FLORIDA. Seventy-three Florida restaurants were emergency-closed for live pest activity in the two weeks between August 11 and August 24, 2026, a pace of more than five closures per day across a state where summer heat and humidity have historically driven infestation rates higher than any other season.
The closures stretched from Pensacola to Key West, hitting chain restaurants, waterfront seafood bars, upscale bistros, and a children's entertainment venue. Forty-eight of the 73 closures were roach-related, 20 involved rodent activity, and five were triggered primarily by flies. At least eight facilities were closed for multiple pest types simultaneously.
The Worst of the Two Weeks
The single most alarming location in the two-week stretch was a concession stand inside Miami International Airport. Villa Pizza at Concourse D, Gate 44, at 4200 NW 21st Street, was emergency-closed on August 11 after inspectors documented rodent, roach, and fly activity simultaneously. It reopened the same morning at 10:14 a.m., meaning the closure lasted only hours, but the finding itself, three categories of pest infestation inside a food operation serving air travelers, was among the most striking of the period.
Chuck E. Cheese at 244 N. Congress Ave. in Boynton Beach was closed on August 14 for rodent activity and reopened the following morning at 10:02 a.m. The venue, which markets itself to families with young children, was among the more unexpected entries on the closure list.
Longhorn Steakhouse of Cypress Creek at 6225 N. Andrews Ave. in Fort Lauderdale was emergency-closed on August 21 for roach activity and cleared inspectors by 4:23 p.m. the same day. It was one of two national chains on the Fort Lauderdale closure list that week, alongside the nearby Moonlite Diner at 6201 N. Andrews Ave., which was also closed for roaches the day before, on August 20.
Where Three Pest Types Converged
Eight facilities were closed for more than one pest type. Five of those had all three, roaches, rodents, and flies, documented in the same inspection.
Big Catch at Salt Creek at 1500 2nd St. S. in St. Petersburg was closed August 12 with all three pest types confirmed and cleared by 9:15 a.m. The same day, Getaway at 13090 Gandy Blvd., also in St. Petersburg, was closed for the same combination and reopened ten minutes later at 9:25 a.m. Two restaurants in the same city, both with roach, rodent, and fly activity documented on the same date.
Khob Khun Thai Sushi at 13600 US Hwy 1 in Sebastian was closed August 11 for all three pest types and reopened at 9:00 a.m. DYA Ice Food Service at 4880 Distribution Ct. in Orlando, a food service operation rather than a sit-down restaurant, was closed August 17 for rodent, roach, and fly activity and did not reopen until 4:53 p.m., the latest clearance time of any three-pest closure in the period.
Hot Wok at 3715 Emerson St. in Jacksonville was closed August 17 for both roach and rodent activity and reopened at 10:34 a.m.
Roaches Across the State
The roach-related closures reached into nearly every region of Florida. In Tampa alone, four restaurants were closed for roach activity across the two-week period.
Sushi Masa Premium at 17021 Palm Pointe Dr. was closed August 21 and cleared by 3:28 p.m. Salem's Fresh Eats at 2015 N. 50th St. was closed August 18 and reopened by 9:16 a.m. Memo Modern Italian at 10103 Montague St. was closed August 17 and cleared by 8:29 a.m., one of the fastest turnarounds of the period. Doodle Noodle Bar at 9620 W. Linebaugh Ave. was closed August 17 for both roach and fly activity and reopened by 11:15 a.m.
In the Miami area, the closures clustered along the northeast corridor. Eat and Run Subs at 16775 N. Miami Ave. in North Miami Beach was closed August 20 for both roach and rodent activity and cleared by 8:46 a.m. CM Chicken at 1256 NE 163rd St., also in North Miami Beach, was closed August 19 for roach and rodent activity and reopened by 10:04 a.m. Seph Restaurant and Bakery at 1362 NE 163rd St., one block away, was closed the same day for rodent activity alone and did not reopen until 12:30 p.m.
Three closures in the Miami area involved restaurants on or near Ocean Drive and Washington Avenue in Miami Beach. Licking South Beach at 754-758 Washington Ave. was closed August 19 for roach activity and reopened by 10:52 a.m. Osteria del Mar at 720 Ocean Dr. was closed August 13 for rodent activity and cleared by 10:42 a.m.
