LEESBURG, FL. State inspectors walked into Sumi Sushi and Hibachi on North Citrus Boulevard on September 3 and documented food being served from unapproved or unknown sources, a violation that means no one can trace where that food came from if a customer gets sick.
That was one of eight high-severity violations cited that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The full list of violations on September 3 covered nearly every category of acute food safety risk. Inspectors cited the restaurant for food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly near food.
Two violations concerned sick employees. Inspectors found no written employee health policy and documented that employees were not reporting illness symptoms. A third violation involved time as a public health control, meaning food was being held in the temperature danger zone without proper tracking of how long it had been there. A fourth cited the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked menu items.
That last violation is significant at a sushi restaurant. Sumi Sushi and Hibachi's menu includes raw fish dishes. Without a posted advisory, customers who are pregnant, elderly, immunocompromised, or otherwise at elevated risk have no way of knowing the food they are ordering has not been fully cooked.
What These Violations Mean
The food-from-unapproved-sources violation is one of the most consequential a restaurant can receive. When food enters a kitchen from a supplier outside the USDA and FDA inspection system, there is no paper trail. If a customer becomes ill after eating at Sumi Sushi and Hibachi, investigators cannot trace that food back to its origin, cannot identify a contaminated lot, and cannot issue a recall. The absence of traceability is not a paperwork problem. It is what allows an outbreak to spread before anyone identifies the source.
The undercooked food violation compounds that risk. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. At a restaurant already receiving food from unknown sources, an undercooked dish is not a minor error.
The two employee illness violations together describe a specific failure chain. Without a written health policy, workers have no formal instruction about when they must stay home. Without a reporting requirement, a worker with Norovirus symptoms has no mechanism that compels them to tell a manager. Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, and it spreads directly from an infected food handler to a customer through contaminated food.
Improperly stored toxic chemicals near food create a separate and immediate risk. Mislabeled or misplaced cleaning chemicals can contaminate food directly, and the symptoms of chemical poisoning can be rapid and severe.
The Longer Record
September 3 was not an anomaly. It was the thirteenth inspection on record at Sumi Sushi and Hibachi, and the restaurant has accumulated 128 total violations across those visits.
The pattern of high-severity citations goes back at least two and a half years. On July 12, 2024, inspectors cited the restaurant for 8 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations, the same high-severity count as the most recent inspection. On July 31, 2025, inspectors returned and found 7 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations. Six months later, on February 12, 2026, the count was 5 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations.
Sumi Sushi and Hibachi: High-Severity Violation History
The one inspection that showed zero violations, on February 8, 2024, came two days after a visit that produced 4 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. It stands alone in the record. Every other inspection with a meaningful violation count has returned high-severity citations.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in 13 inspections on record, including visits that produced 7 and 8 high-severity violations each.
Still Open
Florida law gives inspectors the authority to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Eight high-severity violations, including food from unapproved sources, undercooked food, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and toxic chemicals stored near food, did not meet that threshold on September 3.
Sumi Sushi and Hibachi remained open after the inspection.
