LEESBURG, FL. Food at Old Time Dinner on West North Boulevard was not cooked to the required minimum temperature when a state inspector visited on September 22, a violation that means pathogens capable of causing serious illness were not destroyed before the food reached customers.
The September 22 inspection produced six high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
The cooking temperature violation sits at the top of the list because it represents a failure at the last line of defense. Proper cooking heat is what kills Salmonella in poultry, E. coli in ground beef, and other pathogens that survive earlier handling mistakes. When that step is skipped or cut short, whatever contamination accumulated before the food hit the heat stays alive.
Two separate handwashing violations were cited on the same visit. Inspectors documented both that employees were not washing their hands adequately and that their washing technique was improper. Those are distinct citations: one for not doing it, one for doing it wrong.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that touch food directly, were also cited as not properly cleaned or sanitized. That violation compounds the handwashing failures. Contaminated hands touch surfaces. Unsanitized surfaces transfer contamination to the next item prepared on them.
The inspector also cited the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and a failure to follow required procedures for specialized food processes. The sewage and wastewater disposal violation rounds out a picture of a kitchen operating with multiple simultaneous breakdowns.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of undercooked food and two handwashing failures at Old Time Dinner represents an unusually direct contamination chain. Handwashing is the single most documented factor in spreading foodborne illness from kitchen workers to customers. The first citation, inadequate handwashing, means the step was skipped or cut short. The second, improper technique, means that even when employees made an attempt, they did not wash long enough or thoroughly enough to remove pathogens. Both violations on the same day means neither the habit nor the method was in place.
Improperly sanitized food contact surfaces extend that risk. A contaminated hand that touches a cutting board leaves pathogens behind. The next food item prepared on that board picks them up. The chain does not require a single dramatic failure. It requires only that each small failure occur in sequence, which is what the September 22 record shows.
The absence of a consumer advisory is a separate category of harm. Elderly customers, pregnant women, people with compromised immune systems, and young children face disproportionate risk from undercooked food. A consumer advisory on the menu is the mechanism that lets those customers make an informed choice. Without it, they have no way of knowing the risk they are accepting.
The sewage and wastewater disposal violation is the citation that most directly threatens the entire kitchen environment. Raw sewage carries fecal bacteria. Improper disposal means that contamination can spread to surfaces, equipment, and food throughout the facility.
The Longer Record
Old Time Dinner: Recent Inspection Pattern
State records show 56 inspections on file for Old Time Dinner, with 612 total violations documented across that history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The September 10 inspection, just twelve days before this one, produced 12 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate violations. That was not an outlier. The April 29, 2026 inspection also produced 12 high-severity violations.
The fall 2025 stretch is particularly striking. Inspectors visited Old Time Dinner on September 16, 17, 18, and 19 of last year. Each of those four consecutive visits produced 7 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations. The numbers did not change from one day to the next.
Six hundred and twelve violations across 56 inspections averages nearly 11 violations per visit over the life of the record. The September 22 inspection, with 6 high-severity citations, was below that average.
The restaurant remained open after the September 22 inspection.
