DORAL, FL. Back in April 2026, inspectors visiting La Fontana d'Orazio at 10702 NW 74th Street found that the restaurant was not following parasite destruction procedures for fish, a failure that left customers exposed to Anisakis and tapeworm with no kill step between the kitchen and their plates.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented on April 2, 2026. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction citation was not the only violation that put customers directly at risk. Inspectors also found that an employee was not reporting illness symptoms, that food was not being cooked to required minimum temperatures, and that food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
The improper handwashing technique violation added a fifth direct exposure route. Even when employees attempted to wash their hands, they were doing it incorrectly, meaning pathogens remained on their hands before they touched food or surfaces.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked menu items. That missing notice is not a paperwork technicality. It is the only mechanism by which elderly diners, pregnant women, and immunocompromised customers are told they face elevated risk from a dish.
On the intermediate side, inspectors cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and improper use of wiping cloths. That is eleven violations across the two tiers combined.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure is the violation that requires the most explanation. When a restaurant serves fish, certain species require either freezing to specific temperatures for specific durations, or cooking to temperatures that kill parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm larvae. When that step is skipped, those organisms can survive and infect the person who eats the fish. This is not a theoretical risk. It is the reason the requirement exists.
The employee illness reporting violation is categorically different but equally serious. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of restaurant-linked outbreaks, spreads through an infected food worker handling ready-to-eat food. The reporting requirement exists so that a sick employee can be removed from food handling before they infect dozens of customers. When that system breaks down, the kitchen has no early warning mechanism.
The undercooking violation compounds both of the above. Salmonella in poultry, for example, survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. A kitchen that is not meeting minimum cooking temperatures and is also not following parasite destruction procedures and also has an employee who may be ill has stacked three independent pathogen pathways on top of each other.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, the fourth high-severity violation, are how contamination spreads laterally across a kitchen. A cutting board or prep surface that carries bacteria from one food item transfers it to the next. Combined with wiping cloths that are not properly sanitized, the result is a kitchen where contamination moves freely.
The Longer Record
The April 2, 2026 inspection did not happen in isolation. State records show 35 total inspections on file for La Fontana d'Orazio, with 482 total violations accumulated across that history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The eight most recent prior inspections, dating back to November 2024, all included high-severity violations. The November 2024 inspection produced 11 high-severity and 7 intermediate violations. The March 2026 inspection produced 9 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. The pattern did not improve heading into April 2026.
Every inspection in that span, from May 2025 through April 2026, found at least four high-severity violations. The lowest high-severity count in any of those eight inspections was four. The highest was eleven.
The day after the April 2 inspection, on April 3, 2026, inspectors returned and found 5 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations. That follow-up visit did not result in a closure either.
Still Open
Across eight consecutive inspections spanning roughly seventeen months, La Fontana d'Orazio accumulated high-severity violations at every single visit. The categories shifted somewhat from inspection to inspection, but the severity tier did not. Parasite procedures, illness reporting, undercooking, contaminated surfaces, and improper handwashing were all present on April 2, 2026.
The restaurant was not closed that day.
