GREENACRES, FL. A sushi restaurant with two prior emergency closures on its record walked away from a September inspection with 10 high-severity violations, including food sourced from unapproved suppliers and fish not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and state inspectors did not shut it down.
Sticky Rice and Sushi on Lake Worth Road was inspected on September 23, 2026. The violations inspectors documented that day touch nearly every critical control point in a functioning kitchen: sourcing, cooking temperature, handwashing, illness reporting, chemical storage, and the consumer disclosures that allow customers to make informed choices about raw fish.
What Inspectors Found
The sourcing violation is among the most serious on the list. State inspectors cited the restaurant for obtaining food from an unapproved or unknown source, meaning at least some of what was being served to customers had not passed through USDA or FDA inspection channels.
Inspectors also cited a failure to cook food to required minimum temperatures. At a sushi restaurant, that violation applies to cooked items, where undercooking can allow Salmonella in poultry or other pathogens to survive.
The restaurant was also cited for inadequate shellfish traceability records. Shellfish, including oysters, clams, and mussels, are high-risk foods frequently consumed raw. Without proper identification tags, there is no way to trace an outbreak back to a specific harvest area or supplier.
Two chemical storage violations appeared on the same inspection report: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Both involve the proximity or handling of cleaning agents and other chemicals near food preparation areas.
Employees were cited for not reporting symptoms of illness and for improper handwashing technique. The restaurant was also flagged for not displaying a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, a disclosure required specifically so that vulnerable customers, including pregnant women, elderly diners, and people with compromised immune systems, know what they are ordering.
What These Violations Mean
The food sourcing violation carries a specific and serious consequence: if a customer gets sick, investigators have no supply chain to trace. Approved food sources are required precisely because they create a paper trail. When that chain is broken, identifying a contaminated batch of fish or shellfish becomes significantly harder, and any outbreak investigation starts blind.
The illness reporting failure compounds that risk. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads person-to-person and through food handled by infected workers. An employee who does not report symptoms, and continues to prepare food, is a direct transmission route. Improper handwashing technique means that even when a handwashing attempt is made, pathogens remain on the hands.
The combination of no consumer advisory and inadequate shellfish records creates a specific danger for the most vulnerable customers. A diner with a weakened immune system who orders raw shellfish at this restaurant had no posted warning that the food carried elevated risk, and inspectors found no documentation to confirm where that shellfish came from.
Two chemical storage violations in a single inspection report is not a paperwork problem. Improperly stored or mislabeled chemicals near food preparation areas create a direct contamination risk. Acute chemical poisoning from mislabeled cleaning agents has caused hospitalizations in restaurant settings across the country.
The Longer Record
Sticky Rice and Sushi: Inspection Pattern, 2024-2026
This inspection was not an anomaly. State records show 29 inspections on file for Sticky Rice and Sushi, with 180 total violations accumulated across that history.
The restaurant has been emergency-closed twice in the past two years. In September 2025, inspectors shut it down for rodent activity. Six weeks later, in November 2025, they closed it again for roach activity. Both times, the restaurant passed a follow-up inspection within 24 hours and reopened.
Every inspection with violations in the available record has included high-severity citations, not administrative paperwork issues. The January 2026 inspection, nine months before this one, produced 7 high-severity violations. The February 2025 inspection produced 6. The pattern across eight consecutive inspections with violations is consistent: the numbers go up, the restaurant passes a follow-up, and the cycle repeats.
September 23, 2026 produced the highest single-inspection high-severity count on record for this facility: 10.
The restaurant was not closed.
