CLEARWATER, FL. Two days after state inspectors documented 12 high-severity violations at Nine Spices Hot Pot on Countryside Boulevard, they returned on August 27, 2026, and found six more, including a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures for fish and meat served to customers in a restaurant that remained open throughout.
The August 27 inspection produced no emergency closure order. The restaurant at 2543 Countryside Blvd continued serving customers despite a violation record that now spans 394 total violations across 29 inspections.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction violation is the citation that carries the most direct physical risk for customers. Hot pot restaurants serve raw fish and meat that diners cook themselves at the table, which means the kitchen's preparation and sourcing protocols are the last institutional safeguard before food reaches a customer's hands.
When parasite destruction procedures are not followed, fish can carry live Anisakis worms and tapeworm larvae. Pork that has not been properly frozen or cooked to temperature can harbor Trichinella. These are not theoretical risks.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, a separate violation that compounds the parasite concern. In a hot pot context, undercooked proteins reach the table in a state where customers cannot reliably know whether the food is safe.
Food contact surfaces were found improperly cleaned or sanitized. Cutting boards and prep surfaces that are not properly sanitized between uses become direct transfer routes for bacteria from raw meat to ready-to-eat food.
Employees were cited for not reporting symptoms of illness. No allergen awareness was demonstrated by staff. The person in charge was either not present or not performing required supervisory duties.
Six high-severity violations. Zero intermediate violations. The restaurant stayed open.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure and the undercooking violation together describe a kitchen where the two most fundamental protections against parasitic infection were not in place on the same day. For a restaurant whose entire model depends on customers handling raw fish and meat, this is not a peripheral concern.
The illness reporting failure is a separate and acute danger. Food workers who do not report symptoms of illness are the leading cause of multi-victim norovirus outbreaks. A single sick employee handling food in a hot pot restaurant, where shared broths and communal cooking surfaces are standard, creates conditions for rapid transmission across an entire dining room.
The allergen awareness violation means staff could not reliably tell a customer with a fish, shellfish, or peanut allergy which menu items were safe. Food allergies send 30,000 people to emergency rooms in the United States each year. Without staff who can identify allergens in dishes, a customer with a severe allergy is eating on trust alone.
The absence of an active person in charge links to all of the above. CDC research shows that establishments without active managerial oversight record critical violations at three times the rate of those that do. When no one is performing supervisory duties, illness reporting, temperature checks, surface sanitation, and allergen protocols all degrade simultaneously, which is precisely what the August 27 inspection documented.
The Longer Record
The August 27 inspection did not arrive in isolation. Two days earlier, on August 25, inspectors had cited Nine Spices Hot Pot for 12 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations, the highest single-visit count in its recent record. The August 27 return visit produced 6 more high-severity citations, meaning the restaurant accumulated 18 high-severity violations across two inspections in 48 hours.
The pattern extends well beyond August. Inspectors cited the restaurant for 7 high-severity violations in January 2026, 8 in July 2025, 10 in April 2025, and 7 in January 2025. In April 2024, they found 6 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate ones. Across 29 inspections, the facility has accumulated 394 total violations.
The restaurant was emergency-closed once before, in March 2015, for roach activity. It reopened the following day.
The December 2023 inspection produced zero high-severity violations and zero intermediate violations, the one clean record in the recent history. Every inspection since has returned high-severity citations, and the counts have climbed, not declined.
Open for Business
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. After the August 27 inspection, with six high-severity violations documented including parasite destruction failures and food cooked below required temperatures, that order was not issued.
Calls to Nine Spices Hot Pot were not returned.
The restaurant at 2543 Countryside Blvd remained open.
