ORLANDO, FL. Back in April 2026, state inspectors walked into Tempo and Grace on Corner Drive and documented that the restaurant was serving food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means no federal safety inspection ever touched what was on those plates.
That was one of six high-severity violations recorded on April 17. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food-sourcing violation sits at the top of the list for a reason. When a restaurant buys from unapproved suppliers, that food skips the USDA and FDA inspection chain entirely. If a customer gets sick, investigators have no paper trail to follow and no way to identify other affected products still in circulation.
Inspectors also found that employees were not reporting illness symptoms, that handwashing technique was improper, and that food contact surfaces had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. Those four violations, stacked together, describe a kitchen where contamination can originate, travel from person to surface, and reach a plate without interruption.
The restaurant was also missing a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked menu items. That disclosure exists specifically to warn elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system before they order something that carries elevated risk.
The seventh citation, an intermediate violation, found that multi-use utensils were not being properly cleaned.
What These Violations Mean
The illness-reporting failure is the violation that most directly threatens a dining room full of strangers. Food workers who do not report symptoms are the primary driver of multi-victim norovirus and hepatitis A outbreaks. One infected employee, working without disclosure, can contaminate dozens of meals across a single shift.
The handwashing technique violation compounds that risk. An employee who attempts to wash their hands but does so incorrectly still carries pathogens onto the next surface they touch. The attempt provides no protection if the technique is wrong.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, cited here as a separate high-severity violation, are a direct cross-contamination pathway. Cutting boards, prep tables, and slicer blades that are not correctly sanitized transfer bacteria from one ingredient to the next across every use.
The absence of managerial oversight ties all of it together. CDC research shows that restaurants without active managerial control record critical violations at three times the rate of those with engaged supervision. Every other violation on this list is more likely to occur, and less likely to be caught internally, when no one in authority is performing their duties on the floor.
The Longer Record
April's inspection was not a sudden collapse. The six high-severity violations on April 17 represent the worst single-day total in the facility's documented history, but the history itself has been consistently troubled.
Inspectors have visited Tempo and Grace six times since late 2023. The only clean inspection in that span came on November 30, 2023, when zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations were recorded. Every subsequent inspection has produced high-severity citations.
The pattern is worth examining closely. In May 2024, three high-severity violations. In December 2024, two high-severity violations. In May 2025, three high-severity violations again. In November 2025, one high-severity violation. Then April 2026 arrived with six.
Across all six inspections on record, the facility has accumulated 26 total violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority kicks in when an imminent hazard to public health exists. Six high-severity violations, including uninspected food, unreported illness, and unsanitized food contact surfaces, were not enough to trigger that determination on April 17.
The state's inspection record shows the findings were documented, the violations were cited, and the restaurant continued operating.
Tempo and Grace had served customers through five prior inspections that each produced high-severity citations. After the April visit, it was serving customers still.