PASCO COUNTY, FL. The dining room at a New Port Richey retirement community entered the week of April 27 with no adequate handwashing facilities, no employee health policy, and no one in charge performing supervisory duties, according to state inspection records.
Seven Springs Main Dining Room at 3535 Trophy Blvd. collected five high-severity violations during the inspection period, the highest total of any facility in Pasco County that week. Inspectors also cited the kitchen for failing to properly use time as a public health control and for posting no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
The Violations
Garden Mediterranean Grill at 1900 Oak Grove Blvd. in Lutz matched Seven Springs in high-severity count, also drawing five, plus two intermediate violations. Inspectors found that food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, that shell stock identification records were inadequate, and that employees were using improper handwashing technique. The restaurant also had no employee health policy and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Prima Pizza at 8809 Mitchell Blvd. in New Port Richey drew four high-severity violations. The inspector cited no person in charge performing duties, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Multi-use utensils were also found improperly cleaned.
Fresco Pizza at 18853 SR 54 in Land O' Lakes also reached four high-severity violations, including a finding that parasite destruction procedures were not followed for fish or other applicable menu items. Inspectors also cited missing shell stock records, no employee health policy, and no consumer advisory.
Seven Springs Souvlaki at 2313 Seven Springs Blvd. in New Port Richey drew three high-severity violations, including an employee not reporting illness symptoms and no person in charge present or performing duties. That combination, no supervision and an unreported sick worker, is among the highest-risk scenarios inspectors encounter.
Grillsmith Wesley Chapel at 2000 Piazza Ave. in Wesley Chapel was cited for inadequate shell stock records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory, alongside two intermediate violations for ventilation and wiping cloth use.
Taso Italiano at 4016 Little Rd. in New Port Richey drew three high-severity violations: an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, and inadequate shell stock identification records.
Al Shish Kebab at 7045 Ridge Rd. in Port Richey was cited for food not cooked to the required minimum internal temperature, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory. Undercooking is among the most direct pathways to foodborne illness, particularly for poultry.
Burger Monger Wesley Chapel at 1656 Bruce B Downs Blvd. drew three high-severity violations, including toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory. Three intermediate violations accompanied those findings, including improper waste disposal.
Asian Garden at 9400 State Rd. 52 in Hudson was cited for improper handwashing technique, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory.
Holiday Inn Express and Suites Trinity at 2125 Corporate Center Dr. drew three high-severity violations centered entirely on workforce management failures: no person in charge performing duties, no employee health policy, and an employee not reporting illness symptoms.
Bare Buns Cafe at 20500 Cot Rd. in Lutz drew one high-severity violation, a missing consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, along with an intermediate citation for inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The consumer advisory violation appeared in ten of the twelve facilities cited this week, making it the most common high-severity finding across Pasco County. That citation means a restaurant is serving raw or undercooked animal products without notifying diners in writing. For elderly customers, pregnant women, young children, and anyone immunocompromised, that information is not optional. At Seven Springs Main Dining Room, a facility serving a senior population, that gap carries particular weight.
The employee illness violations at Prima Pizza, Seven Springs Souvlaki, Taso Italiano, and the Holiday Inn Trinity are a different category of risk. When a sick food worker does not report symptoms and continues handling food, the transmission pathway is direct. Norovirus, which causes the majority of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads through exactly this route. The absence of a written health policy, cited at Seven Springs Main Dining Room, Garden Mediterranean Grill, Fresco Pizza, and the Holiday Inn Trinity, means workers may not know when they are legally required to report symptoms or stay home.
The shell stock traceability violations at Garden Mediterranean Grill, Fresco Pizza, Grillsmith Wesley Chapel, and Taso Italiano point to a different but equally serious gap. Shellfish are among the highest-risk foods served in any restaurant, consumed raw or lightly cooked, and susceptible to Vibrio, norovirus, and hepatitis A. The identification tags that accompany each shipment of oysters, clams, or mussels are the only chain of evidence available if a customer gets sick. Without them, there is no way to trace contaminated product back to a harvest location.
At Al Shish Kebab, the food-not-cooked-to-temperature citation means inspectors documented animal protein, most likely poultry given the menu, that did not reach the minimum internal temperature required to kill Salmonella and Campylobacter. That is not a paperwork failure. It is a direct public health risk at the point of service.
The Longer Record
The data provided for this week does not include prior inspection counts for the individual facilities listed, so a direct comparison of each restaurant's full history against this week's findings is not possible from the available records. What the week's data does establish is a pattern of systemic failures across facility types, from a retirement community dining room to a hotel breakfast service to multiple independent restaurants serving Greek, Italian, Mediterranean, and pizza menus.
The concentration of management-failure violations is notable. Four facilities, Seven Springs Main Dining Room, Prima Pizza, Seven Springs Souvlaki, and the Holiday Inn Trinity, were each cited for no person in charge present or performing duties. CDC research has found that establishments without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at three times the rate of those with engaged supervision. That pattern, repeated across four unrelated facilities in a single week, suggests the problem is not isolated to one kitchen or one owner.
Two New Port Richey locations share the Seven Springs name: the main dining room at Trophy Blvd. and the souvlaki restaurant on Seven Springs Blvd. Both were cited this week. The dining room drew five high-severity violations; the souvlaki location drew three. Whether they share ownership or management is not established in this week's inspection data, but both facilities were cited for the same two violations: no person in charge and no consumer advisory.
Fresco Pizza's parasite destruction citation remains the most specific unresolved finding of the week. That violation means inspectors determined the restaurant was not following required freezing or cooking procedures for fish or other parasite-susceptible proteins on the menu, and there was no documentation that the risk had been controlled. At a pizza restaurant, that finding is uncommon enough to warrant attention on its own.