JACKSONVILLE, FL. Inspectors visiting La Nueva Nota on Southside Boulevard this week documented eight distinct high-severity violations in a single visit, including food not cooked to required minimum temperatures and food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, findings that place the restaurant among the most cited in Duval County this week.
Fifteen Jacksonville restaurants drew high-severity violations between August 21 and August 27, 2026. Two of them never made it through that first morning.
Two Restaurants Closed on the Same Day
Cocos El Memo 5431 on Arlington Road was ordered shut August 21 after inspectors documented sewage leaks on the premises. Panera Bread #776 on Roosevelt Boulevard was also closed that same morning, after inspectors found fly activity inside the restaurant. Both closures were ordered on the same day, August 21.
The Violations
La Nueva Nota and Tsunami Red Bowl on Bartram Park Boulevard each drew 11 high-severity violations, the highest totals of any facility inspected this week. La Nueva Nota's violations included employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing by food workers, improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and food not cooked to required minimum temperatures. The restaurant also had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods.
Tsunami Red Bowl's 11 high-severity citations included a finding inspectors don't encounter at every restaurant: food from an unapproved or unknown source. The location also had no person in charge present or performing duties, no employee health policy, inadequate handwashing facilities, and improper use of time as a public health control.
Cuban Pizzeria on University Boulevard South reached 10 high-severity violations with two that stand apart from the week's more common citations. Inspectors found food contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards, and documented inadequate parasite destruction procedures, a violation that applies when fish, pork, or other proteins have not been properly frozen or cooked to kill parasites before being served. The restaurant also lacked shellfish traceability records.
Bono's BBQ on Bowden Road drew 10 high-severity violations including food from an unapproved source, inadequate shellfish records, and parasite destruction failures, the same combination Cuban Pizzeria produced. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and inspectors found improper use of time as a public health control.
Seoritas Mexican Kitchen on Bowden Road, also at 10 high-severity violations, had no person in charge present, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing by food workers, improper handwashing technique, food from an unapproved source, inadequate shellfish records, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Taco Way on Parental Home Road produced nine high-severity and six intermediate violations, the highest intermediate count of any facility this week. The intermediate violations indicate systemic gaps in food safety knowledge and recordkeeping beyond the acute high-severity findings.
Spice Grill Indian Cuisine on Bartram Park Boulevard was cited for food not cooked to required minimum temperatures and for having no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, alongside improper time control and unclean food contact surfaces. The restaurant had no employee health policy and no mechanism for employees to report illness symptoms.
Waffle House #2083 on Lem Turner Road drew nine high-severity violations including toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, food from an unapproved source, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items. Improperly stored chemicals near food create a contamination risk that is separate from and more immediately dangerous than most temperature violations.
Bamboo Wok on Old St. Augustine Road was cited for nine high-severity violations including no allergen awareness demonstrated, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, no person in charge, and improper use of time as a public health control. No intermediate violations accompanied those nine high-severity findings.
Pupuseria Y Restaurante Maria on University Boulevard South drew eight high-severity violations including food contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards and food in poor condition, alongside the full cluster of handwashing failures and no employee health policy.
Sake Sushi on Philips Highway was cited for eight high-severity violations including food from an unapproved source, no allergen awareness demonstrated, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, inadequate handwashing facilities, and food contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards.
Cajun Crab on Commerce Center Drive drew eight high-severity violations including two separate chemical storage violations: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. The restaurant also had no person in charge present, inadequate handwashing facilities, and inadequate shellfish traceability records.
Rosalia's Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria on Old St. Augustine Road produced eight high-severity violations including food from an unapproved source, food contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no person in charge.
Bono's Pit BBQ on Beach Boulevard drew eight high-severity violations including two chemical storage violations and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items. The two Bono's locations, on Bowden Road and Beach Boulevard, are separate facilities and each accumulated double-digit or near-double-digit high-severity citations this week.
Pepes Hacienda and Restaurant on Merrill Road rounded out the week with eight high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved source, no person in charge, inadequate shellfish records, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
What These Violations Mean
The most pervasive finding across this week's inspections was the cluster of employee illness reporting and handwashing failures. At La Nueva Nota, Seoritas Mexican Kitchen, Taco Way, and nine other facilities, inspectors found no written employee health policy and no mechanism for workers to report illness symptoms. These two violations work together: without a policy, sick workers have no formal obligation to stay home, and without reporting, a symptomatic employee can transmit Norovirus to dozens of customers before anyone knows there is a problem.
Handwashing failures appeared in two distinct forms this week. At Sake Sushi and Cajun Crab, inspectors found inadequate handwashing facilities, meaning the physical infrastructure for proper hand hygiene was absent or non-functional. At La Nueva Nota, Cuban Pizzeria, Seoritas Mexican Kitchen, Taco Way, and others, the violation was technique: employees attempted to wash their hands but did so improperly. Studies show that improper technique leaves the same pathogen load on hands as no washing at all.
Food from unapproved sources, documented at Tsunami Red Bowl, Bono's BBQ on Bowden Road, Sake Sushi, Rosalia's, and Pepes Hacienda, is a traceability problem as much as a safety problem. When food bypasses USDA or FDA inspection channels, there is no supply chain record to consult if customers report illness. An outbreak traced to an uninspected ingredient becomes exponentially harder to contain.
The parasite destruction failures at Cuban Pizzeria and Bono's BBQ on Bowden Road are among the most specific and least understood violations in food service. Proper parasite destruction requires fish and certain other proteins to be held at specific freezing temperatures for defined time periods before service. When that step is skipped, parasites including Anisakis in fish and Trichinella in pork remain viable and can infect customers.
The Longer Record
Seoritas Mexican Kitchen carries 39 prior inspections on record, the highest count of any facility in this week's roundup, and still drew 10 high-severity violations. Taco Way, with 34 prior inspections, produced nine high-severity and six intermediate violations. Spice Grill and Rosalia's each have 32 prior inspections on record. Across all four of those restaurants, the violations this week include the same foundational failures: no employee health policy, improper handwashing, and unclean food contact surfaces.
Tsunami Red Bowl has 29 prior inspections, Cuban Pizzeria 28, and La Nueva Nota 26. All three produced 10 or 11 high-severity violations this week, among the highest totals in the city. The inspection counts indicate these are not new businesses encountering their first regulatory scrutiny.
Pupuseria Y Restaurante Maria, with 13 prior inspections, and Cajun Crab, with 22, are on the shorter end of the history spectrum. Cajun Crab's two separate chemical storage violations at 22 inspections in suggest those failures are not being caught and corrected between visits.
Pepes Hacienda and Restaurant on Merrill Road has only three prior inspections on record, making it the newest facility in this week's group. Its eight high-severity violations in what appears to be an early inspection, including food from an unapproved source and no person in charge, represent a pattern of foundational failures at a location that has barely been in the system long enough to establish a compliance record.