Hole in the Wall Seafood and Raw Bar at 23 Ave. D in Apalachicola was closed August 18 for roach activity. As of the data compiled for this report, its reopening status remained unknown.
Rodents in Unexpected Places
The rodent closures included several restaurants in tourist-heavy corridors where the findings carry particular weight.
Sloppy Joe's at 10650 Gulf Blvd. in Treasure Island, a beachfront bar and restaurant on a stretch of Gulf Coast road heavily trafficked by vacationers, was closed August 11 for both rodent and fly activity and did not reopen until 1:44 p.m.
Boardwalk Bar and Grill at 31044 Ave. A in Big Pine Key, in the Lower Florida Keys, was closed August 19 for rodent activity and cleared by 9:43 a.m.
Dada at 52 N. Swinton Ave. in Delray Beach, a restaurant in a historic house that has operated as one of the city's more distinctive dining destinations, was closed August 12 for rodent activity and did not reopen until 4:07 p.m., one of the longer clearance windows among the rodent cases.
Bistrology LLC at 10004 US Hwy 98 W in Miramar Beach, on the Emerald Coast, was closed August 21 for rodent activity and cleared by 4:01 p.m. Mosey's Downtown at 425 Grace Ave. in Panama City was closed the same day for rodent activity and reopened at 4:47 p.m.
What These Violations Mean
Live pest activity, whether roaches, rodents, or flies, represents one of the most direct contamination routes in a food service environment. Inspectors are not citing a restaurant for a theoretical risk. They are documenting evidence that pests have access to food preparation surfaces, stored ingredients, or both.
Roaches are particularly significant because they travel between sewage, drains, and food contact surfaces within the same inspection period. Their bodies carry bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli, and their presence in a kitchen means those pathogens can transfer to food without any single point of failure that a manager might notice. The 48 roach-related closures in this two-week period represent the largest share of the total precisely because roach infestations tend to be extensive by the time they are visible to an inspector.
Rodent activity carries a different risk profile. Rodent droppings can harbor Hantavirus and Salmonella, and the presence of droppings in a food storage or preparation area means the contamination is not limited to surfaces a rodent touched directly. Rodent urine, which is not always visible, can contaminate food packaging and dry storage. The 20 rodent-related closures this period included several facilities, Seph Restaurant and Bakery, Bistrology, and Mosey's Downtown, where rodents were the only pest documented, meaning the infestation was specific enough to trigger closure on its own.
Fly activity, documented in five closures as the primary trigger and in several more as a secondary finding, is often underestimated. Flies move between organic waste and food surfaces continuously, and a concentration large enough to prompt an emergency closure, as was the case at Dunkin' Donuts at 8121 SW SR 200 in Ocala and Panera Bread at 4403 Roosevelt Blvd. in Jacksonville, indicates a failure of exclusion, sanitation, or both. Both chains reopened the same morning they were closed, at 8:31 a.m. and 8:52 a.m. respectively.
The Longer Record
Several of the facilities closed during this period had prior inspection histories that placed their August closures in context. Grill at Morris Bridge at 10920 Cross Creek Blvd. in Tampa, closed August 13 for roach activity, and Coppertail Brewing Co. at 2601 E. 2nd Ave., closed August 11 for rodent activity, both carry inspection histories that predate this closure. Coppertail, a well-known Tampa craft brewery with a full kitchen, cleared inspectors by 1:17 p.m. the same day it was closed.
The North Miami Beach corridor produced three closures within a single block on NE 163rd Street, with Eat and Run Subs, CM Chicken, and Seph Restaurant and Bakery all shuttered within a 24-hour window on August 19 and 20. That concentration in a small geographic area suggests systemic conditions, shared pest pressure from neighboring structures, inadequate extermination, or both, rather than isolated incidents at individual restaurants.
Jaas Kitchen at 9956 Hutchinson Blvd. in Panama City Beach was closed August 13 for roach activity. Like Hole in the Wall Seafood and Raw Bar in Apalachicola, its reopening status was not confirmed in state records as of this report's compilation date.
Hole in the Wall Seafood and Raw Bar remains the most unresolved case in the period. Closed August 18 for roach activity in Apalachicola, a small Gulf Coast fishing community where the restaurant is one of a limited number of dining options, it had produced no confirmed reopening record in state data.
