MANATEE COUNTY, FL. Two restaurants each accumulated five high-severity violations during the week of April 18, and a third matched that count, making this one of the more concentrated weeks of serious food safety failures in Manatee County this year.
State inspectors visited 33 facilities across the county between April 18 and April 24, 2026, completing 37 inspections total. Twelve of those facilities drew two or more high-severity violations. No emergency closures were recorded, but the pattern of violations, ranging from untracked shellfish to improperly stored chemicals to employees working without illness reporting policies, showed systemic gaps at multiple locations.
The Week's Worst Findings
High-Severity Violations by Facility, April 18-24, 2026
Sunny Wok on SR 70 East led the county with five high-severity violations. Inspectors cited the restaurant for having no employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shell stock identification records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
Food+Beer on 53rd Avenue East also drew five high-severity violations, none of them minor. The list included employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate shell stock identification, food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, and two separate chemical storage violations covering both improperly stored chemicals and improperly identified toxic substances.
Eggtown on Boyett Road matched that count with five high-severity violations and added four intermediate violations on top. Inspectors found food from an unapproved or unknown source, employees not reporting illness symptoms, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and improperly stored toxic substances. The intermediate violations included improperly cleaned multi-use utensils, single-use items being reused, and improper use of wiping cloths.
Thai Wasabi on State Road 64 East drew four high-severity violations, including one that is particularly telling: no person in charge was present or performing duties during the inspection. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for employees not reporting illness symptoms, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
3 Keys Brewing Company on Manatee Avenue East accumulated four high-severity violations, including one that is rare in routine inspections: parasite destruction procedures not followed. That violation appeared alongside employees not reporting illness symptoms, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and improperly stored chemicals. Inspectors also flagged inadequate cooling equipment as an intermediate violation.
Happy Dragon on SR 70 East and Izumi Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar on 1st Street East each drew four high-severity violations. Happy Dragon's list mirrored Sunny Wok's in two key areas: no employee health policy and improper handwashing technique, alongside contaminated food contact surfaces and improperly stored chemicals. Izumi's violations included food from an unapproved source, parasite destruction procedures not followed, improper use of time as a public health control, and improperly stored chemicals.
Kentucky Fried Chicken on East SR 64 drew three high-severity violations, one of them uncommon: no allergen awareness demonstrated. The others were a parasite destruction failure and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned. Tarpon Bay Grill and Tiki Bar on North Tamiami Trail also drew three high-severity violations, including no employee health policy and inadequate handwashing facilities.
Linger Lodge Restaurant on 85th Street Court East and Anna Maria Oyster Bar UTC on University Parkway each drew two high-severity violations. Linger Lodge was cited for food contact surfaces not properly cleaned and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Anna Maria Oyster Bar drew improper handwashing technique and no consumer advisory, along with an intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
Dunkin' Donuts on 62nd Street Circle East was inspected and drew no high-severity or intermediate violations.
What These Violations Mean
The shellfish traceability failures at Sunny Wok and Food+Beer are not paperwork problems. When shellfish, oysters, clams, mussels, are served without adequate identification records, there is no way to trace the product back to its harvest location if customers become ill. Shellfish are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria and viruses from surrounding water. Without records, a norovirus or Vibrio outbreak cannot be investigated or contained.
The employee illness reporting failures documented at Food+Beer, Eggtown, Thai Wasabi, and 3 Keys Brewing Company represent the most direct transmission route from a sick worker to a customer's plate. Norovirus, which causes more than 20 million illnesses in the United States annually, spreads through exactly this mechanism. A written health policy and a culture of reporting are the only barriers.
Parasite destruction failures at 3 Keys Brewing Company, Izumi Japanese Steakhouse, and Kentucky Fried Chicken mean that fish or other proteins subject to parasite risk were not frozen or cooked under protocols designed to kill organisms like Anisakis or Trichinella. For a sushi bar like Izumi, where fish is served raw or lightly prepared, this is a direct exposure risk.
The food from an unapproved source violation at Eggtown and Izumi is a traceability collapse. Unapproved sources bypass USDA and FDA inspection entirely, meaning there is no government verification that the food was produced, stored, or transported safely. If a customer becomes ill, there is no supply chain to investigate.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for these facilities, which limits a full historical comparison this week. What the record does show is that several of the worst performers this week operate in categories, Asian cuisine, sushi, and craft brewing with food service, where raw protein handling and shellfish traceability are recurring statewide challenges.
Thai Wasabi's violation for no person in charge present during inspection is worth noting in context. That violation is associated with cascading failures: when supervisory oversight is absent, the other violations documented at Thai Wasabi, unreported illness symptoms, unsanitized food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory, become more likely. It is a management failure that enables the rest.
Eggtown on Boyett Road drew the most total violations of any facility this week, nine across high-severity and intermediate categories. The combination of food from an unapproved source, employees not reporting illness, and improperly cleaned surfaces and utensils represents simultaneous failures at the sourcing, staffing, and sanitation levels.
Anna Maria Oyster Bar UTC, a location of a regional chain with multiple Manatee County outposts, drew an intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal alongside its two high-severity findings. That violation, sewage exposure creating risk of fecal contamination throughout a facility, appeared at a location that also lacked a consumer advisory for its raw menu items.
The Broader Pattern
Across the 12 facilities that drew two or more high-severity violations this week, improperly stored or labeled chemicals appeared at five of them: Sunny Wok, Food+Beer, Happy Dragon, 3 Keys Brewing Company, and Izumi Japanese Steakhouse. That is the single most common high-severity violation type in this week's data, and it cuts across cuisines, from a craft brewery to a sushi bar to a Chinese restaurant.
Food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized appeared at six facilities: Sunny Wok, Eggtown, Thai Wasabi, 3 Keys Brewing Company, Happy Dragon, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Cutting boards, prep tables, and slicing equipment that are not sanitized between uses become transfer points for bacteria from raw protein to ready-to-eat food.
No consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods appeared at four facilities: Eggtown, Thai Wasabi, Linger Lodge, and Anna Maria Oyster Bar UTC. That violation is not about how food is prepared. It is about whether customers, particularly pregnant women, elderly diners, and people with compromised immune systems, are told what they are ordering. All four facilities were serving menus with raw or undercooked items without telling customers those items carry elevated risk.
Izumi Japanese Steakhouse was also cited this week for using time as a public health control without following required procedures, meaning sushi-grade fish was held in the temperature danger zone without the documentation required to prove it had not been there too long.