TAMPA, FL. Inspectors visiting Ro, Jekyll, Sesame on W Swann Avenue on September 29 found that the restaurant was serving fish without any documentation that it had been frozen to kill parasites, a required step before raw or lightly cooked fish reaches a customer's plate. That was one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
The inspection also found food from unapproved or unknown sources on the premises, meaning some ingredients arrived outside the federal inspection chain that exists to catch contamination before it reaches diners.
What Inspectors Found
Beyond the parasite and sourcing violations, inspectors cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock identification records. Shellfish, including oysters, clams, and mussels, require tag documentation so health officials can trace an outbreak back to the harvest bed if customers get sick. Without those records, that trail goes cold.
Inspectors also found food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and other surfaces that touch raw ingredients, were not properly cleaned and sanitized. That failure creates a direct transfer route between raw proteins and anything prepared on the same surface afterward.
The remaining high-severity violation: no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. Florida law requires restaurants serving raw fish, undercooked shellfish, or rare proteins to warn customers, specifically because pregnant women, elderly diners, and people with weakened immune systems face the greatest danger from those items.
On the intermediate side, multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned, single-use items were being reused, wiping cloths were improperly handled, and toilet facilities were inadequate or improperly maintained.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure is the most direct physical risk documented in this inspection. When restaurants serve raw or lightly cooked fish, including sushi and sashimi, state rules require that the fish be frozen at specific temperatures for specific periods beforehand, a process that kills Anisakis worms and tapeworm larvae. Without that step, those parasites can survive into a customer's digestive tract. At Ro, Jekyll, Sesame, inspectors found no evidence the required procedures were being followed.
The food-from-unapproved-sources violation compounds that risk. USDA and FDA inspections exist to catch Listeria, Salmonella, and other pathogens before product ships. Food entering a kitchen outside that system carries no such screening. When that food is also being served raw, the two violations together represent a compounding failure.
The shell stock traceability gap matters for a different reason. Shellfish are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria and viruses, including Vibrio and norovirus, from the water they grow in. Harvest tags exist so that when a cluster of illnesses appears, regulators can identify the source bed and pull product before more people are exposed. Without adequate records at Ro, Jekyll, Sesame, that response would be severely hampered.
The consumer advisory absence left customers without the basic information needed to make an informed choice. A diner who is immunocompromised, pregnant, or elderly may not know to avoid raw preparations unless the menu tells them. That warning was missing.
The Longer Record
The September 29 inspection was not an aberration. State records show Ro, Jekyll, Sesame has been inspected ten times in total, accumulating 40 violations across that history. Only once, in October 2024, did the restaurant finish an inspection with zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations.
The pattern around high-severity violations is consistent. The November 2025 inspection produced seven high-severity violations and one intermediate, the worst single-visit count in the facility's recorded history. The August 2024 inspection produced three high-severity violations. The February 2025 inspection produced two. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
A follow-up inspection on October 1, two days after the September 29 visit, found four high-severity violations still on record. Whatever corrections were made in those 48 hours, they did not bring the facility into compliance on its most serious categories.
Still Open
State inspectors documented six high-severity violations at Ro, Jekyll, Sesame on September 29, including a failure to ensure raw fish had been treated for parasites, food from sources outside the federal inspection system, and no warning to diners about the risks of raw and undercooked items. The restaurant served customers that day and continued operating. Two days later, four high-severity violations remained.
