WINTER SPRINGS, FL. Back in April 2026, state inspectors walked into 3-6-9 Restaurant at 1425 Tuskawilla Road and documented something that would alarm most diners: food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning ingredients that had bypassed federal safety inspections entirely, sitting in a kitchen that also failed to follow parasite destruction procedures for fish and other proteins.
The April 9 inspection turned up 10 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation was among the most serious documented that day. Food from unapproved or unknown origins has no traceability, meaning if a customer got sick, investigators would have no chain of custody to follow back to the source.
The parasite destruction failure added a separate layer of risk. Proper freezing and cooking protocols exist specifically to kill organisms like Anisakis in fish and Trichinella in pork. When those procedures are skipped, those organisms reach the plate.
Inspectors also cited the kitchen for not cooking food to required minimum temperatures, a violation that keeps pathogens like Salmonella alive in poultry and E. coli viable in ground beef. On top of that, toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled, and a second violation noted toxic substances not properly identified or used, two separate citations pointing to the same dangerous category.
Employees were cited for improper handwashing technique, which the inspection record distinguishes from simply not washing hands. A worker can go through the motion of washing and still leave pathogens on their hands if the technique is wrong.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items on its menu. That notice exists to warn pregnant women, elderly diners, and people with compromised immune systems that certain menu items carry elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of unapproved food sourcing and failed parasite destruction is particularly serious because the risks compound each other. Food that bypasses USDA and FDA inspection may already carry Listeria or Salmonella contamination. If the kitchen then also skips the freezing or cooking steps designed to kill parasites, customers face exposure on multiple fronts simultaneously.
The undercooking violation sharpens that picture. Salmonella in poultry requires an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be destroyed. When food does not reach that threshold, every plate of undercooked chicken sent out of that kitchen is a potential transmission event.
The two chemical storage violations at 3-6-9 that day represent a separate and immediate hazard. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food preparation areas can contaminate food directly, and mislabeled containers create the conditions for accidental poisoning. The fact that inspectors cited both a storage violation and an identification violation suggests the problem was not isolated to a single misplaced bottle.
The missing consumer advisory matters most for the most vulnerable diners. Without that notice on the menu, a customer who is pregnant, elderly, or immunocompromised has no way of knowing a dish carries elevated risk before ordering it.
The Longer Record
The April 9 inspection did not represent a new low for 3-6-9 Restaurant. It represented a pattern that state records have been documenting for years.
The facility has 36 inspections on record and 544 total violations documented across that history. A single emergency closure appears in the record, from March 27, 2024, when inspectors found roach activity serious enough to shut the restaurant down. It reopened the following day.
The inspection on April 23, 2025, turned up 12 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate violations, a worse single-visit total than the April 9, 2026 inspection. September 16, 2024, produced 10 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations. The March 27, 2024 closure inspection also recorded 7 high-severity violations, the same day roaches forced the doors shut.
The pattern across those visits is not random variation. High-severity violation counts of 5, 6, 7, 10, and 12 appear repeatedly across inspections spanning more than two years. A follow-up inspection conducted six days after the April 9 visit, on April 15, 2026, still found 7 high-severity violations and 2 intermediate violations.
Still Open
State inspectors documented 10 high-severity violations at 3-6-9 Restaurant on April 9, 2026, including food from unapproved sources, parasite destruction failures, undercooking, and improperly stored toxic chemicals.
The restaurant remained open.
Six days later, a follow-up visit found 7 more high-severity violations still on the books.