TAMPA, FL. Inspectors visiting Pisco Express Carrollwood on Ehrlich Road on April 22 found the restaurant had no adequate system to trace its shellfish back to the source, a violation that matters most when someone gets sick and investigators need to know where the oysters or clams came from.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
The shellfish violation and the missing consumer advisory are connected. Pisco Express serves Peruvian cuisine, a menu category that regularly includes raw or lightly cooked shellfish preparations. Without proper shell stock tags, there is no record of which certified harvester or dealer supplied those oysters or clams, or when they were harvested.
Without a consumer advisory posted or printed on the menu, customers who are pregnant, elderly, or immunocompromised have no way of knowing they are ordering something that carries elevated risk.
The food contact surface violation compounds both. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and utensils that are not properly cleaned and sanitized between uses can carry bacteria from one ingredient to the next, including from raw shellfish to other foods.
Inspectors also found food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated. The record does not specify which item or items triggered that citation, but the violation category covers spoiled product, items past their use-by dates, and food that has been contaminated or improperly identified.
The handwashing violation is distinct from simply not washing hands. Inspectors documented improper technique, meaning employees were going through the motion of washing but not completing it in a way that removes pathogens. That distinction matters because it can be harder to correct than a missing soap dispenser.
The employee health policy violation rounds out the six. No written policy means no documented protocol for when a sick worker should stay home.
What These Violations Mean
Shellfish traceability failures are among the most consequential violations an inspector can document at a seafood-forward restaurant. Oysters, clams, and mussels are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria and viruses from the water they grow in, including Vibrio and norovirus. When a customer gets sick, public health investigators trace the illness back through the supply chain using shell stock identification tags. Without those tags, that chain breaks immediately.
The consumer advisory violation at Pisco Express means customers eating raw or undercooked menu items had no documented warning. State rules require that warning to appear on the menu or on a placard visible to diners. For a pregnant woman or a customer on immunosuppressant medication, that omission is not a technicality.
Food contact surfaces that are not properly cleaned and sanitized are a primary route for cross-contamination. When a cutting board used for raw shellfish is not sanitized before the next use, whatever bacteria remained on the surface transfers to the next food prepared on it. At a restaurant already cited for shellfish traceability problems, the combination is notable.
The employee health policy violation closes the loop. Norovirus alone accounts for an estimated 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and food workers are a primary transmission route. A written policy that tells employees when to report symptoms and when to stay home is a basic firewall. Pisco Express Carrollwood did not have an adequate one on April 22.
The Longer Record
The April 22 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Pisco Express Carrollwood has been inspected 20 times and has accumulated 130 total violations. It has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern of high-severity citations stretches back years. In July 2022, inspectors found seven high-severity violations in a single visit. In April 2022, five high-severity violations. In December 2024, five more. In February 2025, four.
The only clean inspection in the recent record was May 2024, when inspectors found zero high or intermediate violations. That result sits between the December 2024 visit with five high-severity citations and the February 2025 visit with four, making it the exception rather than the signal of a turn.
April 2026 now represents the second-highest single-visit high-severity count in the facility's recent history, behind only July 2022.
Across the eight most recent inspections with documented high-severity violations, the restaurant has been cited for high-severity findings in seven of them. The violations shift in category from visit to visit, but the severity level does not.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority applies when an inspector determines that continued operation poses an immediate threat to public health. Six high-severity violations on April 22 did not meet that threshold, at least not in the judgment of the inspector on site.
The restaurant remained open after the inspection.
Customers who ate at Pisco Express Carrollwood on or around April 22 were served at a facility with no adequate shellfish traceability records, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked food, improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, and no written employee health policy.
The state's next scheduled inspection has not been publicly posted.