JACKSONVILLE, FL. A state inspector visiting Stonewood Grill & Tavern on Baymeadows Road on August 12 found that the kitchen was not following procedures to destroy parasites in fish and other proteins, a violation that means customers could have been served food carrying live Anisakis worms or tapeworm larvae without knowing it. The restaurant was not closed.
Seven high-severity violations were documented in a single inspection. The facility remained open throughout.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction citation is among the most direct food-safety failures a kitchen can accumulate. Proper freezing or thorough cooking is the only reliable way to kill parasites in fish, pork, and wild game before they reach a plate. When those procedures are skipped, the risk transfers entirely to the customer.
Inspectors also found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near the food operation. A chemical that is mislabeled or stored adjacent to food prep surfaces can contaminate food directly, and the symptoms of chemical poisoning can be rapid and severe.
Employees were not reporting symptoms of illness, according to the inspection record. That violation, combined with inadequate handwashing facilities, describes a kitchen where two of the most basic barriers against spreading disease to customers were not functioning on the same day.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. The menu at Stonewood Grill & Tavern includes raw and undercooked options, but the restaurant had no consumer advisory posted to inform customers of that risk, which is a separate high-severity citation.
The person in charge was either not present or not performing supervisory duties. That single condition helps explain how six other high-severity violations could exist simultaneously in one kitchen.
The intermediate violations added to the picture. Sewage or wastewater was not being disposed of properly, raising the risk of fecal contamination in the facility. Multi-use utensils had not been properly cleaned, and single-use items were being reused. Ventilation and lighting were also cited as inadequate.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure is not an abstract regulatory technicality. Anisakis, a roundworm found in many ocean fish, causes severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and in some cases requires surgical removal. Tapeworm larvae from improperly handled pork or wild game can migrate beyond the digestive system. The only protection customers have is that the kitchen followed the correct freezing or cooking protocol before service. The inspection record from August 12 indicates that protocol was not being followed at Stonewood Grill & Tavern on Baymeadows Road.
The illness reporting violation compounds that risk directly. Food workers who do not report symptoms of norovirus, salmonella, or hepatitis A are the documented primary cause of multi-victim outbreaks. Norovirus in particular spreads from an infected food handler to dozens of customers through minimal contact. When handwashing facilities are also inadequate on the same inspection, there is no reliable mechanism to interrupt that transmission route.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours. Those biofilms are resistant to standard surface cleaning and serve as a persistent reservoir for pathogens like E. coli and Listeria. Customers eating food prepared on those surfaces have no way to know the surfaces were not sanitized.
The sewage disposal violation carries its own category of risk. Improper wastewater handling can introduce fecal contamination throughout a facility, not just at a single point. Combined with the handwashing and surface sanitation failures documented the same day, the August 12 inspection describes a facility where multiple contamination pathways were open at once.
The Longer Record
The August 12 inspection was not an isolated event. State records show Stonewood Grill & Tavern on Baymeadows Road has been inspected 28 times and has accumulated 176 total violations across that history. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern of high-severity citations goes back at least two years in the available record. Inspectors found five high-severity violations in September 2025. They found five more in September 2024. A November 2024 inspection logged two high-severity violations, followed the same day by a callback inspection showing zero, a sequence that repeated in December 2025 when four high-severity violations were found and a same-day follow-up showed none.
That cycle, high counts on inspection day followed by rapid clearance on callback, appears in the record more than once. The August 12 inspection produced seven high-severity violations, the largest single-day count in the available history. A follow-up on August 13 showed one high-severity violation and three intermediate ones. By August 17, the record showed zero violations of either type.
The restaurant has never been ordered to close in 28 inspections. It was not closed after the seven high-severity violations documented on August 12, 2026. It was open for business the same day customers could have been served food from a kitchen where parasite destruction procedures were not being followed and toxic chemicals were not properly stored.
