SWEETWATER, FL. A state inspector walked into Metropol Restaurant at 11401 NW 12 Street on June 3 and found food that had not been cooked to the required minimum temperature, toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly near food preparation areas, and food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. Six of the eight violations documented that day were classified as high-severity. The restaurant was not closed.
The inspection came one day after a separate visit on June 2 that produced nine high-severity violations and two intermediate ones, the single worst inspection in the facility's recorded history.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking violation is among the most direct threats to anyone who ate at the restaurant that day. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a single serving of improperly cooked chicken can be enough to cause serious illness.
The improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals citation compounds that risk. Chemicals stored near food preparation areas can contaminate food through direct contact or mislabeled containers, and the resulting poisoning does not require a person to consume a large quantity to produce acute symptoms.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for food contact surfaces, including cutting boards and prep tables, that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. Those surfaces are a primary transfer point for bacteria between raw and ready-to-eat food.
The remaining high-severity violations pointed to systemic failures in basic food safety practice. Employees were observed using improper handwashing technique, meaning pathogens were left on hands even when a washing attempt was made. The restaurant had no written employee health policy, which means there was no formal mechanism to keep sick workers out of the kitchen. And there was no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items, leaving customers with no notice that certain dishes carried elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
The absence of an employee health policy is not a paperwork issue. Without a written policy, a worker with Norovirus, Salmonella, or Hepatitis A has no formal instruction to stay home. Norovirus alone accounts for an estimated 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and food service workers are one of the primary transmission routes. At Metropol, that policy was missing on June 3.
The improper handwashing technique violation is distinct from simply not washing hands. It means a worker went through the motion of washing and still left the sink with contaminated hands. Combined with unclean food contact surfaces, those hands then touched cutting boards, utensils, and plates that reached customers.
The sewage disposal violation, classified as intermediate, carries a risk that is easy to underestimate. Improper wastewater handling creates the potential for fecal contamination to spread through the facility, reaching surfaces and food that have no visible sign of contact. That violation was present on the same day food was being undercooked and chemicals were stored near prep areas.
The consumer advisory violation deserves specific attention for certain customers. Elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system face substantially higher risk from raw or undercooked food than a healthy adult. Without a posted advisory, none of those customers had the information to make a different choice.
The Longer Record
The June 3 inspection was not an outlier. State records show Metropol Restaurant has accumulated 242 total violations across 17 inspections on record, and the pattern of high-severity citations stretches back through every documented visit.
The April 2024 inspection produced 10 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate ones, the second-highest single-inspection total in the facility's history. The November 2024 inspection on November 12 recorded 8 high-severity violations, followed by another inspection the very next day, November 13, that found 5 more high-severity violations. Both September 2025 and March 2025 produced 7 high-severity violations each.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed. That fact sits alongside a record that includes high-severity violations in every single inspection in the database, across visits spanning more than two years.
The June 2 inspection, the day before the one detailed here, was the worst single day in that record: 9 high-severity violations. The June 3 inspection followed with 6 more.
Still Open
State inspectors visited Metropol Restaurant on back-to-back days and documented a combined 15 high-severity violations. The violations included undercooking food, storing toxic chemicals improperly, failing to sanitize food contact surfaces, and operating without an employee health policy.
The restaurant was not closed after either visit.
Metropol Restaurant at 11401 NW 12 Street in Sweetwater remained open to customers following the June 3 inspection, with 242 total violations in its state record and no emergency closure ever ordered.