FLORIDA. A single Baymeadows Road restaurant in Jacksonville was shut down July 27 after inspectors documented roaches, rodents, and flies inside the same facility, making Tunis Fresh N Fast at 5201 Baymeadows Rd one of the most comprehensively infested closures in a two-week stretch that saw 23 Florida restaurants ordered shut for pest activity between July 26 and August 8, 2026.
That two-week total included 13 roach-related closures, seven tied to rodent activity, and three involving flies or other pests. Jacksonville alone accounted for six of the 23 shutdowns, more than any other city in the state during the period.
The Closures
Tunis Fresh N Fast reopened the same morning, records showing it cleared state standards by 8:22 a.m. That rapid turnaround is common in this dataset. Of the 23 closures, 22 had documented reopening times, most of them within the same business day.
Jacksonville's six closures were spread across five days and four distinct pest types. Hooters at 8938 San Jose Blvd was shut July 28 for combined rodent and fly activity and cleared by 10:32 a.m. Captain D's at 2062 N Main St was closed the same day for rodent activity and reopened by 10:08 a.m.
Beirut Restaurant and Spirit at 3928 Baymeadows Rd was ordered closed July 27 for fly activity and back open by 9:18 a.m. Mod Pizza at 12547 Bartram Park Blvd was shut July 31 for fly activity and reopened by 9:14 a.m., the fastest turnaround of any Jacksonville closure in the period.
Cruz Mexican Grille at 13423 Beach Blvd was also closed July 31 for roach activity. Unlike the other 22 facilities in this dataset, no reopening time was recorded for Cruz Mexican Grille in state records.
South Florida produced several of the most notable closures outside Jacksonville. Gourmet Creole at 416 NE 36 St in Pompano Beach was shut July 27 for combined roach and rodent activity and cleared by 8:48 a.m. Rendez-vous at 1576 E Oakland Park Blvd in Oakland Park was closed the same morning for the same combination and reopened by 8:18 a.m.
Le Genie Restaurant at 178 NE 167 St in North Miami Beach was shut July 29 for both rodent and fly activity, reopening by 8:10 a.m. Lucky Cat Street Eatery at 6322 N Andrews Ave in Fort Lauderdale was closed July 28 for roach activity and reopened by 9:38 a.m.
Brass Monkey Sports Bar and Grill at 7781 Lake Worth Rd was shut July 28 for roaches and rodents, reopening by 9:44 a.m.
Central Florida saw multiple closures across the same 48-hour window. Mel's Family Diner at 3221 S Orlando Dr in Sanford was closed July 29 for rodent activity and cleared by 8:28 a.m. Chef Nina and Co at 1146 W State Rd 436 in Altamonte Springs was shut July 30 for rodents and reopened by 11:38 a.m.
Mama Kitchen at 2200 W International Speedway Blvd in Daytona Beach was closed July 30 for roach activity and back open by 9:41 a.m. Heytea at 9055 Brandon Town Center Dr in Brandon was shut the same day for roaches and cleared by 10:55 a.m.
Healthy Hub at 1821 NW 21 Ave in Ocala was ordered closed July 30 for roach activity and reopened by 10:12 a.m.
Taqueria Don Gonzalo LLC at 103 US Hwy 17-92 N in Haines City was shut July 29 for roach activity, one of the later reopenings in the dataset at 3:43 p.m. Foodeyez Caribbean Cuisine Corp at 6268 W Sample Rd in Coral Springs was also among the slower clearances, reopening at 3:29 p.m. after a July 30 roach closure.
Ifra's Indian Kitchen at 9543 S Dixie Hwy in Pinecrest was shut July 27 for combined roach and fly activity and did not reopen until 4:20 p.m., the latest clearance time in the entire two-week period.
Kenia Plaza at 14511 SW 266 St in Naranja was closed July 31 for rodent activity and cleared by 9:20 a.m. Haagen-Dazs at 12801 W Sunrise Blvd in the Sunrise marketplace food court was shut July 29 for roach activity and reopened by 9:31 a.m.
Sebra Bakery and Cafe at 465 NE Spanish River Blvd in Boca Raton was closed July 27 for fly activity and back open by 8:04 a.m., the earliest clearance time of any facility in the dataset. Hungry Howie's at 5570 N 4 St in St. Petersburg was shut July 27 for combined rodent and fly activity and reopened by 10:43 a.m.
What These Violations Mean
Live pest activity during an inspection is treated as an emergency because it represents an active contamination route, not a theoretical one. When an inspector documents live roaches inside a food preparation area, those roaches are moving between surfaces, equipment, and food at the same time customers are being served.
Roaches are the most common trigger in this dataset, accounting for 13 of the 23 closures. They carry bacteria including salmonella and E. coli on their bodies and in their droppings, and they are drawn to the same areas where food is prepared, stored, and plated. A single live roach behind a cooler, as inspectors routinely note, suggests a broader population in wall voids and equipment that is not visible during inspection.
Rodent activity, which drove seven closures including the shutdowns at Mel's Family Diner in Sanford, Captain D's in Jacksonville, and Chef Nina and Co in Altamonte Springs, carries a different but overlapping set of risks. Rodent droppings in food preparation or storage areas can transmit hantavirus, leptospirosis, and salmonella. Unlike roach sightings, which may indicate a recent introduction, rodent evidence typically points to an established infestation that has been present long enough for animals to establish travel routes through the facility.
The three fly-related closures, including Mod Pizza in Jacksonville and Sebra Bakery in Boca Raton, reflect a different enforcement calculus. Flies are not always grounds for emergency closure on their own, but when inspectors document them in sufficient numbers or in direct contact with food, the threshold is crossed. The combined pest closures, like Tunis Fresh N Fast and Ifra's Indian Kitchen, indicate that multiple infestation vectors are active simultaneously, which inspectors treat as evidence of systemic sanitation failure rather than an isolated incident.
The Longer Record
State inspection records show that several facilities in this roundup had accumulated significant inspection histories before their July or August closures. Tunis Fresh N Fast, which drew the most severe closure of the period for all three pest types, had prior inspections on record before this shutdown. The same is true for Brass Monkey Sports Bar and Grill and Gourmet Creole, both of which were cited for combined pest activity.
Facilities in food courts and mall settings, including the Haagen-Dazs location in the Sunrise marketplace and Mod Pizza at Bartram Park in Jacksonville, present a specific challenge for inspectors. Shared ventilation, adjacent food preparation, and high customer volume make pest movement between units harder to contain. A closure of one unit does not address conditions in adjacent spaces.
The speed of reopening across this dataset is worth noting. Twenty-two of the 23 facilities cleared state standards within hours of closure. That pattern reflects the effectiveness of emergency closure as a compliance tool, but it also raises a question the records alone cannot answer: whether the conditions that triggered a closure at 7 a.m. were genuinely resolved by 9 a.m., or whether inspectors were satisfied by surface remediation that did not address the underlying infestation.
Cruz Mexican Grille at 13423 Beach Blvd in Jacksonville was closed July 31 for roach activity. As of the records available for this report, no reopening time had been entered for that location.
