ORLANDO, FL. Toxic chemicals were stored improperly near food, items were not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and staff demonstrated no allergen awareness whatsoever — six high-severity violations at Pocha 93 on W. Colonial Drive on May 12, and the restaurant never closed.
The Orange County location, a Korean-style bar and restaurant at 7379 W. Colonial Drive, remained open after the inspection despite a violation list that included two separate citations for improper chemical storage and handling, a failure to cook food to safe minimum temperatures, and a complete absence of consumer advisories for raw or undercooked items on the menu.
What Inspectors Found
Inspectors cited the restaurant twice for chemical-related violations: once for toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and again for toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. The two citations together point to a kitchen where hazardous materials were not segregated from food preparation areas and were not clearly marked to prevent accidental use or contamination.
The undercooking citation is a direct food safety failure. The restaurant serves Korean bar food, a menu that frequently includes poultry and meat dishes where reaching minimum internal temperatures is not optional.
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, combined with undercooked food, compounds the risk at every step from prep to plate.
The allergen citation stands apart from the others. Inspectors found no demonstration of allergen awareness among staff, meaning employees could not reliably identify which menu items contained common allergens such as shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, or gluten. The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory notifying customers that some items are served raw or undercooked.
What These Violations Mean
The chemical storage citations are not paperwork violations. Cleaning agents, sanitizers, and other toxic substances stored near or above food preparation areas can contaminate food directly through spills, drips, or mislabeling. A bottle of degreaser mistaken for cooking spray, or a chemical dripping onto an open prep surface, causes acute poisoning. The presence of two separate chemical citations suggests the problem was not isolated to a single shelf or cabinet.
The undercooking violation carries a specific and well-documented risk. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. A customer who ate undercooked chicken at Pocha 93 on May 12 was eating food that may not have reached that threshold. Symptoms of Salmonella infection include fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps, and the illness can be severe in elderly customers, young children, and people with weakened immune systems.
The allergen awareness failure is acute for a different population. Food allergies affect roughly 32 million Americans, and allergic reactions send 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year. A kitchen where staff cannot identify allergens in their own dishes is a kitchen where a customer with a shellfish or peanut allergy cannot make a safe choice, even if they ask directly. The missing consumer advisory compounds that: customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, and the elderly had no written notice that raw or undercooked items were on the menu.
The improperly sanitized food contact surfaces tie the other violations together. Cross-contamination from a cutting board that was not properly cleaned between uses can spread bacteria from raw meat to ready-to-eat food regardless of what happens at the stove.
The Longer Record
May 12 was not a bad day at an otherwise clean restaurant. Pocha 93 has 16 inspections on record and 76 total violations accumulated across those visits.
The pattern is consistent and recent. Inspectors found five high-severity violations in April 2025, four high-severity violations in February 2025, and five more in December 2024. The restaurant did pass two consecutive inspections in May 2024 and closed out 2025 with a clean visit on December 29. But the December 17, 2025 inspection, two weeks before that clean visit, still produced three high-severity violations and two intermediate ones.
The May 2026 inspection, with six high-severity citations, is the worst single visit in the recent record. It follows a stretch in which the restaurant has cycled repeatedly between passing scores and serious violation counts, a pattern that suggests compliance improves temporarily and then deteriorates.
Pocha 93 has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history. Every prior inspection with high-severity violations, including the five-violation visits in April 2025 and December 2024, ended without a closure order.
Open for Business
After documenting toxic chemicals stored near food, items not cooked to safe temperatures, no allergen knowledge among staff, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory for raw menu items, the inspector on May 12 left Pocha 93 open.
Seventy-six violations across 16 inspections, and the restaurant has never been shut down.