ORLANDO, FL. Back in March 2026, state inspectors walked into Boteco Do Manolo on International Drive and found what they had come to document before: rodent activity. The restaurant was ordered emergency-closed on March 31, and management was given until April 1 to vacate the premises.
It was the third time the International Drive location had been shut down by state order.
What Inspectors Found
Boteco Do Manolo: Inspection Pattern, 2024–2026
The March 31 inspection produced six high-severity violations and three intermediate violations. Among the high-severity citations: food from an unapproved or unknown source, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items.
The two intermediate violations cited multi-use utensils not properly cleaned and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
The restaurant reopened the morning of April 1, after a follow-up inspection. Three high-severity violations and two intermediate violations were still on record at the time of reopening.
What These Violations Mean
Rodent activity is among the conditions that trigger an automatic emergency closure under Florida law, and for direct reasons. Rodents carry Salmonella, Leptospira, and Hantavirus, depositing contamination across surfaces, inside equipment, and in food storage areas. An inspector cannot trace every surface a rodent has touched, which is why the entire operation stops.
The food-sourcing violation found during the same inspection compounds that risk. Food from unapproved or unknown sources has bypassed USDA and FDA inspection checkpoints. If someone becomes ill after eating at a restaurant that sourced food outside the regulated supply chain, investigators may have no trail to follow. That violation was cited at Boteco Do Manolo on March 31, on the same day inspectors documented the rodent activity.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, also cited as a high-severity violation, are a primary route for bacterial transfer in a commercial kitchen. Surfaces that appear clean can harbor Listeria and Salmonella if sanitization steps are skipped or equipment is not broken down properly between uses.
The absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods is a narrower but meaningful risk. Florida requires restaurants serving items like undercooked beef, raw shellfish, or runny eggs to post a visible warning. Without it, customers who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised have no way to make an informed choice about what they are ordering.
The Longer Record
The March 2026 closure was not an isolated event at this address. State records show 31 inspections on file for Boteco Do Manolo, with 379 total violations documented across that history.
The restaurant's first emergency closure on record came in June 2023, when inspectors ordered it shut for roach activity. It reopened the following day. Less than two years later, in November 2024, inspectors cited six high-severity violations in a single visit. A follow-up inspection the same week still found three high-severity violations before the restaurant was cleared.
The pattern in the months surrounding the March 2026 closure is particularly direct. The November 4, 2025 inspection produced six high-severity violations, mirroring the counts from the March 31 closure inspection exactly. A follow-up on November 5 brought that number down to three high-severity violations, and a third inspection on November 13 showed zero high-severity violations, suggesting the restaurant had addressed the immediate concerns. That improvement did not hold.
By March 31, 2026, the violation count was back to six high-severity citations, and inspectors had again documented rodent activity.
The Reopening and What Remained
Boteco Do Manolo was allowed to reopen at 9:38 a.m. on April 1, 2026, the morning after the closure order took effect. A follow-up inspection conducted that morning cleared the rodent finding, but the inspection still recorded three high-severity violations and two intermediate violations as outstanding.
A June 1, 2026 inspection, the most recent in the data, again showed three high-severity violations and two intermediate violations, the same counts that appeared on the April 1 reopening inspection.
The restaurant has now been cited for high-severity violations in six of the eight inspections on record since August 2024. Its single clean inspection in that stretch, the November 13, 2025 visit, came between two rounds of six high-severity citations each.
State records show 379 total violations across 31 inspections at this address. The June 2026 inspection was the last on record.
