WEST PALM BEACH, FL. Katsumori Asian Fusion on Old Okeechobee Road drew seven high-severity violations in a single inspection this week, the highest total among 15 West Palm Beach restaurants cited for serious food safety failures between July 27 and August 2, 2026.
The violations at Katsumori covered nearly every major failure category in the state's inspection framework. Inspectors cited the restaurant for food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, inadequate handwashing by food employees, and no person in charge present or performing duties.
That last violation, no manager on site exercising active oversight, is where inspectors often start when they find cascading failures.
The Violations
East Wok WPB on Belvedere Road drew six high-severity violations and one intermediate. Inspectors found no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, food from unapproved sources, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. The intermediate violation involved inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
Proper Grit on North Narcissus Avenue also accumulated six high-severity violations. The list included food from unapproved sources, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, and inadequate shell stock identification records. That last citation means the restaurant could not document where its shellfish, oysters, clams, or mussels, came from.
China Taste on Okeechobee Boulevard matched that count with six high-severity violations of its own. Inspectors cited the restaurant for no person in charge, an employee not reporting symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shell stock identification, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Catch Seafood and Sushi on 25th Street drew five high-severity violations: no person in charge, no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, and inadequate shell stock identification records. Inspectors also found multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, an intermediate violation.
The shellfish traceability problem ran through this week's inspections like a thread. In addition to Proper Grit, China Taste, and Catch Seafood and Sushi, inadequate shell stock identification records were cited at Taqueria Jalisco on Forest Hill Boulevard, Crazy Buffet on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, China Wok 168 Inc on Okeechobee Boulevard, Felice on South Rosemary Avenue, Dontee's Restaurant on Belvedere Road, and Dutch Pot Jamaican Restaurant on Haverhill Road.
Urban Roast on Datura Street drew four high-severity violations including food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, no employee health policy, and improper handwashing technique.
BurgerFi on South Rosemary Avenue was cited for food not cooked to required minimum temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff. The allergen citation is notable for a burger chain, where cross-contact with common allergens like dairy, wheat, and eggs is a routine operational risk.
Lynora's Pizza on South Dixie Highway drew a single high-severity violation for inadequate handwashing by food employees.
What These Violations Mean
The food-from-unapproved-sources citations at Katsumori Asian Fusion, East Wok WPB, and Proper Grit represent one of the most difficult violations to remediate quickly. When food enters a restaurant from a supplier outside the regulated inspection chain, there is no paper trail if a customer gets sick. Federal traceback investigations, the mechanism that links an outbreak to a specific farm or processor, depend entirely on documentation that unapproved sourcing eliminates. Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli O157:H7 have all been traced to uninspected supply chains in past outbreaks.
The illness-reporting failures documented at nine facilities this week, including Katsumori, East Wok WPB, Proper Grit, China Taste, Catch Seafood and Sushi, Crazy Buffet, Felice, Dontee's Restaurant, Thai Haru Restaurant, and Dutch Pot Jamaican Restaurant, represent a direct transmission pathway. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness in the United States, spreads through the fecal-oral route and requires fewer than 20 viral particles to infect a new host. A food worker who does not report illness and continues handling food can expose dozens of customers before a single complaint is filed.
The shellfish traceability gap is particularly acute this week. Nine restaurants were cited for inadequate shell stock identification records. Shellfish are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria, viruses, and toxins from the water they inhabit. When a restaurant cannot produce harvest tags showing where and when its oysters or clams were harvested, health officials cannot determine whether the product came from a conditionally approved growing area, a closed bed, or a supplier operating outside regulatory oversight.
The no-person-in-charge violations at Katsumori, China Taste, Catch Seafood and Sushi, Dontee's Restaurant, Thai Haru Restaurant, and Dutch Pot Jamaican Restaurant matter because active managerial control is the mechanism that catches the other violations before an inspector arrives. CDC data cited in the inspection records shows establishments without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at three times the rate of those with engaged management on the floor.
The Longer Record
Crazy Buffet on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard has the longest inspection history of any facility cited this week, with 45 prior inspections on record. This week's four high-severity violations, including an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shell stock identification, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, come against a backdrop of more than four decades of state scrutiny.
Taqueria Jalisco and Thai Haru Restaurant each carry 32 prior inspections. China Wok 168 Inc and China Taste each have 34 and 29 prior inspections respectively. The presence of handwashing technique failures and illness-reporting gaps at facilities with this volume of inspection history suggests these are not new problems being discovered for the first time.
Dontee's Restaurant on Belvedere Road has 27 prior inspections. Its neighbor, East Wok WPB, also on Belvedere Road, has 28. Both were cited this week for food contact surfaces not properly cleaned and employees not reporting illness symptoms. Two restaurants on the same block, with nearly identical inspection histories, drawing overlapping high-severity violations in the same week.
Urban Roast on Datura Street is the outlier in the other direction. With only two prior inspections on record, it is among the newest facilities in this week's data, and it already drew four high-severity violations including food in poor condition and food not cooked to required minimum temperature. Felice on South Rosemary Avenue, with nine prior inspections, is also relatively early in its inspection history and drew four high-severity violations including inadequate shell stock identification and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned.
Katsumori Asian Fusion, with 25 prior inspections and the highest single-week violation count in this roundup, had inspectors cite it for toxic chemicals improperly stored near food. Whether those chemicals were stored adjacent to food prep surfaces or above food storage is not specified in the state record.
