ORLANDO, FL. Inspectors visiting Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House at 9150 International Drive on April 20 found that the restaurant was not following parasite destruction procedures for fish, a failure that leaves customers who ordered raw or lightly prepared seafood exposed to Anisakis and tapeworm without any indication on their plate that something had gone wrong.
That was one of eight high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The full list of violations reads like a catalog of the ways a kitchen can fail its customers simultaneously. Inspectors cited the restaurant for food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, a direct pathway for Salmonella and other pathogens to survive and reach a diner's plate.
Toxic substances were found to be improperly identified, stored, or used. At a restaurant where food preparation is continuous and surfaces are shared, that violation carries an immediate risk of chemical contamination of food.
Employees were cited for not reporting symptoms of illness, and separately for using improper handwashing technique. Those two violations together describe a kitchen where the most basic barriers between a sick worker and a customer's food were not functioning.
Shell stock identification records were found to be inadequate. Del Frisco's menu includes shellfish, which are consumed raw or lightly cooked and carry elevated risk from Vibrio and other pathogens. Without proper tagging records, there is no way to trace an oyster or clam back to its harvest bed if a customer becomes ill.
The time-as-public-health-control violation means that food was allowed to sit in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, without proper tracking of how long it had been there. That procedure exists as a substitute for refrigeration in specific circumstances, and it only works if someone is actively managing the clock.
No person in charge was present or performing duties at the time of the inspection.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction violation is specific to how the restaurant handles fish before it reaches the table. Certain fish served raw or undercooked, including salmon and tuna preparations common on steakhouse menus, must be frozen to specific temperatures for specific durations to kill parasites like Anisakis. When that step is skipped, the parasite risk transfers directly to the customer. There is no visible sign on the finished dish.
The undercooking violation compounds that picture. At a steakhouse, customers ordering medium-rare beef carry an understood and accepted risk. But when inspectors cite a restaurant for food not reaching required minimum temperatures, the concern extends to poultry and other proteins where undercooking is not a preference but a hazard. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
The illness-reporting and handwashing violations describe a workforce that, on the day of inspection, was not following the two most fundamental rules of food handling. Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads almost entirely through this route: a sick worker, inadequate hand hygiene, food that reaches a customer. These are not paperwork violations.
The shellfish traceability failure matters most after the fact. If a customer reports illness tied to raw shellfish from Del Frisco's, investigators need harvest records to identify the source and whether other restaurants received product from the same bed. Without those records, that investigation stops before it starts.
The Longer Record
April 20 was not an outlier. State records show Del Frisco's Double Eagle on International Drive has been inspected 24 times and has accumulated 179 total violations across its history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The eight most recent inspections before April 20 each produced high-severity violations. The November 2025 visit found five high-severity violations. The July 2023 visit found seven. The April 2023 visit found five, with no intermediate violations, a profile nearly identical to the April 20 inspection. Going back to June 2022, every inspection on record has included at least three high-severity citations.
That is eight consecutive inspections, spanning nearly four years, each with high-severity findings. The violations documented this month are not a new development at this address.
The restaurant has never triggered an emergency closure order across 24 inspections and 179 recorded violations.
Open for Dinner
Del Frisco's Double Eagle is a national upscale steakhouse chain. The International Drive location sits in one of Orlando's highest-traffic tourist corridors, drawing visitors who may have no familiarity with its inspection record before they sit down.
On April 20, inspectors documented eight high-severity violations, including failures tied to parasite control, cooking temperatures, toxic substance handling, employee illness reporting, and the absence of any functioning managerial oversight.
The restaurant remained open.