LARGO, FL. An inspector visiting Roosterfish Grill at 776 Missouri Ave N on September 9 found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, employees not reporting illness symptoms, and no one on site performing managerial duties, all in a single inspection that turned up 8 high-severity violations. The restaurant was not closed.
The September inspection is not an outlier. It is the latest entry in a record that now spans 31 inspections and 456 total violations.
What Inspectors Found
The cooking temperature violation sits at the center of the September findings. Undercooking is one of the most direct paths to foodborne illness, because pathogens including Salmonella in poultry survive below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. There is no recovery step once undercooked food reaches a customer's plate.
The shellfish violation compounds the risk. Roosterfish Grill is a seafood-focused restaurant, and inspectors cited inadequate shell stock identification records. Without proper tagging and documentation on oysters, clams, or mussels, there is no way to trace a shellfish shipment back to its harvest location if customers become ill.
The inspector also found no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, meaning customers had no written notice that certain menu items carry elevated risk. That notice is specifically intended to protect elderly diners, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Required procedures for specialized processes, which can include smoking, curing, or reduced-oxygen packaging, were not being followed. Employees were not reporting illness symptoms. And the person responsible for overseeing all of it was either absent or not performing those duties.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of violations documented on September 9 represents several overlapping failure points, not a single lapse. When food is not cooked to minimum temperature and surfaces are not properly sanitized, bacteria that should have been killed at the stove can survive and spread to other food via contaminated equipment.
The illness reporting violation is particularly acute at a restaurant that serves shellfish. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks, spreads readily through food handled by a sick worker. Shellfish concentrate pathogens naturally and are often consumed raw or lightly cooked. A sick employee handling oysters at a restaurant with no consumer advisory and no shell stock traceability represents a direct and documented chain of risk.
The absence of an active person in charge is not a paperwork violation. CDC data links establishments without active managerial control to three times the rate of critical violations. The other eight violations found on September 9 illustrate exactly why that correlation exists.
Inadequate ventilation, the one intermediate violation on the list, allows grease-laden vapors and smoke to accumulate in prep areas. It is the least severe item on the September inspection sheet. It is still a violation.
The Longer Record
Roosterfish Grill: Inspection History
Thirty-one inspections. Four hundred and fifty-six total violations. One prior emergency closure, on October 25, 2022, for rodent activity, with the restaurant allowed to reopen the same day.
Every inspection in the record going back to July 2023 has included at least five high-severity violations. The April 2026 inspection, five months before September's visit, produced an identical count: 8 high-severity violations, 1 intermediate. The September findings are not a new low. They are a continuation of a line that has not broken.
The July 2023 inspection, a single visit, produced 10 high-severity and 6 intermediate violations, the worst single inspection in the available record. Six weeks later, the same location logged 5 high-severity violations. The pattern across three years is consistent: high counts, repeat violation categories, and no emergency closure since 2022.
Still Open
State inspectors visited Roosterfish Grill on September 9, 2026, documented eight high-severity violations including undercooked food, no illness reporting, missing shellfish records, and unsanitized food contact surfaces, and left the restaurant open.
