JACKSONVILLE, FL. State inspectors emergency-closed Bo Sushi on Old St. Augustine Road on April 28 for roach activity, one of 15 Jacksonville restaurants that drew high-severity health violations during the week of April 27 through May 3, 2026.
Bo Sushi's closure came on a single high-severity citation: food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. The roach activity that triggered the shutdown means those contaminated surfaces were not an isolated problem. The restaurant has 33 prior inspections on record.
The Violations
The week's two most-cited restaurants share a street address. Pizza Dynamo at 61A N. Laura Street and Pour Taproom at 61 N. Laura Street drew 10 and 9 high-severity violations respectively, and both were cited for absent or non-functioning management, inadequate employee health policies, improper handwashing technique, food cooked to insufficient temperatures, and improperly stored toxic chemicals.
Pizza Dynamo's citation list also included food from an unapproved or unknown source, food in poor condition or adulterated, inadequate shell stock identification, and failure to follow parasite destruction procedures. That combination, food of unverified origin served without proper parasite controls, is among the most acute combinations an inspector can document at a restaurant that handles seafood.
Southern Grounds on Atlantic Boulevard matched Pizza Dynamo's 10 high-severity total. Inspectors cited the restaurant for an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, food from an unapproved source, inadequate shell stock records, food cooked below minimum required temperature, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
Poke Cafe on Old Saint Augustine Road drew 9 high-severity violations, including inadequate handwashing facilities, food from an unapproved source, food in poor condition, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to required temperature, time as a public health control not properly used, and toxic chemicals improperly stored.
Hip Hop Fish and Chicken on N. Main Street was cited for 8 high-severity violations, including no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, food from an unapproved source, food in poor condition, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw foods, and improperly stored toxic chemicals.
Fancy Sushi on Collins Road also drew 8 high-severity violations. The inspector found no person in charge, no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness, inadequate handwashing facilities, inadequate shell stock identification, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and improperly stored chemicals.
Pig Seafood on Lem Turner Road was cited for 7 high-severity violations, including no employee health policy, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from an unapproved source, no consumer advisory, improperly identified or stored toxic substances, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. The intermediate violations at Pig Seafood included improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
Jax Spice on Gate Parkway drew 7 high-severity violations, including no person in charge, an employee not reporting illness, improper handwashing, food not cooked to minimum temperature, time as a public health control not properly used, no consumer advisory, and improperly identified toxic substances.
Big Crab on Point Meadows Drive was cited for 6 high-severity violations, all centered on hand hygiene: inadequate handwashing by food employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, and improper handwashing technique were all documented in the same inspection, alongside absent management, an employee not reporting illness, and no consumer advisory.
Bay Street Sports Grill on E. Bay Street drew 5 high-severity violations including food from an unapproved source, inadequate shell stock records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory, and improperly stored toxic chemicals. Intermediate violations included improper sewage or wastewater disposal, improper sanitizing procedures, and single-use items being reused.
The Ramada by Wyndham Jacksonville Hotel and Conference Center on Hartley Road drew 5 high-severity violations, including no employee health policy, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, food not cooked to required temperature, no consumer advisory, and no allergen awareness. Intermediate violations included improper sewage disposal, single-use items reused, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
Chow Down Alley on St. Augustine Road was cited for 5 high-severity violations: food in poor condition, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, food not cooked to minimum temperature, no consumer advisory, and improperly stored toxic chemicals.
Hop Shing on N. Main Street drew 5 high-severity violations including an employee not reporting illness, improper handwashing technique, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory, and improperly stored toxic chemicals.
Broskii Fish and Chicken on Lem Turner Road was cited for one high-severity violation: required procedures for specialized processes not followed. That single citation covers smoking, curing, fermenting, or reduced-oxygen packaging, processes that require precise controls to prevent the growth of pathogens like Clostridium botulinum.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved or unknown sources appeared at Pizza Dynamo, Southern Grounds, Poke Cafe, Hip Hop Fish and Chicken, Pig Seafood, and Bay Street Sports Grill. The problem is not just quality. When food enters a restaurant through an uninspected channel, there is no traceable supply chain if customers get sick. Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli can survive in food that looks and smells normal, and without documented sourcing, investigators have no way to identify the origin of an outbreak.
Parasite destruction failures at Pizza Dynamo, Fancy Sushi, and Chow Down Alley carry a specific and underappreciated risk. Restaurants that serve raw or undercooked fish are required to freeze product to specific temperatures for specific durations before serving it. When that step is skipped, parasites including Anisakis, which causes a condition that mimics appendicitis, can survive in the fish and infect customers.
Employees not reporting illness symptoms were documented at Southern Grounds, Hip Hop Fish and Chicken, Fancy Sushi, Jax Spice, Big Crab, and Hop Shing. Norovirus, which causes the majority of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads through exactly this pathway: a sick worker handles food, contaminates surfaces, and dozens of customers fall ill before anyone connects the cases. A written health policy that requires employees to report symptoms and stay home is the primary barrier against that chain of events.
Improper sewage or wastewater disposal, cited at Pig Seafood and Bay Street Sports Grill as an intermediate violation, and at the Ramada as well, introduces fecal contamination risk throughout a facility. Raw sewage carries E. coli, Hepatitis A, and Norovirus. In a food preparation environment, a single wastewater leak can contaminate surfaces, equipment, and food that appears completely normal.
The Longer Record
The Ramada by Wyndham Jacksonville has 47 prior inspections on record, the highest count of any facility in this week's data, and this week's findings still included food cooked below minimum temperature, no allergen awareness, and no consumer advisory. Hip Hop Fish and Chicken has 34 prior inspections on record and drew 8 high-severity violations this week, including food from an unapproved source and an employee not reporting illness.
Bay Street Sports Grill and Bo Sushi each have 33 prior inspections on record. Bo Sushi's roach-triggered closure on April 28 came despite that lengthy inspection history. Pig Seafood has 31 prior inspections and was cited this week for improper sewage disposal alongside 7 high-severity violations.
Hop Shing has 30 prior inspections on record, the same count as Southern Grounds. Southern Grounds drew 10 high-severity violations this week, including toxic chemicals improperly stored and food cooked below required temperature.
Pour Taproom and Pizza Dynamo, the two Laura Street addresses that together drew 19 high-severity violations this week, are among the newest locations in this data. Pour Taproom has only 3 prior inspections on record. Pizza Dynamo has 6. Both were already accumulating violations across food sourcing, management, temperature, and chemical storage in the same inspection week.
The Longer Record: What Remains Open
Bo Sushi's inspection record shows 33 prior visits before the roach closure on April 28. Whether those prior inspections documented conditions that foreshadowed this week's closure is a question the records do not answer here.