ORLANDO, FL. Pesaro's Pizza on Avalon Park East Boulevard racked up 9 high-severity violations during the week of August 10, the highest single-facility total among 15 Orlando restaurants cited for serious health code failures in a seven-day stretch that stretched from Semoran Boulevard to Universal Boulevard.
Inspectors at Pesaro's documented that no person in charge was present or performing duties, that employees were not reporting illness symptoms, and that food was arriving from unapproved or unknown sources. They also found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures and improper use of time as a public health control, a combination that puts customers at risk from multiple failure points simultaneously.
The Violations
Moa Kai Diner on East Colonial Drive and Jack and Mary's Restaurant on South Goldenrod Road each drew 8 high-severity violations, tying for second-worst of the week. At Moa Kai, inspectors flagged inadequate shell stock identification records alongside parasite destruction procedures not being followed, a combination that points to raw or lightly cooked seafood reaching customers without the traceability or safety steps required to prevent serious illness.
Jack and Mary's presented a nearly identical shellfish traceability failure, also with no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. Inspectors also found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Made in Puerto Rico Latin Cuisine and Sports Bar on South Semoran Boulevard drew 6 high-severity violations, including food from unapproved sources, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Inspectors also noted single-use items being improperly reused, a violation that compounds cross-contamination risk when it occurs alongside unclean food contact surfaces, which were also cited.
Rock and Brews on South Semoran Boulevard drew 5 high-severity citations, including an employee not reporting illness symptoms, food from unapproved sources, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Inspectors also documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal at the facility, a violation that can introduce fecal contamination into kitchen areas.
Hop Bo Chinese Restaurant on Curry Ford Road was cited for 7 high-severity violations, including food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, inadequate shell stock identification, and time as a public health control not properly used. Those three violations together describe a kitchen where seafood may be arriving without traceability, held outside safe temperature ranges, and not cooked to temperatures that would kill surviving pathogens.
TGI Friday's on Caravan Court, a national chain location, drew 7 high-severity violations including both inadequate handwashing by food employees and improper hand and arm washing technique cited separately, meaning inspectors observed failures at two distinct points in the handwashing process. Inspectors also documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal and inadequate shell stock identification records.
Yummi on South Alafaya Trail was cited for 7 high-severity violations including no person in charge, employees not reporting illness, improper handwashing technique, and time as a public health control not properly used. Inspectors also found improper sewage or wastewater disposal, the same intermediate violation documented at Rock and Brews and TGI Friday's that week.
Hong Kong Alley Kitchen on East Colonial Drive drew 7 high-severity violations including food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, parasite destruction procedures not followed, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. Inspectors also noted single-use items being improperly reused.
Azteca D'Oro Lake Nona on Narcoossee Road was cited for 7 high-severity violations, with no person in charge, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, and toxic chemicals improperly stored all documented in a single inspection.
Muzzarella on Lake Underhill Road drew 7 high-severity violations and zero intermediate violations, a pattern that suggests inspectors found the most serious failures without the lower-level issues that often accompany them. The citations included parasite destruction procedures not followed, improper handwashing technique, no person in charge, and employees not reporting illness symptoms.
Shahi Indian Cuisine Avalon Park on Avalon Park South Boulevard was cited for 6 high-severity violations including no person in charge, employees not reporting illness, improper handwashing technique, and toxic chemicals improperly stored.
Kitchen on Universal Boulevard, located near the Universal resort corridor, drew 6 high-severity violations including employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing, inadequate shell stock identification records, and no allergen awareness demonstrated.
Obsession Pizza on Eagle Watch Drive was cited for 6 high-severity violations including food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and no employee health policy. Inspectors also documented equipment in poor repair or condition as an intermediate violation.
Virgin Island Thyme Caribbean Grill on South Avalon Park Boulevard drew 6 high-severity violations including no person in charge, inadequate handwashing facilities, and both toxic chemicals improperly stored and toxic substances improperly identified or used, two chemical safety failures documented in the same inspection.
What These Violations Mean
The most alarming pattern across this week's inspections is the volume of illness-reporting failures. At Pesaro's Pizza, Rock and Brews, Jack and Mary's, Azteca D'Oro, Yummi, Muzzarella, Shahi Indian Cuisine, and Kitchen, inspectors cited either employees not reporting illness symptoms or no written employee health policy, or both. When a sick food worker handles food without restriction, norovirus, one of the most contagious pathogens in food service, can spread to dozens of customers before anyone connects the cases. There is no temperature control or sanitizing step that stops a sick employee from contaminating food at the point of preparation.
The shellfish traceability failures at Moa Kai Diner, Jack and Mary's, Hop Bo Chinese Restaurant, TGI Friday's, and Kitchen carry a specific and underappreciated risk. Shell stock identification records exist so that if customers become ill after eating raw or lightly cooked oysters, clams, or mussels, public health officials can trace the harvest to a specific bed and pull product from the supply chain. Without those records, an outbreak investigation has no starting point, and contaminated shellfish may continue reaching customers at multiple locations.
Parasite destruction failures, documented at Moa Kai Diner, Hong Kong Alley Kitchen, and Muzzarella, describe a gap between serving raw or undercooked fish and completing the freezing protocol that kills parasites like Anisakis. This is not a theoretical risk. It is a documented pathway to parasitic infection that proper freezing is specifically designed to close.
The chemical storage violations found at Rock and Brews, Made in Puerto Rico, Moa Kai Diner, Jack and Mary's, Hop Bo, TGI Friday's, Yummi, Hong Kong Alley Kitchen, Azteca D'Oro, Shahi Indian Cuisine, Kitchen, and Virgin Island Thyme Caribbean Grill represent one of the most immediate acute hazards in a restaurant kitchen. Cleaning chemicals stored near or above food, or in unlabeled containers, can cause chemical poisoning that presents within minutes of ingestion and is frequently misidentified as a foodborne illness until the source is investigated.
The Longer Record
Hong Kong Alley Kitchen on East Colonial Drive has the longest inspection history of any facility cited this week, with 42 prior inspections on record, and still drew 7 high-severity violations in August 2026. Rock and Brews has 39 prior inspections on record. Shahi Indian Cuisine Avalon Park has 37. Made in Puerto Rico has 36. Jack and Mary's has 35. These are not new establishments learning the code. They are facilities with decades of inspection history that inspectors are still visiting for serious violations.
Pesaro's Pizza, the week's worst performer by violation count, has 33 prior inspections on record. TGI Friday's also has 33. Yummi and Moa Kai Diner each have 32. Azteca D'Oro has 31. The inspection histories at these facilities predate most of the specific violations cited this week, which raises the question of which violations, if any, appeared in earlier reports.
Obsession Pizza stands out for the opposite reason. The Eagle Watch Drive location has only 3 prior inspections on record and was already cited for 6 high-severity violations, including no employee health policy, undercooking, and adulterated food. Muzzarella has 24 prior inspections and Hop Bo has 23, making them among the newer facilities in this week's group, though neither is free of serious citations.
Hong Kong Alley Kitchen's 42-inspection record and this week's 7 high-severity findings remain the most unresolved data point in the week's reports.
