ORLANDO, FL. State inspectors walked into Sichuan Alley at 5034 W. Colonial Drive on May 21 and found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning no USDA or FDA inspection trail existed for ingredients going into customers' dishes that day.
That was one of nine high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The nine high-severity citations covered nearly every critical point in the kitchen's operation. Inspectors documented food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, a direct pathway for Salmonella survival in poultry and other proteins. Toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled near food areas, creating a contamination risk that the state classifies as capable of causing acute poisoning.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. The kitchen had no adequate employee health policy, meaning nothing in writing required sick workers to stay home or report symptoms before handling food.
Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition or adulterated, direct food contamination by chemical or biological hazards, and improper use of time as a public health control. Four intermediate violations accompanied the nine high-severity citations: multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and inadequate toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved or unknown sources is not a paperwork problem. When a restaurant cannot document where its ingredients came from, there is no way to trace an illness back to the source if customers get sick, and no guarantee that the food passed any federal safety inspection before it was cooked and served.
Undercooking is among the most direct causes of foodborne illness on record. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When minimum cooking temperatures are not reached, that bacteria reaches the plate. The citation at Sichuan Alley on May 21 means inspectors found food that had not been cooked to the temperatures required to kill those pathogens.
The combination of improperly stored toxic chemicals and food contaminated by chemical or biological hazards is particularly serious. Cleaners, sanitizers, and pesticides stored near food preparation areas can enter food through mislabeling, splashing, or direct contact. The state's own classification for this violation category is "adulteration hazard."
The absence of a written employee health policy compounds everything else. Without one, a worker with Norovirus, Hepatitis A, or Salmonella has no formal instruction to stay out of the kitchen. Norovirus alone accounts for an estimated 20 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States each year, and food handlers are a primary transmission route.
The Longer Record
May 21 was not an outlier. State records show Sichuan Alley has been inspected 15 times and has accumulated 164 total violations across its inspection history.
The most recent prior inspection, on August 27, 2025, produced eight high-severity violations and three intermediate ones. Before that, a visit on April 4, 2024, yielded seven high-severity violations and three intermediate ones. The pattern of five or more high-severity violations in a single inspection has now appeared at least three times in the facility's record.
In October 2024, the restaurant was emergency-closed after inspectors documented rodent activity. It reopened the following day, October 8, after a follow-up inspection. That same October 8 visit still found four high-severity violations and three intermediate ones on the day of reopening.
The December 2024 inspection showed three high-severity violations, the lowest count in recent history. By August 2025, the number had climbed back to eight. By May 2026, it reached nine.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority requires inspectors to find an "imminent threat to public health." Nine high-severity violations on a single visit, including food from unapproved sources, undercooking, and toxic chemicals near food, did not meet that threshold on May 21.
The restaurant accumulated 164 violations across 15 inspections, was closed once for rodents, and on the day of its most recent inspection was serving food from suppliers that left no federal inspection trail.
It remained open.