DORAL, FL. State inspectors visiting La Fontana d'Orazio at 10702 NW 74th Street on August 26 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means the restaurant was serving items that had bypassed federal safety inspection entirely. The facility logged 9 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate violations that day. It was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most serious an inspector can document. Unapproved suppliers operate outside the USDA and FDA inspection chain, meaning there is no regulatory record if someone gets sick and investigators need to trace an outbreak back to its origin.
Alongside that, inspectors cited a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures. For a restaurant serving fish or other proteins that require freezing to a specific temperature before serving raw or undercooked, skipping that step leaves live parasites, including Anisakis and tapeworm, in the food.
Three separate handwashing violations appeared on the same inspection report: inadequate facilities, inadequate handwashing by employees, and improper technique. That is not one lapse. That is a facility where hand hygiene failed at the infrastructure level, the practice level, and the execution level simultaneously.
Food contact surfaces were cited as not properly cleaned or sanitized. The restaurant also had no consumer advisory posted to warn diners about the risks of raw or undercooked items, a requirement specifically designed to protect elderly customers, pregnant women, and anyone with a compromised immune system.
Inspectors also documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal, reuse of single-use items, improperly cleaned multi-use utensils, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and inadequate cooling or cold holding equipment. No person in charge was present or performing duties during the inspection.
What These Violations Mean
Food from an unapproved source is not a paperwork problem. If a diner becomes ill after eating at La Fontana d'Orazio and investigators need to determine whether the food itself was contaminated, a supplier outside the regulated chain may have no traceable records. Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli have all been linked to uninspected food sources in past outbreaks.
The parasite destruction failure compounds that risk directly. A restaurant serving raw or lightly cooked fish without verified freezing protocols is serving food that may contain live parasites. Anisakis larvae, for example, can cause severe abdominal pain and require surgical removal in serious cases. The consumer advisory violation means diners had no notice this was happening.
Three simultaneous handwashing failures represent a systemic breakdown, not an oversight. Inspectors distinguish between having a sink available, washing hands consistently, and washing with proper technique. All three were cited here. Pathogens including Norovirus and Salmonella spread through direct hand contact with food, and Norovirus alone accounts for roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year.
The sewage violation is the one that moves the contamination risk beyond the kitchen. Improper wastewater disposal can introduce fecal contamination into areas throughout the facility. Combined with improperly cleaned utensils and reused single-use items, the August 26 inspection described a kitchen where multiple contamination pathways were active at the same time.
The Longer Record
The August 26 inspection was not an outlier. State records show La Fontana d'Orazio has been inspected 36 times and has accumulated 505 total violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The eight most recent prior inspections tell the same story in repeating form. In March 2025, inspectors found 9 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations, the same high-severity count as August 2026. In September 2025, the tally was 7 high and 4 intermediate. In May 2025, 7 high and 4 intermediate. The count has never dropped below 4 high-severity violations across any of the last eight inspections on record.
The categories repeat as well. Food sourcing, handwashing, temperature control, and management failures appear across multiple inspection cycles. A facility that draws 9 high-severity violations in March 2025 and then draws 9 high-severity violations again in August 2026, with similar counts in every inspection between, is not having a bad week. It is operating at a consistent baseline that regulators have documented dozens of times.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when inspectors determine an imminent hazard to public health exists. On August 26, inspectors at La Fontana d'Orazio documented food from unknown sources, live parasites potentially reaching customers without warning, sewage disposal failures, and a kitchen operating without anyone in charge.
The restaurant was not closed.
Customers who ate at La Fontana d'Orazio on or around August 26 had no way of knowing any of this. The violations are in the public record. The restaurant remained open.
