ORLANDO, FL. Inspectors found employees at Ford's Garage on International Drive working without any demonstrated allergen awareness during a May 7 visit, one of nine high-severity violations documented at the popular tourist-corridor restaurant that day. The facility was not closed.
The May 7 inspection produced nine high-severity citations and four intermediate ones. That tally puts it among the more serious single-visit records in the restaurant's history, which now spans 29 inspections and 284 total violations on file with the state.
What Inspectors Found
The allergen citation is among the most acutely dangerous on the list. Ford's Garage serves a menu that includes burgers, seafood, and pub fare, meaning customers with allergies to shellfish, gluten, dairy, or other common triggers were eating without staff equipped to answer their questions accurately.
Inspectors also found that parasite destruction procedures were not being followed, a direct violation tied to the restaurant's fish and potentially other animal proteins. Without verified freezing protocols or proper cooking temperatures, parasites including Anisakis in fish can survive and infect customers.
The shellstock identification failure compounds the seafood risk. Shellfish, including oysters and clams, carry traceability requirements precisely because they are consumed raw or lightly cooked. Without proper records, there is no way to trace an illness back to a specific harvest lot if customers become sick.
Toxic substances were found improperly identified, stored, or used. The intermediate citations included improper sewage or wastewater disposal, a finding that indicates the potential for fecal contamination to move through the facility, and inadequate toilet facilities, which the state links directly to reduced handwashing compliance by employees.
The inspector also cited inadequate handwashing facilities as a separate high-severity violation. No person in charge was present or performing duties.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no allergen awareness and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods is particularly consequential for a restaurant on International Drive, which draws heavy tourist traffic including families, elderly visitors, and international guests who may have no way to identify which menu items carry risk.
Food allergies affect 32 million Americans, and reactions send roughly 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year. When staff cannot accurately identify allergens in dishes, customers with severe allergies are making decisions based on information the restaurant cannot actually provide.
The employee illness reporting failure is a separate and direct outbreak risk. Food workers who do not report symptoms are the primary driver of multi-victim norovirus and other gastrointestinal outbreaks. Combined with the handwashing facility citation, the pathway from a sick employee to contaminated food is shortened considerably.
The sewage disposal violation carries its own category of risk. Improper wastewater handling introduces fecal bacteria into the facility environment. Paired with improperly used wiping cloths, which the state flags as a common contamination vehicle, the potential for cross-contamination across food prep surfaces increases sharply.
The Longer Record
The May 7 inspection was not an anomaly. Records show Ford's Garage has accumulated 284 violations across 29 inspections, a pace that reflects persistent compliance problems rather than a single bad day.
The pattern is clearest in the high-severity column. The September 2025 inspection found six high-severity violations. So did the March 2025 inspection, which was conducted on back-to-back days, March 24 and March 25, each producing six high-severity citations. The July 2022 inspection found five high-severity violations, and the January 2022 inspection found three.
The July 2021 inspection found nine high-severity violations, matching the May 7, 2026 count exactly. That means the restaurant has now hit its worst single-visit high-severity total twice in five years, with consistent elevated counts in between.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in any of its 29 inspections on record.
Still Open
A follow-up inspection on May 15, eight days after the nine-violation visit, found zero high-severity violations and one intermediate citation. The state considers that result a pass.
What the May 15 result does not resolve is what conditions existed on May 7 and in the days before inspectors arrived. Ford's Garage serves a location on one of Florida's most heavily trafficked tourist corridors. The restaurant was open and serving customers through all nine of those high-severity violations.
It has never been closed.
