NEW PORT RICHEY, FL. State inspectors visiting Leaning Tower of Pizza at 5205 Grand Blvd. on September 14, 2026 found food coming from unapproved or unknown sources, an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food. The restaurant was not closed.
The inspection logged nine high-severity violations and three intermediate violations in a single visit. That tally is the worst single-day record the Pasco County pizza shop has produced in the eight prior inspections documented in state records.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most serious on the list. Inspectors cited the restaurant for receiving food from an unapproved or unknown source, meaning at least some ingredients arrived outside the regulated supply chain that the USDA and FDA use to trace contamination. The shell stock identification violation compounds that concern: without proper tagging records for shellfish like oysters, clams, or mussels, there is no way to trace the origin of those products if a customer gets sick.
The employee illness reporting violation is a separate and direct danger. An employee present that day had not reported symptoms of illness to management, which is the mechanism the state uses to pull sick workers off food preparation before an outbreak begins.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food. That violation carries the risk of acute poisoning through mislabeling or direct contamination of food items.
The person in charge was either absent or not performing required oversight duties. That finding, combined with employees not washing their hands properly and food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, describes a kitchen operating without meaningful supervision on the day of the inspection.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved sources is not a paperwork problem. When ingredients enter a kitchen outside the licensed supply chain, there is no traceability if a customer develops a foodborne illness. Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli contamination discovered in a regulated facility can be traced to a specific farm or processor within hours. Food from an unknown source cannot be traced at all.
The employee illness violation is the one public health officials consistently identify as the leading cause of multi-victim outbreaks. Norovirus and hepatitis A spread directly from an infected food handler to every dish that person touches. The reporting requirement exists precisely to interrupt that chain before customers are affected.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, combined with improperly used wiping cloths, create conditions where bacteria transfer from raw ingredients to finished food. Wiping cloths that are not stored in sanitizer solution between uses become vectors, spreading whatever contamination they picked up across every surface they touch.
The absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods is a specific risk for elderly customers, pregnant women, and anyone with a compromised immune system. Those customers cannot make an informed choice about whether to order a dish served rare or raw if the menu does not tell them the option exists.
The Longer Record
The September 14 inspection is not an isolated event. State records show 29 total inspections at Leaning Tower of Pizza, with 214 total violations accumulated across that history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The prior eight inspections document a facility that has cycled through high-severity violations without sustained correction. Inspectors found five high-severity violations on May 5, 2025, followed one day later by one more on May 6. Four high-severity violations were documented on December 16, 2025. The September 14, 2026 inspection, with nine high-severity citations, is the steepest single-visit count in recent records.
The follow-up inspection on September 15, 2026, one day after the nine-violation visit, showed one remaining high-severity violation. That callback finding confirms that at least some corrections were made quickly. Whether those corrections hold has been the central question for this location across years of documented inspections.
Open for Business
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when inspectors determine that conditions pose an immediate threat to public health serious enough to require shutting the facility on the spot. Nine high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved source, an employee not reporting illness, and toxic chemicals stored near food, did not meet that threshold on September 14.
The restaurant served customers that day.
