GAINESVILLE, FL. Toxic chemicals were stored improperly near food, no manager was present or performing duties, and raw shellfish on the menu had no identification records to trace them if a customer got sick. State inspectors documented all of it at That Bar and Table on SW 91st Street on September 21, 2026. The facility was not closed.
The inspection turned up 9 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations in a single visit, one of the worst single-inspection tallies in the restaurant's recorded history.
What Inspectors Found
The two chemical violations together represent an immediate, acute risk. Inspectors cited both improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals and separately cited toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. The presence of chemicals near food, without proper labeling or separation, creates a direct path for accidental poisoning before food ever reaches a customer's plate.
The shellfish traceability violation is a different category of danger. When oysters, clams, or mussels lack identification records, there is no way to trace them back to a harvest location if a customer falls ill. That traceability is the only mechanism public health officials have to issue a recall or identify the source of a shellfish-related outbreak.
No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked foods, meaning customers who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised had no way of knowing they were eating food that carries elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
The absence of a person in charge is not an administrative technicality. CDC data links establishments without active managerial control to three times the rate of critical violations. Every other failure documented during this inspection, from improper handwashing to unsanitized food contact surfaces, becomes more likely when no one is accountable for enforcing standards in real time.
The handwashing violations compounded each other. Inspectors cited both inadequate handwashing facilities and improper handwashing technique. Inadequate facilities means employees physically cannot wash their hands correctly even if they try. Improper technique means that even when an attempt is made, pathogens remain on hands and transfer directly to food, surfaces, and utensils.
Food contact surfaces that are not properly cleaned and sanitized are a primary route for bacterial transfer between raw and ready-to-eat foods. Paired with improperly cleaned multi-use utensils, which develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours of inadequate cleaning, the conditions documented on September 21 created multiple simultaneous cross-contamination pathways in the same kitchen.
The time-as-public-health-control violation means food was allowed to remain in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, without adequate documentation or tracking. When temperature monitoring is replaced by time tracking, that tracking must be rigorous. It was not.
The Longer Record
The September 2026 inspection was not an aberration. State records show That Bar and Table has been inspected 33 times and has accumulated 198 total violations across its history. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern of high-severity violations runs consistently through the recent record. In March 2026, inspectors found 4 high-severity and 2 intermediate violations. In November 2024, they found 4 high-severity and 1 intermediate. The September 2026 inspection, with 9 high-severity citations, represents the steepest single-visit spike in at least two years.
One inspection in September 2025 showed zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations, followed the next day by 3 high-severity citations. That sequence suggests conditions at the facility can shift rapidly, which makes the absence of consistent managerial control a recurring structural problem, not an isolated lapse.
Across eight inspections dating back to September 2024, the facility has not recorded a single visit entirely free of high-severity violations, except that one-day anomaly in September 2025. The violations are not new. Neither is the pattern.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when an inspector determines that conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Nine high-severity violations, including two separate chemical storage failures, no manager present, untraceable raw shellfish, and no handwashing infrastructure, did not meet that threshold on September 21, 2026.
That Bar and Table remained open after the inspection.
