WEST PALM BEACH, FL. Inspectors visiting Sourbon at 215 Clematis St. this week found no manager present and performing duties, improper sewage disposal, and food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized, four high-severity violations in a single inspection that put the Clematis Street bar among the most-cited facilities in Palm Beach County this week.
The sewage violation stood out. Improper wastewater disposal is not a paperwork failure. It is a direct route for fecal contamination to reach food preparation surfaces, and inspectors cited it alongside a separate finding that employees were not washing their hands adequately and, in a distinct violation, were not washing them with proper technique.
Those two handwashing violations are not redundant. One documents that employees skipped handwashing when they should have done it. The other documents that when they did wash, they did it wrong.
What Inspectors Found
Sourbon's full citation list for the week included improperly used wiping cloths and multi-use utensils that had not been properly cleaned, in addition to the sewage and handwashing findings. Seven violations total, four of them high-severity.
Talkin' Taco at 1900 Okeechobee Blvd. drew three high-severity violations of its own, including one that state health officials regard as among the most dangerous findings an inspector can document: an employee who was not reporting symptoms of illness.
The taco shop was also cited for a person in charge not present or not performing duties, and for food found to be in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated. Inspectors additionally noted inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
Bono Pizza and Pasta Two at 1649 Forum Pl. Suite 3 received one intermediate violation, for the improper reuse of single-use items. No high-severity violations were cited at that location.
What These Violations Mean
The sick employee finding at Talkin' Taco is the violation type that most directly connects a restaurant inspection to a public health emergency. When a food worker continues working while experiencing symptoms of illness, such as vomiting or diarrhea, they become a direct transmission route for pathogens including norovirus and Salmonella. A single infected worker preparing food for hundreds of customers in a single shift is the mechanism behind most multi-victim restaurant outbreaks. The violation does not mean an employee was confirmed sick. It means the facility had no system in place to ensure sick workers were staying home or reporting their condition.
The absence of a person in charge, cited at both Sourbon and Talkin' Taco this week, compounds every other violation on the inspection report. CDC data cited in the inspection records indicates that establishments without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at three times the rate of supervised facilities. At Sourbon, inspectors arrived and found not just no manager but a cascade of failures, handwashing skipped, handwashing done wrong, food contact surfaces left unsanitized, and wastewater not properly disposed of. That pattern is consistent with a kitchen operating without oversight.
The sewage violation at Sourbon deserves particular attention. Raw sewage carries concentrations of pathogens that can contaminate surfaces, equipment, and food throughout a facility. Improper disposal means that contamination is not contained. Combined with the finding that food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and equipment that touches food directly, had not been properly cleaned or sanitized, the inspection record at Sourbon describes a facility where multiple contamination pathways were active simultaneously.
At Bono Pizza and Pasta Two, the single-use item reuse finding is lower on the severity scale but not trivial. Items like gloves, cups, and foil are designed for one use because they cannot be reliably sanitized after contact with food or surfaces. Reusing them transfers whatever contamination they picked up during first use directly to the next food or surface they touch.
The Pattern at Each Address
Sourbon's 34 prior inspections on record give this week's findings a context that a first-time citation would not carry. Thirty-four inspections is a substantial history for any food service establishment, and the violations documented this week, handwashing failures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, sewage disposal, and absent managerial oversight, are not obscure code technicalities. They are the core subjects of every food safety training program in the industry.
Talkin' Taco has 17 prior inspections on record. That is a shorter history, but the violations this week are serious enough that the inspection count matters less than the content. A facility where employees are not reporting illness symptoms and where no person in charge is present is a facility where the foundational systems of food safety management are not functioning, regardless of how long the restaurant has been operating.
The Longer Record
Sourbon's 34 inspections make it the most-inspected facility of the three cited this week. That volume of inspections does not by itself indicate a problem. A high-volume establishment on a busy street like Clematis will attract more inspector attention than a small strip-mall location. But 34 inspections also means 34 opportunities for the handwashing, sanitation, and management presence violations documented this week to have been identified, corrected, and prevented from recurring.
Talkin' Taco's 17 inspections represent a mid-length record. The sick employee reporting violation is one that typically surfaces when a facility lacks written illness policies or when management has not trained staff on when to stay home. That is a systemic failure, not an isolated lapse, and it appeared this week alongside two other high-severity citations.
Bono Pizza and Pasta Two has 24 prior inspections on record and came away this week with a single intermediate violation. That outcome stands in contrast to both Sourbon and Talkin' Taco, which together accounted for seven high-severity violations between them in the same inspection week.
The unresolved question from this week's records is whether Sourbon's sewage disposal violation was corrected before service resumed, and whether a follow-up inspection has been scheduled or completed. The inspection record for the week of June 3 does not include a reinspection entry for that address.