WINTER SPRINGS, FL. Back in April 2026, a state inspector walked into 3-6-9 Restaurant at 1425 Tuskawilla Road and found food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored near food, and employees using improper handwashing technique. The restaurant was cited for seven high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. It was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The April 15 inspection documented two separate chemical violations. Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances were improperly identified, stored, or used. Those are two distinct failure points in the same category, logged on the same visit.
Food contact surfaces, including cutting boards and prep equipment, were found not properly cleaned or sanitized. Inspectors also cited employees for improper handwashing technique, meaning handwashing was attempted but not performed correctly enough to remove pathogens.
The restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked food items. Time as a public health control was also cited, meaning food was being held in the temperature danger zone without the required written procedures to track and limit that exposure. Single-use items were found being reused, and ventilation was cited as inadequate.
What These Violations Mean
The undercooking violation is among the most direct risks on the April list. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When food is not brought to required minimum temperatures, those pathogens reach the customer's plate alive. The absence of a consumer advisory compounds that risk specifically for elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system, none of whom were warned.
The two chemical violations at 3-6-9 Restaurant represent a separate and immediate danger. When cleaning chemicals or toxic substances are stored near food without proper labeling or separation, the contamination risk is not theoretical. Mislabeled or misplaced chemicals can enter food directly, and acute poisoning can result.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces are how bacteria move from one food item to another. A cutting board used on raw protein that is not properly sanitized before the next use becomes a transfer point. Combined with the improper handwashing technique citation, that creates multiple routes for cross-contamination in a single kitchen.
The time-as-a-public-health-control violation means food was sitting in the temperature range where bacteria multiply fastest, between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit, without the written plan and tracking that state rules require when temperature monitoring is not being used. That is not a paperwork problem. It is a gap in the only system preventing bacterial growth in those foods.
The Longer Record
The April 15 inspection was not an outlier. State records show 3-6-9 Restaurant has been inspected 36 times and has accumulated 544 total violations across that history.
Six days before the April 15 visit, on April 9, inspectors had already found 10 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations at the same location. That inspection and the April 15 inspection together represent 17 high-severity citations in less than a week.
The pattern extends back further. In April 2025, inspectors documented 12 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. In September 2024, a single inspection found 10 high-severity and 6 intermediate violations. The restaurant was emergency-closed in March 2024 after inspectors found roach activity. It reopened the following day after a follow-up inspection.
The March 2024 closure came one day after an inspection that logged 7 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations, the same high-severity count as the April 15, 2026 visit. That earlier inspection triggered a closure. The April 2026 inspection, with an identical high-severity count and violations involving undercooking and chemical storage, did not.
Open for Business
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate public health threat. On April 15, 2026, they found food not cooked to safe temperatures, toxic chemicals improperly stored near food, employees not washing their hands correctly, and food contact surfaces that had not been properly sanitized.
3-6-9 Restaurant has logged violations in nearly every inspection category that food safety regulators track as high priority. It has 544 violations across 36 inspections on record.
After the April 15 visit, it remained open.