KISSIMMEE, FL. A state inspector visiting El Asador Restaurante Mexicano on East Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway on July 27 found that staff could not demonstrate any allergen awareness, meaning no one working in the kitchen that day could reliably tell a customer whether a dish contained peanuts, shellfish, tree nuts, or any other common allergen. That violation was one of seven classified as high-severity. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector also found no written employee health policy in place. That means the restaurant had no documented system for keeping sick workers out of the kitchen.
Inspectors cited improper handwashing technique, meaning employees were washing their hands but doing it incorrectly, leaving pathogens on skin despite the attempt. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, creating a direct route for bacterial transfer between raw and ready-to-eat foods.
The restaurant was also using time as a public health control but not following the required procedures. When a kitchen opts to use time rather than temperature to track food safety, the rules for documentation and disposal become strict. The inspector found those rules were not being followed.
No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked menu items, a requirement that exists specifically to warn pregnant customers, elderly diners, and anyone with a compromised immune system that certain dishes carry elevated risk.
Among the intermediate violations, inspectors documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal at the facility. Multi-use utensils were not being properly cleaned, and ventilation and lighting were inadequate.
What These Violations Mean
The allergen violation is not a paperwork problem. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans, and allergic reactions send roughly 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year. When kitchen staff cannot identify allergens in the food they are preparing, a customer with a severe allergy has no reliable way to make a safe choice, regardless of what they ask or what they are told.
The employee health policy violation compounds that risk in a different direction. Without a written policy, there is no formal mechanism to prevent a worker with norovirus or salmonella from showing up and handling food. Norovirus alone accounts for an estimated 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and food workers are a documented transmission route.
The sewage violation carries a different category of danger. Improper wastewater disposal creates conditions for fecal contamination to spread through the facility. That is not a theoretical risk; it is a direct pathway from waste to food preparation surfaces.
The management failure violation ties the others together. CDC data shows that establishments without active managerial control on the floor accumulate high-priority violations at three times the rate of those with engaged supervision. On July 27, the person in charge was either absent or not performing oversight duties. The inspection record reflects what that looks like in practice.
The Longer Record
The July 27 inspection was not an aberration. State records show El Asador has been inspected ten times and has accumulated 80 total violations across that history. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern of high-severity violations runs back at least three years. Inspectors found five high-severity violations in May 2023, five more in December 2023, and another five in July 2025. The two most recent inspections before July 27 of this year each produced four and five high-severity violations respectively.
The July 28 follow-up inspection, conducted the day after the visit that generated ten violations, still found three high-severity and three intermediate violations. That means after a ten-violation inspection, six violations remained unresolved the next day.
No inspection in the available record shows a clean bill of health. The lowest totals on record are two high-severity and one intermediate violation, logged in April 2024. Two weeks later, in September 2024, inspectors returned and found two high-severity and three intermediate violations. A second September 2024 visit found three high-severity and three intermediate violations.
Still Open
State rules allow inspectors to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Seven high-severity violations, including improper sewage disposal, no allergen awareness, no employee health policy, and no functioning managerial oversight, did not meet that threshold on July 27.
El Asador Restaurante Mexicano on East Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway remained open for business after the inspection concluded.
