CLERMONT, FL. A state inspection of Friar Tuck at 601 Cagan Park Ave on June 11 found the restaurant operating without an approved potable water supply, one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The facility was not closed.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for serving food that had not been cooked to required minimum temperatures, a finding that sits near the top of any list of conditions that put customers directly at risk. Six high-severity violations and one intermediate violation were recorded in a single visit, and Friar Tuck continued serving customers after inspectors left.
What Inspectors Found
The water violation alone is a significant finding. An unapproved water supply in a food establishment can introduce E. coli, Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and Legionella into any food or surface that water touches, which in a working kitchen is nearly everything.
The undercooked food citation compounds that risk. Pathogens including Salmonella in poultry survive temperatures below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and undercooking is among the leading documented causes of foodborne illness outbreaks nationally.
Inspectors also found that food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that food touches before it reaches a plate, were not being properly cleaned and sanitized. Improperly cleaned surfaces are a primary transfer route for bacteria between raw and ready-to-eat foods.
The shellfish violation adds a separate layer of concern. Without proper shell stock identification records, there is no traceability if a customer becomes ill after eating oysters, clams, or mussels. Shellfish are consumed raw or lightly cooked and are among the highest-risk foods a restaurant can serve.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory notifying customers that raw or undercooked items were on the menu. That notice exists specifically to warn elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and people with compromised immune systems that certain dishes carry elevated risk.
No written employee health policy rounded out the high-severity count. Without one, there is no formal mechanism requiring a sick worker to report symptoms or stay off the line.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of violations documented on June 11 is not a list of paperwork failures. Most of them represent direct, physical pathways from a contaminated kitchen to a customer's plate.
The potable water violation is the broadest in scope. Water touches food during prep, rinses produce, fills ice machines, and is used to clean the very surfaces that contact food. A non-approved supply introduces microbial risk at every one of those points simultaneously.
The undercooked food and unsanitized food contact surface violations work in tandem. Raw proteins that are not brought to safe temperatures can harbor Salmonella and Campylobacter. If the cutting board or prep surface those proteins touched is not properly sanitized between uses, bacteria transfer to whatever is prepared next, including foods that will never be cooked again before serving.
The missing consumer advisory matters most for the people least equipped to recover from foodborne illness. A customer who orders a dish with raw shellfish or undercooked eggs has no way of knowing the risk if the menu carries no warning. At Friar Tuck on June 11, it did not.
The Longer Record
The June 11 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Friar Tuck has been inspected 33 times and has accumulated 323 total violations across that history.
The pattern in recent years is consistent. Inspectors documented 7 high-severity violations in October 2024, followed by 3 high-severity violations the following month. In March 2025, back-to-back inspections on consecutive days turned up 7 high-severity violations on the first day and 4 on the second. An October 2025 visit found 5 high-severity violations.
The facility was emergency-closed once before, in November 2018, after an inspector found flies. It reopened the following day.
Friar Tuck: Recent Inspection Pattern
What the record shows is not a restaurant that had a bad week. It is a restaurant that has produced high-severity violation counts in nearly every inspection across multiple years, in overlapping categories, without a documented break in the pattern.
The June 11 inspection found six conditions that state law classifies as high severity. Friar Tuck was not closed.