ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FL. A King Street restaurant in the heart of Saint Augustine's tourist corridor racked up 8 high-severity violations in a single inspection last week, including food sourced from unapproved suppliers, inadequate handwashing facilities, and no evidence that employees were reporting illness symptoms to management.
That restaurant, La Cocina at The Cellar Upstairs on King Street, was the worst-cited facility in a county-wide inspection sweep that covered 29 facilities across 36 inspections the week of October 9. Twelve of those facilities logged 2 or more high-severity violations. Eight logged 6 or more.
The Violations
La Cocina's 8 high-severity citations included two that inspectors rarely see stacked together: no adequate handwashing facilities and documented failure by employees to actually wash their hands. Without functioning infrastructure and without the habit, the violations compound each other.
Drake's Bistro on San Marco Avenue logged 7 high-severity violations, including food from unapproved sources, improperly stored toxic chemicals, and employees not reporting illness symptoms. Inspectors also cited inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment as an intermediate violation, meaning the kitchen lacked the physical capacity to keep food at safe temperatures.
Anejo Cocina Mexicana in Ponte Vedra drew 7 high-severity citations, among them inadequate shell stock identification records and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Inspectors also cited improper sewage and wastewater disposal as an intermediate violation.
Grilled Cheese Gallery on Cathedral Place was cited for food not cooked to the required minimum temperature alongside the same missing consumer advisory. That combination, serving undercooked food without telling customers it may be undercooked, is among the more direct pathways to a foodborne illness complaint.
Sushi 99 on Plaza Boulevard was cited for 7 high-severity violations including inadequate shell stock identification records, improperly stored toxic chemicals, and no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff. For a sushi operation serving raw fish, the allergen citation carries particular weight.
St. Augustine Fish Camp on Riberia Street also logged 7 high-severity violations, including food not cooked to minimum temperature and inadequate shell stock records. Inspectors additionally cited improper sewage disposal as an intermediate violation.
Bar Citra on North Ponce de Leon Boulevard accumulated 7 high-severity violations with zero intermediate citations, a pattern that reflects concentrated failures in the most serious categories rather than scattered maintenance issues. Those violations included no employee health policy, food from unapproved sources, no consumer advisory, and no allergen awareness.
Peppers Cocina Mexicana and Tequila Bar on Spanish Street was cited for food contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards, a violation that appeared nowhere else in the county this week. Inspectors also found no allergen awareness and no employee health policy.
Dos Coffee and Wine on San Marco Avenue drew 6 high-severity violations including improperly stored toxic chemicals and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. A coffee and wine bar with shell stock identification problems and a missing consumer advisory suggests a menu that extends further into raw or lightly prepared foods than the name implies.
Taco Libre on Beach Boulevard A1A was cited for no approved potable water supply, a violation that appeared at no other facility in the county this week. Non-potable water used in food preparation can carry E. coli, Cryptosporidium, and Legionella.
B&B's Brunch Bar on North Ponce de Leon Boulevard logged 4 high-severity violations including food from unapproved sources and improperly sanitized food contact surfaces. Inspectors also cited inadequate toilet facilities, a violation that directly discourages the employee handwashing that would otherwise be required.
Kingfish Grill on West Geoffrey Street drew 2 high-severity violations, both targeted: employees not reporting illness symptoms and improper use of time as a public health control.
What These Violations Mean
The most common high-severity violation across this week's inspections was employees not reporting illness symptoms, cited at 11 of the 12 worst-performing facilities. Food workers who handle ingredients while infected with Norovirus are the leading cause of multi-victim outbreaks. The virus requires fewer than 20 particles to cause illness and spreads readily through any food a symptomatic worker touches. At facilities like La Cocina, Drake's Bistro, Bar Citra, and nine others, inspectors found no system in place to catch a sick employee before they reached the line.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources appeared at 7 facilities this week, including La Cocina, Drake's Bistro, Anejo Cocina Mexicana, St. Augustine Fish Camp, Bar Citra, Dos Coffee and Wine, and B&B's Brunch Bar. The problem is not simply regulatory paperwork. When food enters a kitchen from an uninspected supplier, there is no chain of traceability if a customer gets sick. Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli outbreaks tied to unapproved sources are harder to investigate and harder to contain precisely because the origin cannot be confirmed.
Shell stock identification failures at Anejo Cocina Mexicana, Grilled Cheese Gallery, Sushi 99, St. Augustine Fish Camp, Dos Coffee and Wine, and Taco Libre compound that traceability problem specifically for shellfish. Oysters, clams, and mussels are high-risk foods that are frequently consumed raw or lightly cooked. Without the required identification tags, there is no way to trace a contaminated batch back to its harvest location if diners become ill.
Improperly stored toxic chemicals, cited at Drake's Bistro, Anejo Cocina Mexicana, Sushi 99, and Dos Coffee and Wine, represent a different but immediate risk. Cleaning solutions and sanitizers stored near or above food preparation areas can contaminate food through spills, mislabeling, or direct contact. The Peppers Cocina citation for food actually contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards suggests that at least one facility crossed from the risk into the reality.
The Longer Record
The data provided for this week does not include prior inspection counts for individual facilities, which limits direct comparison of each restaurant's cumulative history. What the week's pattern does show is that several of the worst performers are not obscure or newly opened operations. La Cocina at The Cellar Upstairs, Drake's Bistro, and St. Augustine Fish Camp are established Saint Augustine dining destinations with recognizable names and consistent customer traffic. The volume of high-severity violations at each suggests these are not first-time lapses caught on an opening inspection.
Grilled Cheese Gallery's combination of undercooked food and a missing consumer advisory, alongside improper sewage disposal, indicates failures at multiple points in the kitchen operation simultaneously. That kind of distributed breakdown across cooking, infrastructure, and disclosure typically reflects a management environment where no single person is tracking compliance, a pattern consistent with the person-in-charge citation that also appears in its record.
Bar Citra's 7 high-severity violations with zero intermediate citations is a particular data point. Intermediate violations often reflect facility maintenance or procedural gaps. Their absence alongside 7 high-severity findings suggests Bar Citra's problems are concentrated entirely in the categories that carry the most direct risk to customers: disease transmission, food sourcing, allergen management, and disclosure.
Taco Libre's citation for no approved potable water supply is the single most infrastructurally serious finding in this week's data. Every other violation on this list describes a failure of process or policy. A non-potable water supply is a failure of the physical plant itself, and it affects every dish, every surface, and every employee handwashing attempt in the building.
