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Health inspectors temporary close Sea Hut for second time in a month

On the water just south of the Skyway Bridge you’ll find the Sea Hut restaurant. “I’m looking for a grouper sandwich. It’s all about fresh … fresh seafood,” said one customer on his way in for lunch. But what wasn’t so fresh were the conditions documented by a state health inspector inside the kitchen. Records show Sea Hut Restaurant was temporarily shut down by the state on June 20 with 35 health code violations. The violations included unsafe temperatures on the crab soup, cooked shrimp, lobster bisque and frog legs. There were also small flying insects swarming around a garbage can in the salad prep area with six “larvae-like insects” in standing water inside the salad prep cooler. The inspector also reported finding 40 rodent droppings near the ice machine and under the single service items. “That’s definitely a concern, yeah,” said the same customer who was looking to order a grouper sandwich. 10News stopped in Wednesday to check on the conditions in the kitchen. “Ummm … can you give us about a week and then come back?” asked a woman who identified herself as the restaurant’s manager. When we asked if customers who were eating in the restaurant should be concerned, the manager told us, “We’re not going to comment today. It’s clean.” But customers we talked to didn’t seem so sure. “We’re going to probably leave,” said the customer. The manager came back outside to assure that same customer and his friend the kitchen was cleaned up. “They wouldn’t have let [us] open back up without passing the health inspection,” said the manager. And while records confirm the restaurant was cleared to reopen, the establishment still requires a follow-up inspection. In fact, last week was the second emergency closure in the past month. The restaurant was also shut down May 23 with 127 rodent droppings including on the lid of the sugar bin, above the reach-in cooler and over the oven. The inspector reported dead roaches under the dish storage shelf and inside the sanitizer dispenser on the cook line and also wrote up employees for touching ready-to-eat food with their bare hands.

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