FLORIDA. Three restaurants tied for the week's highest violation count, each drawing 12 high-severity citations from state inspectors, and one Miami restaurant was caught sourcing food from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a finding that means there is no paper trail if customers get sick.
The week of October 12 through October 18, 2026 produced a striking concentration of systemic failures, with seven of the ten worst-scoring facilities cited for having no written employee health policy, and five cited for having no responsible person in charge on the premises during the inspection.
The Worst of the Week
Ming Garden on East Colonial Drive in Orlando drew 12 high-severity and 6 intermediate violations, the heaviest combined total of the week. Inspectors cited the restaurant for inadequate handwashing by employees, improper hand and arm washing technique, no employee health policy, failure to report illness symptoms, food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shell stock identification records, parasite destruction procedures not followed, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Kitchen Bistro on West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee matched Ming Garden's 12 high-severity count. Inspectors documented the absence of a person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, missing shell stock records, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and food not cooked to the required minimum temperature.
Famous Amos on North Main Street in Jacksonville also reached 12 high-severity violations, adding a citation for time as a public health control not properly used, a finding that means food was held in the temperature danger zone without a documented time limit to bound the risk.
La Hormiga de Oro III on Southwest 147th Avenue in Miami accumulated 11 high-severity violations including food from an unapproved or unknown source, food in poor condition or adulterated, inadequate shell stock identification, a person in charge not performing duties, and food not cooked to the required minimum temperature.
Tijuana Flats Burrito Company on Highway 50 in Clermont drew 11 high-severity and 7 intermediate violations, the highest intermediate count of the week. The high-severity findings included parasite destruction procedures not followed, food in poor condition, food contact surfaces not sanitized, and food not cooked to the required minimum temperature.
Churros Manolo on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach also reached 11 high-severity violations, including inadequate handwashing by employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, food from an unapproved or unknown source, and parasite destruction procedures not followed.
Margaritaville Resort Orlando's Euphoria Bar and Grill on Fins Up Circle in Kissimmee drew 9 high-severity violations, including toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no person in charge on the premises.
Latin American Grill on Northwest 79th Court in Miami Lakes drew 6 high-severity violations, among them toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, parasite destruction procedures not followed, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and inadequate shell stock records.
A Gourmet Chinese Cuisine on East Colonial Drive in Orlando drew 3 high-severity violations, including toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, along with an intermediate citation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
U Mi FL LLC on West US Highway 90 in Lake City drew one high-severity violation, for employees not reporting symptoms of illness.
What These Violations Mean
The food-from-unapproved-sources citation at La Hormiga de Oro III, Ming Garden, and Churros Manolo is among the most consequential a restaurant can receive. When food enters a kitchen outside the licensed supply chain, there is no USDA or FDA inspection record for it, no lot number, and no way to trace it if a customer becomes ill. Outbreaks tied to uninspected food sources are significantly harder for public health investigators to contain.
The cluster of employee health policy failures across seven of the ten facilities this week represents a structural breakdown, not a one-day lapse. Without a written policy, employees have no documented obligation to report symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, or sore throat with fever before their shift. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States annually, spreads most efficiently through an infected food worker who has no reason to stay home.
Parasite destruction violations, cited at Latin American Grill, Ming Garden, Tijuana Flats, and Churros Manolo, arise when fish or other proteins that require freezing before raw or undercooked service have not been frozen to the required temperature for the required duration. Anisakis larvae in fish and Trichinella in pork survive in food that looks and smells normal. A customer eating a ceviche or sushi preparation has no way to know whether the protocol was followed.
The toxic chemical findings at Latin American Grill, Margaritaville's Euphoria Bar, and A Gourmet Chinese Cuisine are worth noting separately from biological violations. Chemicals stored near or above food, or in unlabeled containers, can cause acute poisoning with no warning, and the symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, and neurological effects, can be misattributed to foodborne illness for hours before a cause is identified.
The Pattern
Five of the ten facilities were cited for having no person in charge present or performing duties during the inspection. That finding matters beyond the single visit. CDC data consistently shows that kitchens operating without active managerial oversight accumulate critical violations at roughly three times the rate of supervised kitchens. The absence of a manager is not a paperwork problem; it is the condition under which all the other violations become more likely.
Kissimmee appeared twice in this week's list, with Kitchen Bistro and Margaritaville's Euphoria Bar both drawing significant high-severity counts. Kitchen Bistro's 12 high-severity violations included inadequate handwashing infrastructure, meaning employees lacked the physical facilities to wash their hands properly regardless of training or intent. Margaritaville's resort-property restaurant, operating at a destination address with a national brand, drew citations for the absence of a person in charge, improper handwashing technique, and improperly stored toxic substances.
Orlando also appeared twice, with Ming Garden and A Gourmet Chinese Cuisine both on East Colonial Drive. Ming Garden's 12 high-severity violations were the most alarming, including both inadequate handwashing by employees and improper technique, meaning inspectors documented not just that handwashing was skipped but that when it was attempted, it was done incorrectly.
The Longer Record
The data this week does not include prior inspection counts for each facility, which limits the ability to say whether any of these restaurants are first-time violators or long-term repeat offenders. What the violation categories do indicate is that several of these kitchens have failures that do not develop overnight. A missing employee health policy is a document that either exists or does not. Inadequate handwashing facilities are a physical condition that persists across shifts. These are not findings that appear because a single employee had a bad day.
The concentration of shell stock identification failures across six of the ten facilities is a pattern worth tracking. Shellfish, particularly oysters and clams served raw or lightly cooked, are among the highest-risk foods in any kitchen. The identification tags that accompany certified shellfish shipments are required to be kept on file for 90 days so that if a customer develops illness from a specific harvest lot, health investigators can trace and pull the supply. When those records are missing at La Hormiga de Oro III, Ming Garden, Kitchen Bistro, Famous Amos, Tijuana Flats, and Margaritaville's Euphoria Bar simultaneously, the traceability system that protects the public from a shellfish-linked outbreak is broken at six points at once.
Famous Amos on North Main Street in Jacksonville was cited for time as a public health control not properly used. That violation means food was being held outside temperature control with no documented time limit, a practice that is permitted under state rules only when a written plan is in place and being followed. Without the documentation, there is no way to determine how long food sat in the temperature danger zone between 41 and 135 degrees, the range in which bacteria double roughly every 20 minutes.
