JACKSONVILLE, FL. State inspectors emergency-closed Bo Sushi on Old St. Augustine Road on April 28 for roach activity, the same day a sweep of Duval County restaurants turned up high-severity violations at 14 other facilities, including two locations that each drew nine high-priority citations in a single visit.
The closure at Bo Sushi came despite the restaurant carrying 33 prior inspections on record, making it one of the most-inspected facilities cited this week. A single high-severity violation, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, accompanied the roach finding that triggered the shutdown.
The Week's Worst Findings
Pour Taproom on North Laura Street in downtown Jacksonville tied for the most high-severity violations this week with nine, alongside five intermediate citations. Inspectors cited the taproom for having no person in charge present or performing duties, no employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, inadequate shell stock identification, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
Pour Taproom has only three prior inspections on record, making this week's nine-violation haul a significant early signal.
Poke Cafe on Old Saint Augustine Road matched that count with nine high-severity violations of its own. The citations included food from an unapproved or unknown source, food in poor condition or adulterated, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, time as a public health control not properly used, and toxic chemicals improperly stored.
The food sourcing violation at Poke Cafe is among the most serious documented this week. Food from unapproved sources bypasses federal inspection, and if a contamination event occurs, there is no supply chain record to trace it.
Fancy Sushi on Collins Road drew eight high-severity citations. Inspectors found no person in charge, no employee health policy, an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, inadequate handwashing facilities, inadequate shell stock identification, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. The parasite destruction failure is a direct concern at a raw fish operation, where proper freezing protocols are the primary barrier against parasites reaching customers.
Pig Seafood on Lem Turner Road generated seven high-severity and five intermediate violations, including a citation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal. Inspectors also found no employee health policy, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from an unapproved or unknown source, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, toxic substances improperly stored, and no allergen awareness demonstrated.
The sewage citation at Pig Seafood is the kind of violation that elevates everything around it. Improper wastewater disposal creates fecal contamination risk throughout a facility, compounding the handwashing failures found in the same inspection.
River Club at 1 Independent Drive drew seven high-severity violations including two separate chemical storage citations, one for toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled and one for toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Inspectors also cited the downtown venue for no person in charge, no employee health policy, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and time as a public health control not properly used.
Jax Spice on Gate Parkway also reached seven high-severity violations. Inspectors cited the restaurant for no person in charge, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, time as a public health control not properly used, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic substances improperly stored.
Big Crab on Point Meadows Drive had six high-severity violations concentrated almost entirely on hand hygiene, with citations for inadequate handwashing by food employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, and improper handwashing technique all appearing in the same inspection alongside an employee not reporting illness symptoms. Inspectors also noted inadequate cooling or cold holding equipment among the four intermediate violations.
D and G Deli and Grill on East Bay Street drew six high-severity violations including inadequate shell stock identification, improper handwashing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, time as a public health control not properly used, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. An intermediate citation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal appeared alongside two others.
More Violations Across the City
Bay Street Sports Grill on East Bay Street, two blocks from D and G Deli, drew five high-severity violations including food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shell stock identification, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. An intermediate citation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal also appeared in that inspection.
Chow Down Alley on St. Augustine Road was cited for five high-severity violations including food in poor condition or adulterated, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored.
Fast Eddy's Quick Mideast on Baymeadows Road had five high-severity violations: no person in charge, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate shell stock identification, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Inadequate toilet facilities appeared among the intermediate citations.
Bassil's on Argyle Forest Boulevard drew five high-severity violations with no intermediate citations. Inspectors found an employee not reporting illness symptoms, food from an unapproved or unknown source, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and toxic chemicals improperly stored.
New China on Argyle Forest Boulevard, less than half a mile from Bassil's, had four high-severity violations including an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and toxic chemicals improperly stored.
Broskii Fish and Chicken on Lem Turner Road drew a single high-severity violation for required procedures for specialized processes not followed, a citation that applies to operations like smoking, curing, or reduced-oxygen packaging that require precise protocol controls.
What These Violations Mean
Three of the most frequently cited violations this week, improper handwashing technique, inadequate handwashing facilities, and employees not reporting illness symptoms, form a direct transmission chain from infected workers to customers. At Big Crab, all three handwashing failure types appeared in the same inspection. At Fancy Sushi and Jax Spice, inspectors found both an employee not reporting illness symptoms and separate handwashing failures. When a sick employee cannot properly clean their hands, every surface and plate they touch becomes a potential vehicle for norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year.
The food sourcing violations at Poke Cafe, Pig Seafood, and Bassil's carry a specific traceability risk. Food that enters a kitchen from an unapproved or unknown source has no federal inspection record attached to it. If a customer becomes ill, investigators have no supply chain to trace. That absence of documentation is not a paperwork problem; it is the difference between identifying a contamination source quickly and not finding it at all.
Parasite destruction failures at Fancy Sushi, River Club, Chow Down Alley, and Bassil's are particularly acute at raw fish operations. Without proper freezing protocols, parasites including Anisakis can survive in fish served to customers. The violation does not mean parasites were present. It means the procedure designed to kill them was not being followed.
The dual chemical storage citations at River Club, one for improperly stored chemicals and one for improperly identified toxic substances, represent two separate failure modes in the same kitchen. Improperly labeled chemicals near food can cause acute poisoning through mislabeling alone, before any question of proximity to food surfaces arises.
The Longer Record
Bay Street Sports Grill and Bo Sushi both carry 33 prior inspections on record, the highest count among facilities cited this week. Bo Sushi's emergency closure on April 28 came despite that inspection history. D and G Deli and Grill has 28 prior inspections and drew six high-severity violations this week, including sewage disposal and shell stock failures. Pig Seafood has 31 prior inspections and still drew seven high-severity citations, including the sewage violation and the food sourcing failure.
Broskii Fish and Chicken carries 27 prior inspections. Big Crab also has 27. Both have been inspected extensively, yet Big Crab drew six high-severity violations this week concentrated on hand hygiene failures that are among the most basic requirements in food service.
Pour Taproom stands apart from the rest of this list. With only three prior inspections on record, it produced the week's joint-highest high-severity violation count. Nine citations at a location that has barely been inspected does not allow for a pattern comparison, but it does raise an early question about what subsequent inspections will find.
Fancy Sushi has 24 prior inspections and this week produced eight high-severity violations including the parasite destruction failure and the missing employee health policy. A facility with two dozen inspections behind it that still lacks a written policy for keeping sick workers out of the kitchen has not addressed a foundational requirement across years of regulatory contact.