CORAL GABLES, FL. Inspectors walked into Sea Grill at 4250 Salzedo St on August 31 and found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means there is no paper trail to trace an outbreak back to its origin if customers get sick.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant remained open.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation was not the only finding that stood out. Inspectors also cited employees for failing to report illness symptoms, a violation that state and federal health officials consistently identify as a primary driver of multi-victim outbreaks. At a seafood restaurant, where norovirus and hepatitis A can transfer directly from a sick worker to a plate, that citation carries particular weight.
Handwashing failures appeared twice in the same inspection. Inspectors cited both the adequacy of the facility's handwashing infrastructure and the technique employees were using at the sink. Both violations were flagged at the high-severity level.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked foods, meaning customers with compromised immune systems, those who are pregnant, or the elderly had no notice that certain items on the menu carry elevated risk. And the person in charge was either absent or not actively overseeing operations.
The two intermediate violations covered inadequate ventilation and lighting, and improper use of wiping cloths.
What These Violations Mean
Food from an unapproved or unknown source is not a paperwork problem. When food enters a kitchen without passing through a licensed, inspected supplier, there is no chain of custody. If a customer becomes ill and an investigation begins, regulators cannot trace the ingredient back to a farm, a distributor, or a processing facility. At a seafood restaurant, that gap is especially serious: raw and undercooked fish and shellfish are among the highest-risk foods for Listeria, Salmonella, and Vibrio contamination.
The illness-reporting violation compounds that risk. Food workers who do not report symptoms of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or jaundice can transmit norovirus and hepatitis A directly to food they are preparing. A single infected worker on a busy dinner shift can expose dozens of customers before anyone notices anything is wrong.
The handwashing violations found at Sea Grill on August 31 represent a failure at two separate points: the physical infrastructure and the employee practice. Studies consistently show that proper handwashing reduces bacterial contamination on hands by more than 90 percent. Inadequate facilities make compliance impossible. Improper technique means contamination persists even when a worker attempts to wash. Both conditions were present in the same kitchen on the same day.
Improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, the seventh high-severity violation, are a direct bridge between those unwashed hands and the food on a customer's plate.
The Longer Record
Sea Grill: Recent Inspection History
August 31 was not an aberration. Across 21 inspections on record, Sea Grill has accumulated 246 total violations. In every inspection going back to at least December 2023, the facility has been cited for at least two high-severity violations. The count has never once come back clean.
The May 2024 inspection produced 11 high-severity violations, the worst single visit on record. December 2023 produced nine. October 2025 produced seven high-severity and four intermediate violations. The August 31 inspection, with seven high-severity findings, is consistent with that pattern, not a departure from it.
The violations themselves recur in recognizable categories. Management failures, handwashing deficiencies, and food safety practices have appeared across multiple inspection cycles. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
Still Open
A follow-up inspection on September 1, the day after the August 31 visit, found three high-severity violations and one intermediate. The number dropped, but the high-severity findings did not disappear.
State inspectors documented food from an unapproved source, employees who were not reporting illness symptoms, handwashing failures at both the facility and technique level, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory for raw seafood, all in a single visit, all at the high-severity level.
Sea Grill was not closed.
