. State law requires shellfish to arrive with tags identifying the harvest location and date, and operators must keep those tags on file. In April, those records were not in order.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled. At a food service operation, a mislabeled chemical stored near food prep areas is a direct poisoning vector, not a paperwork problem.
Inspectors also found food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and similar equipment that touches what customers eat, were not properly cleaned or sanitized. The restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, leaving customers with no notice that certain menu items carry inherent risk. And the handwashing violation was not about skipping the sink entirely: it was about technique, meaning employees were washing their hands but doing so incorrectly, leaving pathogens behind.
One intermediate violation rounded out the inspection. Multi-use utensils had not been properly cleaned, a condition that allows bacterial biofilms to build up on surfaces that are in contact with food at every service.
What These Violations Mean
The food sourcing violation is worth slowing down on. When food arrives from an unapproved or unknown source, it has bypassed USDA and FDA inspection protocols. That means no verification that it was handled at safe temperatures, no documentation of where it was processed, and no way to identify it in a traceback investigation if customers become ill. At a restaurant named for seafood, the stakes of that gap are not abstract.
The shellfish traceability violation operates on the same logic. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently eaten raw, and they filter large volumes of water during their lives, concentrating whatever pathogens or toxins were present. The tagging system exists precisely because shellfish poisoning outbreaks require rapid identification of the harvest bed. Without those records at Hook Seafood & Chicken in April, that chain was broken.
The chemical storage violation is a different category of risk. Improperly stored or unlabeled cleaning chemicals near food preparation areas can contaminate food directly, and mislabeled containers have historically been the source of acute poisoning incidents in food service settings. It is classified as high-severity for that reason.
The consumer advisory violation matters most for the restaurant's most vulnerable customers. Elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and people with compromised immune systems face significantly higher risk from raw or undercooked seafood. A posted advisory is the minimum required notice. In April, it was absent.
The Longer Record
The April 2026 inspection was the ninth on record for Hook Seafood & Chicken. Across those nine visits, inspectors have documented 98 total violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern across those inspections is consistent and specific. In April 2025, inspectors found 11 high-severity and 5 intermediate violations. In November 2025, the count was 7 high and 2 intermediate. In November 2024, it was again 7 high and 2 intermediate. In April 2024, inspectors logged 8 high and 4 intermediate violations. In December 2023, the tally was 6 high and 2 intermediate.
The only inspection in the record that produced zero high-severity violations was June 2023, the earliest visit on file.
Every subsequent inspection has produced at least one high-severity violation. The two inspections in June 2025 and June 2024 each produced one high and one intermediate violation, but the pattern on either side of those visits returned immediately to multi-violation counts in the high-severity category.
The April 2026 inspection, with its 6 high-severity findings, is not an anomaly in this record. It is consistent with what inspectors have found at this address across three years of visits.
Still Open
State inspectors documented unapproved food sources, missing shellfish records, improperly stored toxic chemicals, unsanitized food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw items, and flawed handwashing technique at Hook Seafood & Chicken on April 14, 2026.
The restaurant was not closed.