SANFORD, FL. State inspectors ordered Ichigo Ichie Buffet at 3611 S Orlando Drive closed on July 20 after finding evidence of rodent activity inside the restaurant, the third time the Seminole County buffet has been shut down by regulators.
The closure order required the restaurant to vacate by July 21. Inspectors returned that morning and the restaurant was cleared to reopen at 9:21 a.m., roughly 24 hours after the shutdown was ordered.
What Inspectors Found
Ichigo Ichie Buffet: Recent Inspection Pattern
The July 20 inspection produced seven high-severity violations and five intermediate violations before inspectors pulled the plug. The rodent finding was the trigger for the emergency order, but it was not the only serious problem documented that day.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for food from an unapproved or unknown source, a violation that means regulators cannot verify where some of the food being served to customers actually came from. Food contact surfaces were found not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Two separate chemical violations were written up: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Both appeared on the same inspection report.
Sewage or wastewater disposal was flagged as improper. Ventilation and lighting were cited as inadequate.
When inspectors returned the next morning, July 21, four high-severity violations and two intermediate violations were still on the books. The restaurant was allowed to reopen, but the follow-up inspection was not a clean bill of health.
What These Violations Mean
Rodent activity in a food service facility is one of the conditions Florida regulators treat as an immediate public health threat warranting emergency closure, and the reasoning is direct. Rodents contaminate surfaces, food, and equipment with urine, droppings, and hair. They carry pathogens including Salmonella and Hantavirus. In a buffet setting, where food sits in open trays accessible to customers throughout service hours, the contamination risk is not theoretical.
The food sourcing violation adds a separate layer of concern. When inspectors flag food from an unapproved or unknown source, it means some portion of what was being served bypassed the federal and state inspection systems designed to catch contaminated product before it reaches a kitchen. If a customer had gotten sick, tracing the source would have been significantly harder.
The chemical violations are acutely dangerous in a different way. Improperly stored or unlabeled toxic substances near food preparation areas can cause direct poisoning, not through bacterial growth over time but immediately, through accidental contamination of food or surfaces. Two separate chemical citations on one inspection report is not a paperwork overlap; it signals systemic storage and labeling failures.
The sewage violation compounds all of it. Improper wastewater disposal creates pathways for fecal contamination to reach food contact surfaces, utensils, and food itself.
The Longer Record
Ichigo Ichie Buffet has 48 inspections on record and 758 total violations documented across its history at the South Orlando Drive address. That volume, spread across nearly five dozen visits, is not the profile of a restaurant that stumbled once.
The July 20 closure was the facility's third emergency shutdown. The first came on July 13, 2022, when inspectors closed the restaurant for roach activity. It reopened the following day. Now, four years later, rodent activity triggered another closure at the same location.
The inspection pattern in the months leading up to July 20 was not improving. On November 19, 2025, inspectors documented nine high-severity violations and four intermediate violations in a single visit. A follow-up two days later showed the numbers drop sharply, but the underlying pattern held: a spike of serious violations, a cleanup, a passing follow-up, then another spike.
The same arc played out in summer 2025. On July 8, inspectors found seven high-severity violations and five intermediate violations. A visit nine days later showed zero high-severity violations. Then, eleven months later, the restaurant was closed again.
Four high-severity violations remained on the books when inspectors cleared the restaurant to reopen on the morning of July 21. What specific conditions those four violations describe, and whether they were resolved before customers returned to the buffet line, the inspection record does not say.
