ORLANDO, FL. A food worker at a west Orlando seafood restaurant failed to report illness symptoms to management, inspectors found on September 10, the kind of violation state records identify as the number one cause of multi-victim outbreaks, and the restaurant was not closed.
That finding was one of seven high-severity violations documented at Ten Ten Seafood and Grill at 5600 W Colonial Drive during that inspection. Five intermediate violations were added to the tally. Inspectors allowed the restaurant to remain open.
What Inspectors Found
The unreported illness violation draws particular scrutiny because it removes the most basic safeguard between a sick employee and a customer's plate. The restaurant also failed to cook food to required minimum temperatures, a separate high-severity citation. At a seafood and grill, that category covers poultry and cooked proteins where internal temperature is the last line of defense against salmonella and similar pathogens.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled, a violation that carries acute poisoning risk if a chemical contaminates food or is mistaken for a food-safe product. That citation appeared alongside the finding that food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and cooking equipment that food touches directly, were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique, a violation distinct from simply skipping handwashing. Even when an employee made an attempt, the method was insufficient to remove pathogens from hands. Time as a public health control was not properly used, meaning food was allowed to sit in the temperature danger zone without the documentation or tracking the practice legally requires. And the restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items, leaving diners with no notice that certain dishes carry elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
The illness-reporting violation is not a paperwork failure. When a food worker experiencing vomiting, diarrhea, or jaundice continues working without reporting symptoms, norovirus and hepatitis A move directly from that worker's hands to food that dozens of customers will eat. A single infected employee in a busy kitchen can trigger an outbreak affecting hundreds of people before anyone connects the cases.
Undercooking compounds that risk. Poultry that never reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit can harbor live salmonella. At a restaurant where food contact surfaces were simultaneously found unsanitized and handwashing technique was flagged as deficient, the pathways for bacterial transfer multiply. The violations do not exist in isolation. They describe a kitchen where multiple controls failed on the same day.
The sewage and wastewater disposal violation adds another layer. Improper handling of wastewater creates the possibility of fecal contamination reaching food preparation areas. Combined with inadequate toilet facilities, which inspectors cited as a separate intermediate violation, the conditions documented on September 10 created a hygiene environment that would discourage proper employee handwashing even if the technique itself were correct.
The Longer Record
Ten Ten Seafood and Grill has been inspected 23 times, and the records behind those visits tell a consistent story. The restaurant has accumulated 430 total violations across its inspection history. It has never been emergency-closed.
The most recent inspections before September 10 show no sign of improvement. In January 2026, inspectors visited on back-to-back days, January 13 and January 14, and found 11 high-severity violations on each visit. November 2025 produced 8 high-severity violations. May 2025 produced two consecutive inspections, on May 29 and May 30, with 8 and 6 high-severity violations respectively. January 2025 turned up 9 high-severity violations.
The pattern goes back further. October 2024 produced 9 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate. February 2024 produced 7 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate, an inspection that looks nearly identical on paper to the one conducted this September.
The Pattern
In eight documented inspections going back to early 2024, the high-severity violation count has never dropped below 6. It has reached 11 twice. The violations span the same categories repeatedly: food handling, temperature control, sanitation, and employee health practices.
The September 10 inspection marked the 23rd time state inspectors have walked through this restaurant. It found 7 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate violations.
The restaurant remained open.
