WILDWOOD, FL. A state inspector walked into Los Tres Magueyes Mexican Restaurant at 344-346 Shopping Center Drive on April 28 and documented nine high-severity violations, including food sourced from unapproved suppliers, toxic chemicals stored improperly near food, and employees not reporting illness symptoms. The restaurant was not closed.
That outcome, nine high-priority citations in a single visit with no emergency closure order, sits against a record that includes 709 total violations across 49 inspections and two prior emergency shutdowns for roach activity.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most serious documented. Food from unapproved or unknown suppliers has not passed USDA or FDA inspection checkpoints, meaning there is no verified safety record and no traceability if a customer becomes ill.
The toxic chemical citations compounded the picture. Two separate high-severity violations covered improperly stored or labeled chemicals and improperly identified toxic substances, both categories that create direct contamination risk when chemicals are kept near food preparation areas.
Inspectors also cited employees for not reporting illness symptoms, a violation that state records flag as a primary driver of multi-victim outbreaks. Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States, spreads readily through food handled by symptomatic workers who remain on the line.
The remaining high-severity violations covered improper handwashing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, misuse of time as a public health control, no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items, and inadequate shellfish traceability records. The two intermediate violations involved multi-use utensils not properly cleaned and inadequate toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The unapproved food source violation means that some ingredient or product served at Los Tres Magueyes on or before April 28 entered the kitchen without passing through a licensed, inspected supplier. If a customer became ill, investigators would have no supply chain record to trace. That gap is not a paperwork problem; it is the reason outbreaks sometimes go unsolved for weeks.
The dual toxic chemical violations carry a different and more immediate risk. When cleaning agents, sanitizers, or pesticides are stored without proper labeling or placed near food and food-contact surfaces, the contamination pathway is direct. A mislabeled container used in food preparation does not produce symptoms that look different from food poisoning until a clinician runs specific tests.
The shellfish traceability failure matters because oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently consumed raw or lightly cooked. State law requires shell stock tags to be retained so that a specific harvest lot can be pulled if illness is reported. Without those records, a contaminated batch cannot be identified and removed.
The employee illness reporting violation and the improper handwashing citation together describe a kitchen where the two most basic barriers against pathogen transmission were not in place on the same day.
The Longer Record
The April 28 inspection did not arrive in a vacuum. The restaurant's 49 inspections on record have produced 709 total violations, a volume that works out to roughly 14 violations per inspection on average across its history.
The pattern in recent months is not improving. The March 2, 2026 inspection found four high-severity violations and one intermediate. Before that, the February 6, 2025 visit produced eight high-severity violations and two intermediate ones, a figure close to April's nine. February 10 and February 11 of 2025 added four more high-severity violations across two additional visits.
The restaurant has been emergency-closed twice. On May 22, 2025, inspectors ordered it shut for roach activity; it reopened the following day. In May 2022, a closure for roach and fly activity lasted two days. Both times, the facility cleared re-inspection quickly enough to reopen within 48 hours.
The two inspections that followed the May 2025 closure, on May 23 and June 2 of last year, showed zero high-severity violations. That result lasted until February 2025, when high-severity citations resumed across three inspections in six days.
Still Open
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Roach activity triggered that order twice at this address.
Nine high-severity violations on April 28, including unapproved food sources, two toxic chemical citations, and an employee illness reporting failure, did not.
Los Tres Magueyes was open for business after the inspection concluded.