ORLANDO, FL. Food at Taverna Opa on International Drive was not being cooked to required minimum temperatures when a state inspector visited on April 27, a violation that means pathogens like Salmonella can survive in the food and reach a customer's plate.

The restaurant accumulated nine high-severity violations and five intermediate violations during that single inspection. Despite the tally, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation did not order an emergency closure. The restaurant remained open.

What Inspectors Found

1HIGHFood not cooked to required minimum temperaturePathogen survival risk
2HIGHNo employee health policyDisease transmission risk
3HIGHEmployee not reporting illness symptomsOutbreak enabler
4HIGHInadequate shellfish identification/recordsTraceability failure
5HIGHFood contact surfaces not properly cleaned/sanitizedCross-contamination risk
6HIGHTime as public health control not properly usedTemperature danger zone abuse
7HIGHNo consumer advisory for raw/undercooked foodsVulnerable customers uninformed
8HIGHImproper handwashing techniquePathogen transfer risk
9HIGHPerson in charge not present or not performing dutiesManagement failure

The cooking temperature violation sits at the center of the April inspection. Taverna Opa is a Greek restaurant, and its menu includes grilled meats. When food is not brought to required internal temperatures, bacteria that should be killed in the cooking process survive. Salmonella in poultry requires a sustained 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be destroyed. If that threshold is not reached, the food can appear fully cooked and still be dangerous.

Inspectors also found that the restaurant had no written employee health policy and that employees were not reporting symptoms of illness. Those two violations compound each other. Without a written policy, workers have no formal guidance on when to stay home. Without a reporting requirement being enforced, a sick employee can work an entire shift handling food.

The shellfish traceability failure adds a separate layer of risk. Taverna Opa serves shellfish, which are consumed raw or lightly cooked. State rules require that shellfish shipments be tracked with identification tags so that, if a customer gets sick, the source can be identified and recalled. Inspectors found those records were inadequate. If someone became ill after eating shellfish at this restaurant on or around April 27, investigators would have no reliable paper trail to follow.

Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and multi-use utensils were also found improperly cleaned. Both violations create pathways for bacteria to transfer from one food item to another, or from a surface directly to a customer's meal.

The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. That notice is required specifically to warn elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and people with compromised immune systems that certain menu items carry elevated risk. Without it, those customers cannot make an informed choice.

What These Violations Mean

The combination of no employee health policy, no illness reporting, and improper handwashing technique creates a direct transmission route from a sick worker to a customer's food. Norovirus, which causes the majority of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads through exactly this pathway. A single infected food handler working without restriction can expose dozens of diners in a single shift.

The time-as-public-health-control violation is less visible but equally serious. Some restaurants are permitted to hold food at room temperature for a defined window rather than keeping it refrigerated, provided they track the time precisely and discard food before it becomes dangerous. When that tracking fails, food sits in the bacterial growth zone, between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit, for an unknown period. There is no way to tell from appearance or smell whether that threshold has been crossed.

The person-in-charge violation ties the others together. CDC data shows that establishments without active managerial oversight accumulate roughly three times as many critical violations as those with engaged management on the floor. At Taverna Opa on April 27, inspectors found that the person responsible for ensuring compliance was either absent or not doing that job. The result was nine high-severity citations in a single visit.

The Longer Record

Taverna Opa Orlando: High-Severity Violations by Inspection

April 27, 20269 high-severity, 5 intermediate violations. Restaurant remained open.
November 12, 20256 high-severity, 3 intermediate violations.
February 25, 20256 high-severity, 4 intermediate violations.
October 25, 20248 high-severity, 3 intermediate violations.
April 25, 20248 high-severity, 6 intermediate violations.
October 30, 20236 high-severity, 6 intermediate violations.
February 2, 20237 high-severity, 2 intermediate violations.

The April 2026 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Taverna Opa has accumulated 400 total violations across 30 inspections on record. Every inspection in the past three years has produced at least five high-severity violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.

The pattern in the violation categories is consistent. High-severity citations for food handling, temperature control, and employee health practices appear across multiple inspection cycles, not as isolated incidents but as recurring findings at the same address.

The October 2024 and April 2024 inspections each produced eight high-severity violations, the same tier as the current inspection before the April 2026 count reached nine. The trajectory is not improving.

Four hundred violations across 30 inspections is an average of more than 13 per visit. The April 27 inspection produced 14.

Taverna Opa on International Drive sits in one of the most heavily visited tourist corridors in the state. On April 27, 2026, it had nine active high-severity violations on record, no emergency closure order, and its doors open to the public.