NAPLES, FL. A state inspector walked into Limon on 12th Street South on April 27, 2026, and found food being served from unapproved or unknown sources, a violation that means there is no way to trace where that food came from if a customer gets sick.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented during the visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector also cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock identification and records. Limon's name suggests a menu that likely includes seafood, and shellfish, specifically oysters, clams, and mussels, require tag records that allow health officials to trace a contaminated batch back to its harvest bed. Those records were not in order.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, a finding that puts every plate, cutting board, and prep surface in question. And food was not cooked to required minimum temperatures, meaning customers may have received undercooked protein.
Two more violations rounded out the six: inadequate handwashing facilities and no written employee health policy. Those two findings together describe a kitchen where sick workers have no formal guidance to stay home, and where the infrastructure to wash hands properly was not in place.
Zero intermediate violations were cited. Every single violation recorded that day was high-severity.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved sources is not a paperwork problem. When food bypasses USDA or FDA inspection pathways, there is no guarantee it was handled, stored, or transported safely at any prior stage. If a customer became ill after eating at Limon that day, investigators would have no verified supply chain to trace.
The shellfish traceability violation compounds that risk. Oysters, clams, and mussels are consumed raw or barely cooked, and they are among the highest-risk foods for Vibrio and Norovirus contamination. State rules require shellfish tags to remain on file for 90 days precisely because illnesses from raw shellfish can take days or weeks to surface and cluster. Without those records, a foodborne illness outbreak linked to Limon's shellfish would be nearly impossible to investigate.
Undercooking is one of the most direct routes to foodborne illness. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. A customer who received undercooked food on April 27 had no way of knowing it.
The handwashing and health policy violations are systemic, not incidental. Without functioning handwashing infrastructure, proper hygiene cannot happen regardless of intent. Without a written employee health policy, a worker who comes in with Norovirus has no documented obligation to report symptoms or stay home. Norovirus is responsible for roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and food workers are a primary transmission route.
The Longer Record
April 27, 2026, was not Limon's first difficult inspection. State records show the restaurant has been inspected eight times total, accumulating 36 violations across that history.
The pattern is consistent. In April 2024, inspectors cited eight high-severity violations in a single visit, the worst single-day tally in the restaurant's record. That was followed by four high-severity violations in June 2024, three high-severity violations in January 2025, and four more in April 2025. There has not been a clean inspection in the record, though one April 2025 follow-up visit showed zero violations, suggesting the restaurant can meet standards when re-inspected under pressure.
The April 2026 visit, with six high-severity violations and zero intermediate ones, is the second-worst single inspection in Limon's documented history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
What the record shows is not a facility that had one bad day. It is a facility that has produced high-severity violations at nearly every inspection across roughly two and a half years, in categories that overlap repeatedly: food safety sourcing, temperature control, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure.
Open for Business
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when a facility poses an immediate threat to public health. Six high-severity violations, including unapproved food sources, inadequate shellfish records, undercooked food, and unsanitary food contact surfaces, did not meet that threshold on April 27.
Limon remained open after the inspection.
Calls to the restaurant were not returned.