YULEE, FL. A state inspector walked into Sushi House on State Road 200 on May 20 and found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, no consumer advisory warning customers about the risks of eating raw or undercooked fish, and no adequate records to trace the shellfish on the menu back to a certified harvest site. Six high-severity violations were documented. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food-sourcing violation is the lead concern. When a restaurant cannot document where its fish and shellfish came from, there is no chain of custody to follow if a customer gets sick.
The shellfish records violation compounds that problem directly. State law requires sushi restaurants serving oysters, clams, or mussels to maintain shell stock tags that identify the harvest location, harvest date, and certified dealer. Without those tags, there is no way to determine whether the shellfish came from a certified, tested growing area.
The inspector also cited the restaurant for failing to use time as a public health control properly. At a sushi counter, raw fish frequently sits at room temperature rather than under refrigeration. The state allows this only if the restaurant tracks precisely when each item was set out and discards it within four hours. The documentation was not in order.
Food contact surfaces, including the cutting boards and prep surfaces where raw fish is handled, were cited as not properly cleaned or sanitized. And employees were observed using improper handwashing technique, meaning pathogens can remain on hands even after a washing attempt.
The restaurant also had no consumer advisory posted or printed on its menu. That notice is required any time a restaurant serves raw or undercooked animal products, and its absence means customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, the elderly, and young children had no warning before ordering.
What These Violations Mean
For a sushi restaurant specifically, the combination of an unapproved food source and missing shellfish records is not a paperwork problem. It is a traceability failure. If a customer develops a Vibrio infection after eating raw oysters, or a Listeria illness after eating raw fish, investigators need those records to identify the harvest site, pull the lot, and warn other consumers. Without them, the trail goes cold at the restaurant's back door.
The time-control violation matters for the same reason temperature violations do. Raw fish held in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, allows bacteria to multiply rapidly. When a restaurant uses time instead of temperature to manage that risk, the records proving the food was discarded within four hours are the only safeguard. Inspectors found those controls were not properly applied.
The handwashing technique violation at a raw-fish restaurant carries particular weight. Sushi preparation involves repeated direct hand contact with food that will not be cooked before it reaches the customer. Improper technique, even with a sink present, leaves the same pathogens on hands that thorough washing is designed to remove.
The equipment-in-poor-repair citation adds another layer. Cracked or corroded prep surfaces cannot be effectively sanitized, meaning bacteria colonize the gaps and transfer to the next item placed on that surface.
The Longer Record
The May 2026 inspection was not an outlier. State records show Sushi House has been inspected 27 times and has accumulated 263 violations in its inspection history.
Every routine inspection on record going back to January 2022 has included at least one high-severity violation. The August 2024 inspection produced nine high-severity violations and four intermediate ones. The January 2025 inspection produced six high-severity violations. The January 2026 inspection, four months before this one, produced five high-severity violations and five intermediate ones.
The restaurant was emergency-closed once before, in July 2016, after an inspector found roach activity. It reopened two days later.
The specific categories repeat. High-severity violations have appeared on every recent inspection without apparent correction carrying forward. A facility with 27 inspections on record and 263 total violations, where six high-severity citations in a single visit represent a typical outcome rather than an exceptional one, is not a restaurant having a bad day.
Open for Business
State inspectors documented ten violations on May 20, six of them high-severity, at a restaurant that serves raw fish and shellfish to the public. Among those violations: food of unknown origin, no shellfish traceability records, and no warning to customers about the risks of eating raw animal products.
No emergency closure was ordered. Sushi House on State Road 200 in Yulee remained open.