ORLANDO, FL. El Palacio Buffet at 7403 S Orange Blossom Trail racked up 11 high-severity violations during the week of September 24, 2026, the highest single-facility count among 15 Orlando restaurants cited for serious food safety failures in a seven-day stretch that also produced one emergency closure.
The buffet's violations reached across nearly every category that health officials consider most dangerous. Inspectors documented food from unapproved or unknown sources, inadequate shell stock records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and employees not reporting symptoms of illness. No person in charge was present or performing duties during the inspection.
El Palacio also had no written employee health policy.
The Violations
Catrinas Mexican Fusion at 925 N Semoran Blvd was not far behind, drawing 10 high-severity violations. Inspectors cited the restaurant for food from unapproved sources, no person in charge present, inadequate shell stock records, and time as a public health control not properly used, meaning food was allowed to sit in the temperature danger zone beyond safe limits without any documented tracking.
Kyoto Sushi and Grill at 2716 East Colonial Drive drew 9 high-severity violations, including a finding that parasite destruction procedures were not followed. For a sushi restaurant, that citation carries particular weight: raw and undercooked fish must be frozen to specific temperatures for specific durations to kill parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm. Kyoto also had no consumer advisory posted, no employee health policy, and no person in charge during the inspection.
Amalfi at 12001 Avalon Lake Drive drew 8 high-severity violations and stood out for two that don't appear at most other facilities this week: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. Those two violations together create a scenario where a customer with a severe food allergy could receive a dish that contains an allergen the staff cannot identify, prepared on surfaces potentially exposed to unlabeled chemicals.
Amma's Kitchen at 7342 International Drive also drew 8 high-severity violations. Inspectors found that food was not cooked to the required minimum temperature, a direct undercooking violation, alongside inadequate shell stock records and parasite destruction procedures not followed.
La Perrada de Chalos Corp at 11301 S Orange Blossom Trail drew 7 high-severity violations including food not cooked to minimum temperature, no allergen awareness, and required procedures for specialized processes not followed. That last citation applies when a facility uses smoking, curing, fermenting, or reduced-oxygen packaging without a documented, approved process plan.
Kalalou Caraibbean Bar and Grill at 5160 S John Young Parkway was cited for both inadequate handwashing by food employees and improper hand and arm washing technique, two separate violations that together describe a kitchen where handwashing is failing at every level. Inspectors also found food from unapproved sources, food not cooked to minimum temperature, and improper sewage or waste water disposal.
Tomasinos Pizza at 2612 E Colonial Drive drew 6 high-severity violations including food from unapproved sources and parasite destruction procedures not followed, a pairing that raises questions about what proteins the kitchen is sourcing and how they are being handled before they reach the oven.
China Lee at 2338 S Kirkman Road drew 6 high-severity violations including inadequate shell stock records, no consumer advisory, no allergen awareness, and improper sewage or waste water disposal. La Campana Mexican and Seafood Restaurant at 820 Lee Road drew 6 high-severity violations including no person in charge, inadequate cooling and cold holding equipment, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Marita's Latin Bites at 9446 E Colonial Drive drew 6 high-severity violations including inadequate shell stock records and parasite destruction procedures not followed.
Elixir Bar Room and Hash House at 9 W Washington Street drew 3 high-severity violations, including required procedures for specialized processes not followed and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Crowne Plaza Downtown Orlando at 304 W Colonial Drive drew 3 high-severity violations: food from an unapproved source, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
Relax Grill at Lake Eola at 211 Eola Parkway and Pho Vinh at 657 N Primrose Drive each drew 2 high-severity violations. Pho Vinh's inspection also documented improper sewage or waste water disposal, a finding that signals potential fecal contamination risk throughout the facility.
The week's only emergency closure came on September 24, when the Hot Dog Guy at 929 W Michigan Street was shut down for having no potable water on site.
What These Violations Mean
The most common high-severity violation this week, appearing at 13 of the 15 cited facilities, was food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. This is not a paperwork problem. Cutting boards, prep tables, slicers, and utensils that are not properly sanitized between uses carry bacteria directly from one food to the next, including raw meat residue onto ready-to-eat vegetables or cooked proteins.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, cited at Catrinas, El Palacio, Kalalou, Tomasinos, and Crowne Plaza, means the food bypassed USDA or FDA inspection. If a customer gets sick, there is no traceable supply chain to identify the source and pull it from circulation. It removes the entire recall infrastructure from the equation.
The employee illness violations at El Palacio, Kyoto, and Amalfi describe a specific and well-documented outbreak pathway. Norovirus, which causes the majority of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads primarily through infected food workers who do not report symptoms and continue handling food. A written health policy is the first line of defense. Without it, the kitchen has no documented procedure for what happens when someone comes to work sick.
Parasite destruction violations at Kyoto, Amma's Kitchen, Tomasinos, and Marita's Latin Bites carry distinct urgency at facilities serving raw or undercooked fish. Anisakis larvae, present in many marine fish species, survive light cooking and can cause severe gastrointestinal illness. Regulatory freezing protocols exist specifically because the parasite cannot be detected visually in raw fish. At Kyoto, that violation compounds with the absence of a consumer advisory, meaning customers were not informed they were eating fish that may not have undergone required parasite destruction.
The Longer Record
China Lee on S Kirkman Road has 77 prior inspections on record, the longest history of any facility cited this week. Six high-severity violations at a restaurant that has been through 77 inspections is not a new operation still learning the rules. The same applies to El Palacio Buffet, which has 58 prior inspections and still drew the week's highest violation count.
Relax Grill at Lake Eola has 52 inspections on record and Elixir Bar Room and Hash House has 48. Both drew violations this week for toxic substances and unsanitary food contact surfaces. Kalalou Caraibbean Bar and Grill has 46 inspections behind it and still drew sewage disposal and undercooking violations in the same week.
Catrinas Mexican Fusion has only 19 prior inspections, and Amma's Kitchen also has 19. Both drew 8 or more high-severity violations this week. For facilities with relatively short inspection histories, accumulating that volume of serious citations early is a pattern inspectors and regulators watch closely.
La Campana Mexican and Seafood Restaurant has 37 inspections on record and this week drew a citation for inadequate cooling and cold holding equipment, a structural failure, not a procedural one. A facility that cannot mechanically maintain safe food temperatures is operating with a defect that no amount of staff training corrects on its own.
China Lee has 77 inspections on record and drew improper sewage disposal this week alongside five other high-severity violations. The sewage citation at a facility with that inspection history remains unresolved in this week's records.
