ORLANDO, FL. An inspector walked into ZaZa Cuban Comfort on Alafaya Trail on August 5, 2026, and found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, ingredients sourced from unapproved suppliers, and an employee who had not reported illness symptoms, six high-severity violations in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
The facility at 417 N Alafaya Trail remained open to customers after the inspection, despite a violation record that state inspectors have been building for years.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooked food violation is the one that most directly put customers at risk that day. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a plate that looks finished is not necessarily safe.
Alongside that, inspectors cited food from an unapproved or unknown source. That means some ingredients served to customers that day had not passed through USDA or FDA inspection channels, and if someone got sick, tracing the origin of the food back to its source would be difficult or impossible.
The shellfish violation compounded that traceability problem. Inspectors found inadequate shell stock identification records, meaning oysters, clams, or mussels on the menu could not be traced to a certified harvester. Shellfish consumed raw or lightly cooked carry elevated risk of Vibrio and norovirus, and the tag records exist precisely so a sick customer can be connected to a specific harvest lot.
An employee had also not reported illness symptoms, a violation inspectors flagged at the highest severity level.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, meaning customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, the elderly, and young children had no notice that certain menu items carried elevated risk.
On the intermediate side, inspectors cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of an unreported sick employee and undercooked food is the scenario public health officials describe when they explain how a single restaurant visit becomes a multi-person outbreak. Norovirus spreads through direct contact with contaminated surfaces and food, and a worker who does not report symptoms can shed the virus onto every surface and dish they touch during a shift.
The unapproved food source violation removes the safety net that exists specifically for moments like this. If a customer reports illness after eating at ZaZa Cuban Comfort, investigators need to trace the food back to its origin. Food that bypassed federal inspection has no documented chain of custody, which can make that investigation collapse before it starts.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, flagged here as a high-severity violation, are where bacterial transfer happens between raw and ready-to-eat foods. Cutting boards, prep counters, and slicing equipment that are not properly sanitized carry contamination from one dish to the next across an entire service period.
The sewage disposal violation introduces a separate and more immediate hazard. Improper wastewater handling creates conditions for fecal contamination inside the facility, a risk that overlaps directly with the already-documented failure to sanitize food contact surfaces.
The Longer Record
The August 5 inspection was not an outlier. State records show ZaZa Cuban Comfort has been inspected 33 times and has accumulated 250 violations across its history.
The pattern going back through recent years is consistent. In July 2024, inspectors cited seven high-severity violations and three intermediate ones. In August 2023, a visit three days after a prior inspection produced the same count, seven high and three intermediate, suggesting problems that had not been corrected between visits. February 2025 produced six high-severity violations. The most recent inspection before August 2026 found five high-severity violations in February of that year.
Every inspection on record going back to 2023 has included at least one high-severity violation. The August 2026 visit, with six high-severity citations, is not the worst single inspection in the facility's recent history, but it is consistent with a facility that has not resolved its most serious compliance problems across multiple inspection cycles.
The facility has never been emergency-closed. In 33 inspections and 250 documented violations, the state has not once determined that conditions required pulling the license and locking the doors.
Still Open
As of the August 5 inspection, ZaZa Cuban Comfort remained open for business. Customers who walked in after the inspector left had no notice that food cooked that day had not reached required safe temperatures, that some ingredients came from a source that bypassed federal inspection, or that an employee working in the kitchen had not reported illness symptoms.
The restaurant has 250 violations on record and has never been closed.
