TAMPA, FL. An inspector visiting Lameizi Hot Pot & BBQ on East Fowler Avenue on May 5 found food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, a violation that puts every customer who ordered meat that day at direct risk of consuming live pathogens.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented at the restaurant. The facility was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector also cited the restaurant for inadequate handwashing facilities and for employees using improper hand and arm washing technique. Both violations appeared on the same inspection report, meaning the facility lacked the infrastructure for proper hygiene and the staff wasn't practicing it correctly even where infrastructure existed.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned, logged as an intermediate violation.
The restaurant also had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. At a hot pot and barbecue concept where customers cook their own meat at the table, that omission is particularly direct: customers who are pregnant, elderly, immunocompromised, or young have no posted warning that their food may not reach safe temperatures.
No person in charge was present or performing duties during the inspection.
What These Violations Mean
The cooking temperature violation is the most immediate danger. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and other pathogens in beef and pork require specific minimum temperatures to be destroyed. At a restaurant where the cooking method is the centerpiece of the dining experience, a failure to reach required temperatures is not a peripheral concern. It is the core transaction between the kitchen and the customer.
The handwashing failures compound that risk. Inadequate facilities means the physical infrastructure, soap, running water at the right temperature, a functioning sink, was not meeting standards. Improper technique means that even when employees attempted to wash their hands, the method left pathogens behind. Both violations present at once means contamination could move from surfaces to hands to food without interruption.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and multi-use utensils create a separate contamination pathway. Bacterial biofilms can develop on utensil surfaces within 24 hours of inadequate cleaning, and those biofilms resist standard sanitizing once established.
The absence of a person in charge is not a paperwork problem. CDC data shows establishments without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at roughly three times the rate of those with engaged management on site. Every other violation on this list is consistent with a kitchen operating without oversight.
The Longer Record
Lameizi Hot Pot & BBQ: Inspection History
The May 5 inspection is the tenth on record for Lameizi Hot Pot & BBQ. Across those ten inspections, state records show 103 total violations. Not one of those inspections resulted in an emergency closure.
The worst single visit on record was July 24, 2025, when inspectors documented 12 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate ones. Five days later, on July 29, inspectors returned and found 4 more high-severity violations. The restaurant has logged at least 4 high-priority violations in every single inspection on record.
The pattern is not a recent development. The two inspections in October and November 2023 found 8 and 6 high-severity violations respectively. The April 2024 inspection found 10. The March 2025 inspection found 9. There is no inspection in this facility's record that came back clean.
Still Open
The violations documented on May 5 are consistent with what inspectors have found at this address across two and a half years of visits. The cooking temperature failure, the handwashing failures, the absent manager, the unsanitized surfaces: all of them fit a pattern that state records trace back to at least October 2023.
Lameizi Hot Pot & BBQ was not closed after the May 5 inspection. As of the inspection date, it remained open for business.