WINDERMERE, FL. State inspectors visiting Summer Palace at 13428 Summerport Village Pkwy on May 11 found food coming from unapproved or unknown sources, a violation that means the restaurant cannot trace where that food came from, who handled it, or whether it passed any federal safety inspection.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation was not the only finding that put customers directly at risk. Inspectors also cited an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, meaning a worker who could have been actively contagious was handling food without triggering any reporting protocol.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food. That is a separate, acute risk: a mislabeled container or a chemical stored too close to food prep surfaces can cause poisoning with no warning signs.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and employees were observed using improper handwashing technique. Both violations mean pathogens can survive on surfaces and hands even when staff appear to be following procedure.
The restaurant was also cited for failing to use time as a public health control properly, and for displaying no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. The two intermediate violations covered multi-use utensils not properly cleaned and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved or unknown sources is one of the hardest violations to walk back once it occurs. If a customer gets sick and investigators need to trace the contaminated ingredient, an unknown source makes that investigation nearly impossible. USDA and FDA inspections exist specifically to catch Listeria, Salmonella, and other pathogens before food reaches a kitchen. Ingredients that bypass that chain carry no such guarantee.
The employee illness reporting violation compounds every other risk in the kitchen. Norovirus spreads through an entire dining room from a single infected food handler. The reporting requirement exists precisely to interrupt that chain before it starts. When it fails, there is no backup.
Improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals near food are a direct poisoning pathway. A customer would have no way of knowing a dish had been contaminated by a cleaning agent. Neither would the kitchen staff, if the container was mislabeled.
The handwashing technique violation matters in a specific way: an employee who attempts to wash their hands but does so incorrectly still transfers pathogens to every surface and ingredient they touch afterward. The attempt provides no actual protection.
The Longer Record
Summer Palace has 30 inspections on record and 449 total violations documented across those visits. That volume is not incidental. It reflects a pattern that stretches back at least four years in the available data.
The December 2022 inspection produced 10 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate ones. The April 2022 visit found 8 high and 1 intermediate. The most recent prior inspection, in December 2025, turned up 7 high and 1 intermediate, the same high-severity count as this month's visit.
Of the eight prior inspections detailed in state records, six produced at least six high-severity violations. There are no emergency closures on record for this facility across all 30 inspections.
The violations themselves have not shifted in character over time. Food sourcing, illness reporting, sanitation of surfaces and utensils, these are not one-time lapses. They appear in inspection after inspection at this address.
Still Open
State law gives inspectors authority to order an emergency closure when a facility poses an immediate threat to public health. Seven high-severity violations at Summer Palace on May 11 did not meet that threshold, at least not as the state applied it that day.
The restaurant logged the same number of high-severity violations in December 2025. And in June 2024. And in October 2023.
Summer Palace remained open after the May 11 inspection.