LAKE MARY, FL. Inspectors visiting Filomena's Pizzeria and Ristorante on North US Highway 17 and 92 in September found food from unapproved or unknown sources being used in the kitchen, a violation that means there is no way to trace where that food came from if a customer gets sick.
That was one of seven high-severity violations cited during the September 24 inspection. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The full list of high-severity violations from the September 24 inspection reads like a comprehensive failure across multiple kitchen systems. Inspectors cited food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and toxic chemicals stored improperly or without labels near food.
Inspectors also found no written employee health policy, meaning there was no formal mechanism to keep sick workers out of the kitchen. They documented improper handwashing technique among staff, and noted the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked menu items.
The five intermediate violations included improper sewage or wastewater disposal, single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, poorly maintained toilet facilities, and equipment in poor repair.
What These Violations Mean
The food-from-unapproved-sources citation is among the most consequential a restaurant can receive. Food that bypasses USDA and FDA inspection channels may carry Listeria, Salmonella, or other pathogens with no paper trail back to the supplier. If a customer becomes ill, health investigators have nothing to trace.
The undercooking violation compounds that risk directly. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When a kitchen is also sourcing food from unknown channels and failing to cook it to required temperatures, the margin for error disappears.
Toxic chemicals stored improperly near food represent a separate and acute danger. Mislabeled or misplaced cleaning agents can contaminate food directly, and the health consequences can be immediate rather than delayed.
The absence of an employee health policy and the documented failure in handwashing technique together describe a kitchen where the most basic disease-transmission safeguards were not in place. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads rapidly when sick workers handle food and when handwashing is inadequate or improperly performed.
The Longer Record
The September 24 inspection did not happen in isolation. State records show Filomena's has accumulated 269 total violations across 30 inspections on file, and the pattern of high-severity citations has been consistent across multiple years.
Inspectors cited four high-severity violations in February 2024, five in September 2023, four in February 2024, and six in September 2025. The follow-up inspection on October 6, 2026, two weeks after the inspection that is the subject of this article, turned up five high-severity violations and four intermediate ones.
The restaurant was emergency-closed once before, in January 2016, after inspectors found roach activity. It reopened the following day. In the decade since that closure, the facility has continued to draw high-severity citations at nearly every inspection on record.
Open for Business
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when conditions present an immediate threat to public health. Roach activity was enough to close Filomena's in 2016.
Seven high-severity violations on September 24, 2026, including food from unknown sources, undercooking, and improperly stored toxic chemicals, were not.
The restaurant remained open after the inspection.
