HOMESTEAD, FL. A state inspector walked into a Homestead sushi and Thai restaurant on May 11 and found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning some of what was being served to customers that day had bypassed every federal safety inspection designed to catch Listeria, Salmonella, and other pathogens before they reach a plate.
The restaurant, Sake Thai & Sushi Bar at 650 NE 22 Terrace, drew six high-severity violations and one intermediate violation during that visit. Despite the tally, the restaurant was not emergency-closed. It remained open.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source citation is among the most serious a restaurant can receive. When food enters a kitchen through an unlicensed or unknown supplier, there is no inspection record, no chain of custody, and no way to trace the product back to its origin if a customer becomes ill.
The shellfish violation compounds that risk. State records show inspectors also cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock identification and records. Sake Thai & Sushi Bar serves raw and lightly cooked shellfish, and without proper tags and documentation for oysters, clams, or mussels, there is no way to identify the harvest location or harvest date if a customer reports illness.
The restaurant also had no written employee health policy, or an inadequate one. That means there was no formal mechanism in place to keep a worker sick with Norovirus or another communicable illness out of the kitchen and away from food preparation.
Inspectors further documented improper hand and arm washing technique, meaning employees were making handwashing attempts that still left pathogens on their hands. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, creating a direct transfer route for bacteria between surfaces and food. And time was not being used correctly as a public health control, meaning food was likely sitting in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, for periods that allow bacterial growth, without proper tracking to limit that exposure.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of an unapproved food source and inadequate shellfish records is particularly acute at a sushi restaurant. Raw fish and raw shellfish carry inherent microbial risks that licensed suppliers and proper cold-chain documentation are specifically designed to manage. When both safeguards are absent at the same inspection, customers eating raw items have no assurance that the food on their plate was inspected, properly handled, or traceable.
The employee health policy violation is not a paperwork technicality. Without a written policy, there is no documented standard telling workers to report symptoms like vomiting or diarrhea, and no protocol for managers to act on those reports. Norovirus can spread from a single ill food worker to dozens of customers through direct food contact.
Improper handwashing technique matters even when soap and a sink are present. Studies show that inadequate technique, too brief, incomplete coverage, or skipping steps, leaves significant microbial load on hands. At Sake Thai & Sushi Bar, that failure occurred in a kitchen where food contact surfaces were also cited as improperly sanitized, stacking two cross-contamination pathways on top of each other.
The time-as-public-health-control violation means the restaurant was using time, rather than temperature, to keep certain foods safe, but was not following the rules that make that method valid. Food must be tracked, labeled, and discarded within four hours. Without that discipline, food in the danger zone stays in service past the point where bacterial counts become dangerous.
The Longer Record
This was not an unusual day at Sake Thai & Sushi Bar. State records show the restaurant has accumulated 277 violations across 30 inspections on record, a volume that places May 11 within an established and documented pattern rather than an isolated bad week.
The most recent stretch of inspections tells that story plainly. In October 2025, inspectors visited three times in nine days. The October 13 visit produced 10 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. Two days later, a follow-up on October 14 still showed 5 high-severity violations. A third visit on October 22 brought the count down to 1 high-severity, suggesting the restaurant can correct violations when pressed, but the corrections have not held.
Before that, in August 2024, inspectors visited twice on the same date. One of those visits produced 8 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. A March 2024 inspection found 9 high-severity violations, followed by a follow-up that still showed 5 high-severity citations.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history on record. Every prior visit, regardless of violation count, ended with the restaurant remaining in operation.
Still Open
State inspectors cited Sake Thai & Sushi Bar for six high-severity violations on May 11, 2026, including food from an unapproved source and shellfish with no traceable records, at a restaurant that serves raw fish and raw shellfish.
The restaurant was not closed.