5 Central Florida eating places shut down; flying bugs, hand-washing amongst points – Orlando Sentinel

Five central Florida restaurants received emergency orders to close during the week of Jan. 23-29, according to data from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

The Polo Chicken Restaurant at 6218 W Colonial Dr Ste 208 in Orlando closed on January 26.

Inspectors found ten violations, one of which had a high priority for improper storage of tomatoes, lettuce, pasta and coleslaw.

Officials revisited the restaurant the same day and found six violations, allowing for a time extension of the previous high-priority violation.

The restaurant was allowed to reopen.

Poncho’s Tacos at 201 Seabreeze Blvd in Daytona Beach closed on January 26.

Inspectors found 16 violations, five of which were high priority.

Those violations included employees not washing their hands before working with food, flying insects, employees not changing disposable gloves and a missing vacuum switch on a hose bib.

Officials revisited the restaurant the same day and found eight violations, only one of which had a high priority.

The restaurant was given an extension of time for the missing vacuum breaker and the restaurant was allowed to reopen.

Da Kine Poke at 216 Flagler Ave in New Smyrna Beach closed on January 25.

Inspectors found eight violations, three of which were high priority.

These violations included rodent activity, a lack of a rice health control warning and the use of a disinfectant that exceeded the maximum allowable concentration.

The restaurant reopened after officials revisited January 26 and found only one violation, none of which was a high priority.

El Jefe Tequila’s Taco Cantina at 227 Margaritaville Blvd in Kissimmee closed on January 28.

Inspectors visited the restaurant several times that day.

On the first visit, they initially found a high-priority flying insect violation.

During a recall visit, they found 13 violations, including four high-priority violations.

These included a repeated violation for flying insects and additional violations for using disposable gloves more than once, a ban on selling cooked corn and storing cooked corn at inappropriate temperatures.

A third visit found zero violations, but a fourth visit found 12.

The last visit included three high priority violations or the gloves, stopping corn sales and keeping the corn at the wrong temperature.

All three violators received an extension of the deadline and the restaurant was allowed to reopen.

435 Waffle House at 5991 W Irlo Bronson Hwy in Kissimmee closed on January 25.

Inspectors found 15 violations, eight of which were high priority.

These violations included an employee who cracked a raw egg and then handled utensils without washing their hands, a heating strip that wasn’t working properly, flying insects, cockroaches, not changing disposable gloves, and more.

A follow-up visit found only one high priority violation for flying insects in the kitchen, food preparation, food storage and bar area.

The facility remained closed until two more visits on January 28.

A further visit on January 29 found no violations, but a further visit on the same day found 13 violations.

Inspectors mentioned that the restaurant had passed inspection standards for reopening.

Orange had the top spot for most warnings and other complaints in Central Florida at 29.

Volusia County had 11, Brevard had 11, Seminole had 11, Lake had 3, and Osceola had 13. Alerts requiring follow-up inspections could result in a business being closed if problems persist.

In the surrounding counties, 6 alerts or complaints were filed in Polk and none in Sumter.

For a complete listing of inspection results, visit OrlandoSentinel.com/inspections.

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