CLERMONT, FL. A state inspector visiting Cedar Grill at 2407 S Hwy 27 on June 23, 2026 found employees not reporting illness symptoms, toxic chemicals improperly stored, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no person in charge performing any supervisory duties. The restaurant collected six high-severity violations and four intermediate ones. It was not closed.
That combination of violations, on a single inspection day, represents some of the most direct pathways to a customer getting hurt that state inspectors are trained to flag.
What Inspectors Found
The illness-reporting violation is the one that public health officials consistently identify as the most dangerous in a food service setting. A worker with norovirus or Salmonella who continues preparing food without disclosing symptoms can infect dozens of customers before a single complaint is filed.
Toxic chemicals stored improperly near food or without proper labels present a different and more immediate danger. A mislabeled chemical container, or a cleaner stored above a prep surface, can contaminate food directly. The inspector cited that violation alongside the illness-reporting failure on the same visit.
The shellfish records violation adds a traceability problem. Cedar Grill serves shellfish, and without proper shell stock identification, there is no way to trace where those oysters, clams, or mussels came from if a customer becomes ill. That information is the first thing public health investigators need during an outbreak response.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory informing customers that raw or undercooked foods carry elevated risk. Elderly diners, pregnant women, and anyone with a compromised immune system have no way to make an informed choice without that disclosure.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no manager on duty and employees not reporting illness is not coincidental. CDC research shows that food service establishments without active managerial oversight accumulate critical violations at three times the rate of supervised kitchens. When no one in authority is monitoring food handling, temperature controls, and employee health, every other safety system is weaker.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, cited here as a high-severity violation, are one of the most common bacterial transfer points in a restaurant kitchen. Cutting boards, prep tables, and slicers that are not properly sanitized carry bacteria from one food item to the next. The intermediate citation for multi-use utensils not properly cleaned compounds that risk: biofilms, which are layers of bacteria that adhere to surfaces and resist standard cleaning, can form within 24 hours on equipment that is not sanitized correctly.
Single-use items being reused, also cited at this inspection, creates a contamination chain that is difficult to interrupt once it is established in kitchen practice. Gloves, foil, and single-use containers are designed to be discarded precisely because cleaning them to a safe standard is not reliably achievable.
Equipment in poor repair rounds out the intermediate violations. Cracked, chipped, or corroded equipment harbors bacteria in places that a cleaning cloth cannot reach.
The Longer Record
June 23 was not an anomaly. The state's inspection record for Cedar Grill shows 29 inspections on file and 322 total violations documented over the life of the restaurant. The two inspections conducted the following day, June 24, produced five high-severity violations each, suggesting that the problems identified on June 23 were not resolved quickly.
The pattern stretches back years. In September 2025, inspectors cited eight high-severity and six intermediate violations. In March 2025, the count was nine high-severity and three intermediate. In May 2024, nine high-severity and two intermediate. In December 2024, six high-severity and three intermediate.
In March 2024, the restaurant was emergency-closed after inspectors documented roach activity. It reopened the following day. That closure is the only one in the facility's record, despite the volume of high-severity violations that preceded and followed it.
Still Open
The inspection history at Cedar Grill describes a kitchen that has been cited for serious food safety failures across eight documented visits in less than two years, with violation totals that have remained high at nearly every return. The June 23 inspection added six more high-severity citations to that record.
The restaurant was not closed that day. It continued operating.
