TAMPA, FL. Malio's Prime Steakhouse on North Ashley Drive drew five high-severity violations during the week of July 2, including improper sewage or wastewater disposal, no shellfish traceability records, and a finding that no person in charge was present or performing duties during the inspection.
The downtown steakhouse, which has accumulated 36 inspections on record, also drew citations for an employee not reporting illness symptoms and for improper handwashing technique. Inspectors additionally noted that the restaurant had no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, meaning customers ordering items like rare beef or raw shellfish had no written notice of the associated risks.
Fourteen Tampa restaurants drew high-severity violations in the seven days ending July 8, 2026.
What Inspectors Found
KFC on Florida Avenue also drew five high-severity violations, including toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food, food found in poor condition or mislabeled, and a failure to follow required procedures for specialized processes. Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils and equipment in poor repair added two intermediate citations.
Top Shelf Sports Lounge on East Jackson Street matched that count with five high-severity violations of its own, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shellfish identification records, and food contact surfaces that inspectors found not properly cleaned or sanitized. An employee illness reporting failure and improper handwashing technique rounded out the high-severity list.
Maloney's Local Irish Pub on East Kennedy Boulevard also drew five high-severity violations. Inspectors cited the pub for improper use of time as a public health control, inadequate shellfish records, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, and improper handwashing technique.
Floridian on West Kennedy Boulevard drew three high-severity violations, including toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, inadequate shellfish traceability records, and no consumer advisory for raw foods. Inspectors also noted inadequate ventilation and improper use of wiping cloths.
SoFresh on North Franklin Street drew three high-severity violations: inadequate handwashing facilities, inadequate shellfish identification records, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. Inspectors also found that single-use items were being improperly reused.
Flaming Mountain on University Plaza Street was cited for improper handwashing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Metro Diner on West Kennedy Boulevard drew three high-severity violations, two involving toxic substances. Inspectors cited the restaurant for both improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used, in addition to inadequate shellfish traceability records.
Kingdom Sushi Tampa on South Dale Mabry Highway drew two high-severity violations, including inadequate shellfish records and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, along with improperly used wiping cloths and equipment in poor repair.
Chick-fil-A on Cove Bend Drive drew citations for no person in charge present or performing duties and an employee not reporting illness symptoms, the same management-and-illness pairing found at Malio's.
Hungry Greek on South Dale Mabry Highway was cited for food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized and no consumer advisory for raw foods. Inspectors also flagged improper sewage or wastewater disposal, the same intermediate violation found at Malio's.
Proteinhouse on North Meridian Avenue drew two high-severity violations, including food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized and time as a public health control not properly used. Single-use items were found being improperly reused.
Mission BBQ on Bruce B Downs Boulevard drew two high-severity violations: food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
Minano Ramen on Sheldon Road drew one high-severity violation, for no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
What These Violations Mean
The shellfish traceability citations, which appeared at seven facilities this week including Malio's, Maloney's, Top Shelf Sports Lounge, SoFresh, Floridian, Metro Diner, and Kingdom Sushi, carry a specific public health consequence that goes beyond paperwork. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently eaten raw or barely cooked, and they filter water as they grow, concentrating whatever pathogens are present. When a restaurant cannot produce shellstock identification tags, health investigators have no way to trace an outbreak back to a harvest location or a specific lot. If someone gets sick, the chain of evidence is broken before it starts.
The illness reporting failures at Malio's, Top Shelf Sports Lounge, Maloney's, and Chick-fil-A describe a direct transmission risk. Food workers who do not report symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, or jaundice can shed norovirus or hepatitis A onto every surface and food item they touch during a shift. A single infected employee working through a busy Friday dinner service can expose dozens of customers before anyone notices a problem.
The toxic chemical violations at KFC, Floridian, Metro Diner, and Mission BBQ are not a labeling technicality. Cleaning chemicals stored near or above food prep surfaces, or in unlabeled containers, have caused acute poisoning incidents when they were mistaken for food-safe products or when containers leaked. Two of those facilities, Metro Diner and Mission BBQ, drew both a "toxic chemicals improperly stored" citation and a separate "toxic substances improperly identified" citation, meaning inspectors found multiple failures in the same category at each location.
The management absence citations at Malio's and Chick-fil-A connect directly to the other violations found at both restaurants. CDC research has documented that facilities without an active, certified person in charge during service accumulate roughly three times as many critical violations as those with engaged management on the floor. At Malio's, the absence of a person in charge coincided with improper sewage disposal, no shellfish records, an illness reporting failure, and improper handwashing, a cascade of failures consistent with what happens when no one is accountable.
The Longer Record
Malio's Prime Steakhouse carries 36 prior inspections on record, the deepest history of any facility flagged this week. Five high-severity violations and three intermediate citations at a location with that many prior visits is not the record of a new restaurant still finding its footing. It is the record of a facility that inspectors have returned to more than three dozen times.
Maloney's Local Irish Pub, with 32 inspections on record, and Floridian, with 33, show similar histories. Both drew shellfish traceability failures this week, a category that requires active record-keeping on every delivery, not a one-time fix. Flaming Mountain and SoFresh each carry 31 prior inspections and both drew food contact surface sanitation failures this week.
Top Shelf Sports Lounge and Proteinhouse each carry only 9 prior inspections, making them among the newest facilities in this week's data. Top Shelf drew five high-severity violations including food from an unapproved source, the most serious sourcing failure documented this week. Proteinhouse drew a time-as-public-health-control violation, a process that requires written procedures and active monitoring, and was found reusing single-use items.
Hungry Greek, with only 6 prior inspections, is the newest location in the data. It drew both a food contact surface sanitation failure and an improper sewage disposal citation. The sewage violation at a restaurant with fewer than ten inspections on record is the kind of finding that typically draws a follow-up visit. Whether that visit has been scheduled is not reflected in this week's records.
