LUTZ, FL. A food worker at Tampa Steak and Sushi on North Florida Avenue could have been sick, contagious, and handling your order on June 3, and the restaurant had no written policy requiring that worker to report it.

State inspectors cited the Lutz restaurant that day for six high-severity violations and zero intermediate ones. The facility was not emergency-closed.

What Inspectors Found

1HIGHNo employee health policyDisease transmission risk
2HIGHEmployee not reporting illness symptomsOutbreak enabler
3HIGHImproper handwashing techniquePathogen transfer
4HIGHInadequate handwashing facilitiesHygiene infrastructure failure
5HIGHNo consumer advisory for raw/undercooked foodsUninformed vulnerable diners
6HIGHPerson in charge not present or not performing dutiesManagement failure

The restaurant had no written employee health policy and, separately, at least one employee was not reporting illness symptoms, according to the inspection record. Those are two distinct violations, but they compound each other: without a policy, workers have no formal obligation to stay home when sick, and without reporting, a symptomatic employee can move through an entire shift undetected.

Inspectors also documented improper handwashing technique and inadequate handwashing facilities. Again, two separate citations. Inadequate facilities mean the infrastructure for proper hygiene wasn't there. Improper technique means that even when a handwashing attempt was made, it wasn't done correctly.

The restaurant serves raw and undercooked items, common at any sushi operation, but inspectors found no consumer advisory on the menu alerting customers to that risk. No one in charge was present or performing supervisory duties during the inspection.

What These Violations Mean

The illness-reporting violation is the one that most directly affects anyone who ate at Tampa Steak and Sushi around June 3. Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States with roughly 20 million cases annually, spreads most efficiently through food handled by a sick worker. A written health policy is the mechanism that gives a restaurant the ability to pull that worker off the line before they infect customers. Without one, there is no policy to enforce and no standard to violate internally.

The handwashing citations reinforce that problem. Inadequate facilities and improper technique are not paperwork violations. They are the physical pathway by which pathogens move from a worker's hands onto food. Studies consistently show that proper handwashing is the single most effective intervention against foodborne illness transmission, and both the infrastructure and the execution were cited as deficient here.

The missing consumer advisory carries a narrower but serious risk. Customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, the elderly, and young children face significantly higher consequences from eating raw or undercooked fish and meat. Without a menu advisory, those customers have no way to make an informed choice. At a restaurant that combines steak and sushi, raw preparations are not incidental.

The absence of a person in charge performing duties ties it together. CDC research shows establishments without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at roughly three times the rate of those with engaged management. Every other violation found on June 3 is consistent with a kitchen operating without supervision.

The Longer Record

Tampa Steak and Sushi: Inspection History

June 3, 20266 high-severity violations. No closure. No person in charge. No illness policy. Improper handwashing.
Feb. 20, 2026Clean inspection. Zero high or intermediate violations.
Feb. 11, 20265 high, 2 intermediate violations.
Jan. 31, 20251 high violation.
Jan. 15, 20255 high, 3 intermediate violations.
Aug. 22, 2024Clean inspection. Zero violations.
June 21, 20241 high, 1 intermediate violation.
June 20, 20243 high, 3 intermediate violations.
Dec. 19, 20230 high, 1 intermediate violation.

Tampa Steak and Sushi has nine inspections on record going back to December 2023. Across those visits, inspectors have documented 41 total violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.

The pattern is not one of a struggling new operation finding its footing. It is a cycle. The restaurant drew 3 high-severity violations on June 20, 2024, then passed clean the following day. It accumulated 5 high-severity violations on January 15, 2025, then passed with just one high violation two weeks later. It passed cleanly on February 20, 2026, then returned to 6 high-severity violations by June 3, 2026, the worst single-inspection total in its record.

Four of the nine inspections have resulted in five or more combined high and intermediate violations. Four others have come back clean or near-clean. The facility has demonstrated it can pass inspections. What the record shows is that passing does not hold.

The June 3 inspection produced the highest high-severity count in the restaurant's documented history. No emergency closure was ordered.