TAMPA, FL. Employees at Winners Sports Grill on Ehrlich Road were not reporting symptoms of illness to management, according to state inspection records from May 5, 2026, a violation that federal health data links directly to multi-victim foodborne illness outbreaks. That finding was one of six high-severity violations inspectors documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
Every one of the six violations cited on May 5 carried a high-severity designation. None were intermediate. None were basic.
The illness-reporting failure sits at the center of the record. When food workers do not report symptoms, a sick employee can handle food, touch surfaces, and interact with customers without any intervention from management. There was no manager present to intervene in any case: inspectors separately cited the absence of a person in charge performing their duties.
Inspectors also documented improper hand and arm washing technique, meaning employees were going through the motions of handwashing without removing pathogens. That finding, combined with food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, describes a kitchen where contamination from one surface to the next faced little barrier.
The shellfish violation added a separate layer of concern. Inspectors found inadequate shell stock identification and records, meaning the restaurant could not demonstrate where its oysters, clams, or mussels came from. A consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods was also missing, leaving customers with no written notice that certain menu items carry elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
The illness-reporting violation is the one that most directly endangered anyone who ate at Winners Sports Grill on or around May 5. Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads through exactly this mechanism: an infected worker who does not report symptoms, continues handling food, and transmits the virus to dozens of customers before anyone knows there is a problem. The absence of a manager on duty compounds this risk because there is no one positioned to notice symptoms, send an employee home, or make the call to pull food.
Improper handwashing technique is not the same as no handwashing. It is, in some ways, more insidious: employees believe they have washed their hands, managers may believe they have washed their hands, and the pathogens remain. Studies have shown that incorrect technique, skipping steps or not washing long enough, leaves contamination levels close to those of unwashed hands. At Winners, inspectors found this happening alongside food contact surfaces that were not being properly cleaned or sanitized, meaning the transfer routes from hands to surfaces to food were open at multiple points.
The shellfish traceability gap matters most if someone gets sick. Without shell stock identification records, there is no way to trace an illness back to a specific harvest location or supplier, no way to pull a contaminated batch, and no way to alert public health officials to a broader problem. Shellfish are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria and viruses from the water around them. They are frequently consumed raw. The consumer advisory violation means customers at Winners had no way to know that.
The Longer Record
Winners Sports Grill: Inspection Pattern, 2023-2026
The May 5 inspection was not an aberration. State records show 15 inspections on file for Winners Sports Grill, with 75 total violations across that history. The single worst inspection on record was March 27, 2025, when inspectors cited seven high-severity violations and two intermediate ones. The May 5 visit was the second-highest high-severity count in the restaurant's documented history.
High-severity violations have appeared in six of the eight most recent inspections on record. The counts have fluctuated: one high in June 2024, four in November 2024, three in October 2025, one in December 2025, then six in May 2026. The pattern is not one of a restaurant that had a bad stretch and corrected course. It is one of a restaurant that cycles through periods of compliance and periods of serious failure.
Winners has never been emergency-closed. A follow-up inspection on May 8, three days after the six-violation visit, showed zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations, suggesting the specific issues were addressed quickly. But the March 2025 inspection with seven high-severity violations was also followed by lower counts before the numbers climbed again.
On May 5, 2026, with no manager on duty, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing in use, shellfish records missing, food contact surfaces unsanitized, and no consumer advisory posted, Winners Sports Grill served customers and remained open.