ORANGE COUNTY, FL. Two Orlando restaurants each accumulated 11 high-severity violations in a single inspection week, leading a county-wide tally of 96 critical infractions across 12 facilities between September 19 and September 25, 2026.
State inspectors conducted 188 inspections across 176 facilities in Orange County during that stretch. Twelve of those facilities carried two or more high-severity violations, a category reserved for the findings most directly linked to foodborne illness and outbreak risk.
The Worst of the Week
Bikkuri Sushi Noodle and Grill on East Colonial Drive drew 11 high-severity citations, including food from unapproved or unknown sources, inadequate shell stock identification, and no employee health policy. Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique and a failure to properly use time as a public health control, meaning food was allowed to sit in the bacterial growth zone without adequate tracking.
China Garden on Conroy Windermere Road matched that count with 11 high-severity violations of its own, plus six intermediate ones. The record there included food from unapproved sources, inadequate shell stock records, and a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, a requirement for restaurants serving raw or undercooked fish.
Citrus Club on South Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando logged 10 high-severity violations. The inspector found no person in charge present or performing duties, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Parasite destruction procedures were also not followed.
Harlow Grove on South Main Street in Winter Garden also reached 10 high-severity violations. Among the most serious: food contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards; food from unapproved sources; and food not cooked to the required minimum temperature. No person in charge was present during the inspection.
Old Cuban Cafe on North Goldenrod Road was cited for nine high-severity violations and seven intermediate ones, the highest intermediate count in the group. Inspectors found inadequate handwashing facilities, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to minimum temperature, and toxic substances improperly identified or stored.
Oh Que Bueno Restaurant Grill and Bar on South Semoran also reached nine high-severity violations. The record included food from unapproved sources, inadequate shell stock identification, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Ammas Kitchen on International Drive drew eight high-severity citations, including parasite destruction failures, food not cooked to minimum temperature, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. The facility also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Nature's Table on South Orange Avenue logged eight high-severity violations, including inadequate handwashing facilities, employees not reporting illness symptoms, food from unapproved sources, and a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures.
China Lee on South Kirkman Road was cited for six high-severity violations, including improper sewage or wastewater disposal, an intermediate violation that carries its own significant contamination risk. Inspectors also found no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods and no allergen awareness demonstrated.
Mi Ranchito Oaxaqueno on North Chickasaw Trail drew seven high-severity violations, among them no allergen awareness demonstrated, no consumer advisory, and no person in charge present. Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils were also documented.
Libra and Bar Libra on South Orange Avenue was cited for four high-severity violations, including food not cooked to minimum temperature, time as a public health control not properly used, no consumer advisory, and no allergen awareness demonstrated.
Flyers Wings and Grill on West Colonial Drive carried the shortest list at three high-severity violations, but the combination was pointed: improper handwashing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and food not cooked to the required minimum temperature at a restaurant whose menu centers on chicken.
What These Violations Mean
The most common high-severity violation across this week's worst performers was the absence of an employee health policy, cited at nine of the twelve facilities. Without a written policy, there is no formal mechanism requiring a sick worker to stay home or report symptoms before handling food. Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads almost exclusively through infected food workers who continue working while symptomatic. The facilities where this was documented this week include Bikkuri Sushi, China Garden, Citrus Club, Harlow Grove, Old Cuban Cafe, Oh Que Bueno, Ammas Kitchen, Mi Ranchito Oaxaqueno, and China Lee.
Inadequate shell stock identification records appeared at seven facilities, including Bikkuri Sushi, China Garden, China Lee, Old Cuban Cafe, Oh Que Bueno, Mi Ranchito Oaxaqueno, and Ammas Kitchen. Shellfish, particularly oysters and clams served raw or lightly cooked, are among the highest-risk foods in any restaurant kitchen. When the harvest tags and records are missing, there is no way to trace an oyster back to its source bed if a customer becomes ill. That traceability is the only tool public health officials have to stop an outbreak once it begins.
Parasite destruction failures were documented at China Garden, Citrus Club, Harlow Grove, Ammas Kitchen, and Nature's Table. The requirement exists because certain fish and pork products carry parasites that survive undercooking. Proper freezing protocols, applied before service, kill those organisms. Skipping the step does not guarantee illness, but it eliminates the safeguard entirely.
The food-not-cooked-to-minimum-temperature violation, cited at Harlow Grove, Old Cuban Cafe, Flyers Wings and Grill, and Ammas Kitchen, is among the most direct pathogen risks in any kitchen. Salmonella in poultry, for instance, survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. At Flyers Wings and Grill, which specializes in chicken, that citation appears without any intermediate or basic violations alongside it, meaning it was not buried in a long list of lesser problems.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for the facilities named this week, which limits direct comparison of cumulative history. What the current record does show is that several of these facilities share the same clusters of foundational failures, particularly around employee illness policies, handwashing infrastructure, and food sourcing documentation.
The concentration of management-failure violations is notable. Five of the twelve facilities were cited for no person in charge present or not performing duties: Bikkuri Sushi, Citrus Club, Harlow Grove, Old Cuban Cafe, and Mi Ranchito Oaxaqueno. That violation does not occur in isolation. When no qualified manager is on site, the downstream failures in handwashing, temperature control, and illness reporting tend to follow. The CDC data referenced in the inspection records reflects that pattern, noting establishments without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at roughly three times the rate of those with a present, engaged person in charge.
Three facilities on South Orange Avenue and the surrounding downtown Orlando corridor appeared in this week's list: Citrus Club at 255 South Orange, Libra and Bar Libra at 325 South Orange, and Nature's Table at 300 South Orange. All three drew high-severity violations. Nature's Table was the only one of the three to record inadequate handwashing facilities, meaning inspectors found the physical infrastructure for hand hygiene was itself deficient, not merely that technique was poor.
Old Cuban Cafe's seven intermediate violations, the highest in the group, included the toxic substances finding alongside food contact surface failures. That combination, chemicals and contaminated surfaces in the same inspection, points to a kitchen where basic separation protocols between cleaning agents and food preparation areas were not maintained.
