JACKSONVILLE, FL. Back in April 2026, state inspectors walked into Hurricane Grill and Wings on Hendricks Avenue and found food that had been contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards sitting in the facility. That single violation, one of nine high-severity citations recorded on April 13, puts the question bluntly: what exactly were customers eating?
The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The April 13 inspection produced 9 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate citations, a total of 13 documented problems across some of the most consequential categories in food safety.
Beyond the contaminated food, inspectors cited the restaurant for failing to follow parasite destruction procedures. The facility also drew a high-severity citation for food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, and a separate citation for toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food.
Inspectors also found inadequate handwashing facilities, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, no written employee health policy, inadequate shell stock identification records, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items.
On the intermediate side, inspectors documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal, single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and improperly maintained toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The contaminated food citation is the one that most directly describes a customer hazard. When food is adulterated by chemicals, physical debris, or biological contamination, there is no safe way to serve it. Cleaners and sanitizers, if they reach food, can cause acute poisoning. Physical hazards like glass or metal fragments cause injury. Biological contamination means pathogens are already present before the food reaches a plate.
The parasite destruction failure is specific to fish and shellfish. Parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm survive in raw or undercooked seafood unless the fish has been frozen to a required temperature for a required period of time. Hurricane Grill and Wings serves fish dishes. Without documented parasite destruction procedures, there is no verification that those steps were taken.
The undercooking violation compounds the parasite concern. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. At a restaurant already cited for not following parasite controls, a separate finding that food was not reaching minimum cook temperatures describes a kitchen where multiple thermal safety steps were failing at the same time.
The toxic chemical storage violation adds a third vector. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food create a direct contamination pathway. Combined with the food adulteration citation, the April inspection documented at least two separate routes by which harmful substances could have reached customer food.
The Longer Record
The April 2026 inspection did not represent a new low for this location. It represented a continuation of a pattern that state records have been documenting for years.
Over 26 inspections on record, the Hendricks Avenue location has accumulated 294 total violations. The most recent six inspections before April 2026 each produced between 8 and 12 high-severity citations. The October 2025 inspection found 10 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate. The April 2025 inspection found 11 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate. The November 2024 inspection found 8 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate.
The one break in the pattern came in July 2022, when inspectors recorded zero high-severity violations and zero intermediate violations. That inspection stands alone in the record. Every inspection since has returned to double-digit or near-double-digit high-severity counts.
The facility has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history. Not after 12 high-severity violations in May 2024. Not after 11 in April 2025. Not after 9 in December 2023, 9 in June 2023, or 9 again in April 2026.
Still Open
State inspectors left the restaurant on April 13, 2026 with 9 high-severity violations on the books, including documented food contamination, a parasite control failure, undercooking, and toxic chemicals stored near food.
The restaurant remained open.
In the two and a half years before that April visit, inspectors had found high-severity violations on every single return trip. The cumulative record across 26 inspections now stands at 294 violations total, with no emergency closure ever ordered.
The doors were open the day after the inspection, too.