SEMINOLE COUNTY, FL. Two restaurants in different corners of Seminole County each drew seven high-severity violations during a single inspection week, with one serving shellfish it couldn't trace and the other selling food to customers without telling them it was undercooked.
State inspectors visited 19 facilities across Seminole County between May 18 and May 24, 2026. Ten of them, more than half, accumulated two or more high-severity violations. The week's total reached 26 inspections across those facilities.
The Worst of the Week
Lemongrass Thai Kitchen on Lockwood Boulevard in Oviedo drew the most alarming single-facility record of the week. Inspectors cited the restaurant for having no employee health policy, inadequate handwashing, and improper handwashing technique, three separate breakdowns in the same basic chain of food safety. Toxic substances were improperly identified, stored, or used. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
The shellfish violation stood apart. Inspectors found inadequate shell stock identification records, meaning the restaurant was serving oysters, clams, or mussels without documentation showing where they came from. A consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods was also absent.
Hangry Bison on Market Promenade Avenue in Lake Mary matched the violation count. Inspectors found no person in charge present or performing duties, no employee health policy, and an employee who was not reporting symptoms of illness. Parasite destruction procedures were not followed, a critical gap for a restaurant serving raw or undercooked fish or meat. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled. An intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal rounded out the inspection.
No consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods was posted at Hangry Bison either.
Creation Cafe on Hope Way in Altamonte Springs accumulated four high-severity citations. Inspectors found food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, improper handwashing technique, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. The fourth violation, time not properly used as a public health control, means food was allowed to sit in the bacterial growth zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, without any documented plan for how long it had been there.
Cafe Panuzzos Italian Eatery on Lockwood Boulevard in Oviedo drew three high-severity citations, including food not cooked to required minimum temperature and no consumer advisory, alongside three intermediate violations. Among those intermediate findings: single-use items being improperly reused and inadequate toilet facilities.
Hinode Sushi on Lockwood Boulevard in Oviedo was cited for food from an unapproved or unknown source. That violation means the restaurant received food that had not passed through USDA or FDA-inspected channels. Inspectors also found improper handwashing technique and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces.
Lutheran Haven Landings on Haven Drive in Oviedo serves a senior residential population. Inspectors found food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated; food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized; and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Crafty Crab on South SR 434 in Altamonte Springs drew two high-severity violations. The person in charge was not present or not performing duties, and food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Cork and Olive on South Sun Drive in Lake Mary was cited for an employee not reporting symptoms of illness. AHS Lakeview Cafe on Hope Way in Altamonte Springs drew a single high-severity citation for food not cooked to the required minimum temperature.
Alaqua Country Club on Alaqua Drive in Longwood was the week's cleanest performer, with no high-severity violations and a single intermediate citation for ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The shellfish traceability violation at Lemongrass Thai Kitchen is one of the most consequential findings of the week. When a restaurant cannot produce shell stock identification tags, there is no way to trace an oyster or clam back to its harvest bed if a customer gets sick. Shellfish filter seawater and concentrate whatever pathogens are in it, including Vibrio and norovirus. Without records, a foodborne illness outbreak becomes almost impossible to investigate.
The handwashing failures across multiple facilities, including Lemongrass Thai Kitchen, Creation Cafe, and Hinode Sushi, represent the most direct transmission route from a food worker to a customer. Inspectors cited both inadequate handwashing and improper technique at Lemongrass Thai Kitchen, meaning employees either skipped the step or performed it in a way that left pathogens on their hands. The distinction matters because a restaurant can claim compliance while the actual technique fails to remove contamination.
The illness reporting violations at Hangry Bison and Cork and Olive describe a specific outbreak mechanism. When a food worker with norovirus or Salmonella does not report symptoms and continues preparing food, a single shift can expose dozens of customers. The absence of a written health policy at both Lemongrass Thai Kitchen and Hangry Bison means there is no documented procedure telling employees when to stay home.
Undercooking violations at Creation Cafe, Cafe Panuzzos, and AHS Lakeview Cafe are not procedural lapses. They are the point at which Salmonella in poultry and E. coli in ground beef survive to reach a customer's plate.
The Longer Record
The data this week does not include prior inspection counts for individual facilities, which limits the ability to place these findings in a multi-year context. What the records do show is that several of this week's worst performers operate in close proximity to one another. Lemongrass Thai Kitchen, Hinode Sushi, and Cafe Panuzzos are all located on or near Lockwood Boulevard in Oviedo, a commercial corridor where three facilities collectively produced 13 high-severity violations in a single week.
Lutheran Haven Landings presents a distinct concern independent of its inspection history. It is a senior residential facility, serving a population that includes people with compromised immune systems for whom the same undercooking or adulterated food violation carries a higher risk of serious illness than it would at a general-public restaurant.
Hangry Bison's combination of no person in charge, no employee health policy, an unreported sick employee, and a sewage disposal violation in a single inspection describes a facility where multiple safety systems failed at once. Whether that pattern is new or recurring is a question the prior record, when available, would answer.
Lemongrass Thai Kitchen's seven high-severity citations include both the toxic substance storage violation and the missing shellfish traceability records. Those two violations together, chemical hazards and untraceable raw seafood, remained on the books as of this inspection.