WESTON, FL. A state inspector walked into Katana Cocina Nikkei on Weston Road on June 9 and found that the Japanese-Peruvian fusion restaurant was not following parasite destruction procedures for its raw fish, a violation that means customers eating ceviche, sashimi, or any other undercooked fish dish had no documented assurance that parasites had been killed before the plate reached the table.
That was one of six high-severity violations cited that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction violation and the missing consumer advisory landed together, a combination that compounds the risk. Katana Cocina Nikkei's menu centers on raw and lightly prepared fish. Without documented freezing protocols and without a posted advisory telling customers that raw or undercooked items carry inherent risk, diners had no way to make an informed choice.
Inspectors also found that employees were not reporting symptoms of illness, and that the restaurant had no written employee health policy at all. Those two violations were cited on the same day, at the same facility.
The handwashing violation added a third direct transmission route. An inspector observed improper hand and arm washing technique, meaning pathogens can remain on a food worker's hands even after a wash attempt. That violation, combined with no illness reporting and no health policy, describes a kitchen where the basic barriers between a sick worker and a customer's food were not in place.
The person in charge was either absent or not performing supervisory duties. That is the condition that allows the other five violations to exist simultaneously.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction violation is specific to restaurants that serve raw fish, and Katana Cocina Nikkei is exactly that kind of restaurant. Parasites including Anisakis, a roundworm found in marine fish, and tapeworm larvae survive in raw or improperly handled seafood. Proper freezing at regulated temperatures for a required duration kills them. Without documentation that those procedures were followed, there is no way to verify the fish served was safe.
The consumer advisory requirement exists precisely because some customers, including pregnant women, elderly diners, and people with compromised immune systems, face acute danger from raw fish that others might tolerate. Without that advisory on the menu, those customers cannot protect themselves.
The illness-reporting and health-policy violations are a paired failure. Norovirus is responsible for roughly 20 million infections in the United States each year, and food workers are a primary transmission vector. A written health policy tells employees when to stay home and what symptoms to report. Without one, a worker with vomiting or diarrhea has no formal instruction to leave the kitchen.
Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils, the single intermediate violation, carry their own risk. Bacterial biofilms form on inadequately sanitized surfaces within 24 hours. Those biofilms are resistant to standard cleaning and can transfer pathogens to every dish the utensil touches.
The Longer Record
The June 9 inspection was not an outlier. State records show Katana Cocina Nikkei has been inspected 28 times and has accumulated 227 violations in total. The pattern of high-severity violations is consistent across multiple years.
In November 2024, an inspection found nine high-severity violations and three intermediate ones. A follow-up the following week, on November 15, found one high-severity violation remaining. In February 2026, seven high-severity violations and two intermediate ones were documented. The April 2026 inspection, two months before the June visit, found one high-severity violation.
The June inspection brought the count back to six high-severity violations, a level the restaurant has reached or exceeded at least three times in the past two years alone.
The parasite destruction and consumer advisory violations are not administrative paperwork failures. At a restaurant whose identity is built around raw fish preparations, those are the violations most directly connected to what is being served to customers. They appeared on June 9, 2026, at a restaurant with 28 inspections and 227 violations on record.
The Facility Remained Open
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when violations pose an immediate threat to public health. That did not happen on June 9 at Katana Cocina Nikkei.
Six high-severity violations were documented. No closure order was issued. The restaurant continued serving customers, including raw fish dishes, under conditions an inspector had just flagged as dangerous.
The record now shows 227 violations across 28 inspections, no emergency closures, and a June 2026 visit that found the same categories of failures that have appeared in this kitchen before.