WEST PALM BEACH, FL. State inspectors cited La Perrada del Gordo on Military Trail for five high-severity violations during the week of September 23, 2026, including a finding that employees were not reporting symptoms of illness and that shellfish on the menu lacked the identification records required to trace them if customers get sick.
That was the heaviest single-week violation count among seven West Palm Beach restaurants flagged for high-severity citations during the same seven-day period. The full list runs from a Colombian restaurant in a strip mall to a downtown bar to a hotel breakfast operation near the airport.
What Inspectors Found
La Perrada del Gordo's inspector also cited the restaurant for a person in charge not present or not performing duties, improper hand-washing technique, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. The consumer advisory violation matters because the restaurant's menu includes items served raw or lightly cooked, and without that posted notice, customers in higher-risk groups, including the elderly, pregnant women, and those with compromised immune systems, have no way to make an informed choice.
Souvlaki on 25th Street matched La Perrada del Gordo's count with five high-severity violations of its own. Inspectors found no person in charge on duty, no written employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper hand-washing technique, and inadequate shellfish identification records. The combination of no health policy and no illness reporting is particularly notable: those two violations together describe a kitchen where a sick worker has no formal obligation to stay home and no manager present to send one home.
Romeo's Pizza on Southern Boulevard drew four high-severity citations, including food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, improper hand-washing technique, employees not reporting illness symptoms, and missing shellfish records. Inspectors also noted multi-use utensils not properly cleaned and inadequate toilet facilities.
BurgerFi at 700 S. Rosemary Avenue was cited for food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. The chemical storage violation is among the more unusual findings in this week's batch: improperly stored chemicals near food create a contamination risk that has nothing to do with bacteria and everything to do with acute poisoning.
McDonald's #11750 on 45th Street received three high-severity citations: employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper hand-washing technique, and inadequate shellfish identification records. The shellfish traceability citation at a McDonald's location is worth noting. McDonald's does not typically feature shellfish prominently on its menu, which makes the presence of untracked shellfish on the premises a finding inspectors considered significant enough to flag at the highest severity level.
Lost Weekend and Voltaire on Clematis Street was cited for inadequate shellfish identification records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and food not cooked to the required minimum temperature. The cooking temperature violation, like the one at BurgerFi, carries a direct pathogen-survival risk: Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and undercooking is a leading documented cause of foodborne illness.
La Quinta Inn and Suites on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard rounded out the week with two high-severity violations, employees not reporting illness symptoms and inadequate shellfish identification records, along with multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
What These Violations Mean
Six of the seven facilities cited this week shared a common thread: employees not trained or required to report symptoms of illness. At La Perrada del Gordo, Souvlaki, Romeo's Pizza, McDonald's #11750, and La Quinta Inn and Suites, inspectors flagged this violation at the highest severity level. Norovirus, which spreads through food handled by sick workers, causes approximately 20 million illnesses in the United States each year. A kitchen without an illness-reporting requirement is a kitchen where that transmission chain can start without anyone in management knowing.
The shellfish traceability violation appeared at six of the seven facilities this week, making it the single most common high-severity finding in the city during this inspection period. When shellfish arrive without proper identification records, including the harvest location, harvest date, and dealer certification, there is no way to trace them back to their source if customers become ill. Shellfish are consumed raw or only lightly cooked, which means pathogens including Vibrio and hepatitis A are not killed before the food reaches the table. At a restaurant like McDonald's, where shellfish are not a menu staple, the presence of untracked shellfish raises an additional question about what exactly was in the kitchen that week.
At BurgerFi, the allergen awareness violation stands separately from the pathogen-related findings at other restaurants. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans and trigger roughly 30,000 emergency room visits annually. A staff without demonstrated allergen awareness cannot reliably prevent a customer with a severe allergy from being served a food that could kill them.
The food contact surface violations at Romeo's Pizza and Lost Weekend and Voltaire carry a cross-contamination risk that compounds the illness-reporting failures. Improperly cleaned cutting boards and prep surfaces transfer bacteria directly to food without any additional steps required. When the same kitchen also lacks an illness-reporting policy, the conditions for a multi-victim outbreak are layered on top of one another.
The Longer Record
The inspection histories behind this week's findings vary significantly across the seven facilities, and that variation matters.
BurgerFi at Rosemary Avenue carries 28 prior inspections on record, the highest count among facilities cited this week, followed closely by Souvlaki with 26 and La Perrada del Gordo with 25. All three of those restaurants have been through the inspection process enough times that this week's high-severity findings cannot be attributed to unfamiliarity with the requirements. Souvlaki's five high-severity violations, including the absence of a written employee health policy, represent a foundational food safety failure at a restaurant that has been inspected more than two dozen times.
Lost Weekend and Voltaire on Clematis Street has 22 prior inspections on record, and La Quinta Inn and Suites has 21. The hotel's food operation, which serves a captive guest population including travelers who may be in weakened health from long trips, drew illness-reporting and shellfish traceability violations despite that extended inspection history.
McDonald's #11750 on 45th Street has 17 prior inspections behind it. The hand-washing technique violation at a chain with standardized training protocols across thousands of locations is the kind of finding that points to local management execution rather than a lack of corporate guidance.
Romeo's Pizza on Southern Boulevard presents the starkest contrast in this week's data. The location has only 2 prior inspections on record, making it among the newest operations reviewed this week. Despite that short history, inspectors found four high-severity violations on this visit, including food contact surfaces not properly cleaned and employees not reporting illness symptoms. A restaurant in its earliest inspections is still establishing its operating routines, and the violations documented here suggest those routines have not been built around the highest-risk requirements.
Romeo's Pizza's two prior inspections and four high-severity violations this week remain unresolved in the public record, with no follow-up inspection result available in the data reviewed for this report.
