ORLANDO, FL. Back in February 2026, state inspectors walked into Chimi Spot at 3900 S. Goldenrod Road and found what the records describe simply as rodent activity, enough to order the restaurant vacated by the following morning.
The closure order was issued on February 20, 2026. The facility was given until February 21 to clear out.
What Inspectors Found
Chimi Spot: Recent Inspection Severity, 2025–2026
The February 20 inspection logged five high-severity violations and two intermediate ones. Rodent activity was the trigger for the emergency shutdown, the specific finding that pushed inspectors to pull the license and post the closure order.
The restaurant did reopen. Records show an inspection was conducted the next morning, February 21, and the facility was cleared at 9:33 a.m. But that clearance came with four high-severity violations and one intermediate violation still on the books.
The Violations
The most recent inspection on record, conducted April 21, 2026, documented that required procedures for specialized processes were not being followed. Specialized processes, under state food safety rules, include smoking, curing, fermenting, reduced-oxygen packaging, and sprouting. Each of those methods requires precise controls because they suppress or alter the normal bacterial environment of food. When those controls are not followed, the safety margin disappears.
That same April 21 visit also included an intermediate violation for inadequate ventilation and lighting. Inspectors noted that poor ventilation allows grease-laden vapors, carbon monoxide, smoke, and steam to accumulate in the kitchen environment.
A second inspection on the same date, April 21, found seven high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. The records do not specify whether that second visit was a follow-up to the first or a separate unannounced inspection.
What These Violations Mean
Rodent activity in a food service environment is one of the most direct public health threats inspectors can document. Rodents contaminate food contact surfaces, utensils, and stored ingredients with urine, feces, and fur. Unlike a temperature violation, which requires a specific food item to be consumed to cause illness, rodent contamination spreads across everything in a kitchen, surfaces that are touched, equipment that is used, and food that sits in storage.
The specialized process violation documented in April carries its own serious risk. Processes like reduced-oxygen packaging and smoking are designed to extend shelf life, but they create conditions where pathogens like Clostridium botulinum can thrive if temperature, time, and acidity controls are not maintained exactly. The state requires written procedures and documented monitoring for these processes precisely because a failure is not visible. A customer cannot see or smell botulism toxin in improperly processed food.
Inadequate ventilation compounds both problems. Grease vapor accumulation accelerates surface contamination, and carbon monoxide buildup in a kitchen creates a hazard for employees working in the space. Neither issue resolves on its own.
The Longer Record
The February 2026 closure was not the first time Chimi Spot had been ordered shut. State records show the facility had one prior emergency closure before the February incident, meaning this was the second time inspectors determined conditions were serious enough to remove customers and staff from the building.
Across 30 inspections on record, the facility has accumulated 285 total violations. That averages out to more than nine violations per inspection visit. The pattern in the recent inspection history is consistent: every single inspection listed in the data, going back to April 2025, found at least four high-severity violations. The August 19, 2025 inspection found seven high-severity violations. The April 21, 2026 follow-up found seven more.
High-severity violations are the category that includes the findings most directly linked to foodborne illness risk, including temperature abuse, improper food sourcing, sick employees handling food, and, in this case, rodent activity and process failures. A facility that logs four or more high-severity violations on every inspection over a twelve-month span is not experiencing isolated lapses.
The reopen inspection on February 21, 2026, cleared the restaurant to resume service, but four high-severity violations remained documented at that moment. Two months later, in April, inspectors were back again, and the violation counts had not dropped. The April 21 data shows a combined eight high-severity violations across two inspections conducted on the same day.
Whether conditions at the facility have improved since that April visit, the records do not yet show.