DESTIN, FL. Back in February 2026, state inspectors ordered Camille's at 2931 Scenic Hwy 98 shut down after finding evidence of rodent activity inside the restaurant, the same violation that had forced the Destin seafood spot off the water and onto the closure list once before.
The emergency closure order was issued on February 13, 2026. Inspectors documented five high-severity violations and three intermediate violations during that visit, the most serious single-day tally the restaurant had recorded in the prior 13 months.
What Inspectors Found
Camille's Destin, Inspection Pattern 2025-2026
The rodent activity finding was the sole documented reason the state ordered the restaurant vacated on February 13. Inspectors returned the same day and cleared Camille's to reopen at 3:30 p.m., after the immediate concern had been addressed.
The February closure was not the first time rodent activity had shut the restaurant down. Inspectors ordered Camille's closed on January 9, 2025 for the same reason, and that closure also resolved the same day.
Two emergency closures for rodent activity, thirteen months apart, at the same address.
What This Means
Rodent activity in a food service facility is one of the conditions that triggers an immediate emergency closure under Florida law, and for direct reasons. Rodents carry pathogens including Salmonella, Leptospira, and Hantavirus. Their droppings, urine, and fur can contaminate food preparation surfaces, stored ingredients, and equipment that employees handle throughout a shift.
Unlike a temperature violation, which affects a discrete batch of food, rodent contamination is diffuse. An inspector cannot always determine which surfaces have been contacted, which ingredients have been compromised, or how long the activity has been ongoing before the visit.
The February 13 inspection also documented violations beyond the rodent finding. Inspectors cited inadequate handwashing facilities and improper hand and arm washing technique as separate high-severity violations, meaning that even setting aside the rodent issue, employees lacked both the infrastructure and the practice to wash hands properly. A third high-severity citation noted no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, leaving customers without the warning that Florida law requires for dishes that carry elevated risk.
The two intermediate violations that day covered multi-use utensils not properly cleaned and inadequate ventilation and lighting. Improperly cleaned utensils can develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours, films that become increasingly resistant to standard cleaning over time.
The Pattern
The February 2026 closure did not arrive without warning in the inspection record. The March 11, 2025 visit, two months after the first rodent closure, produced seven high-severity violations and three intermediate violations, the single highest count in the restaurant's recent history. A follow-up inspection the next day cleared those violations, and a January 2025 follow-up after the first rodent closure had also shown zero high-severity findings.
That cycle, a serious violation event followed by a same-day or next-day correction, followed months later by another serious event, repeats across the inspection record at this address.
The October 28, 2025 visit found four high-severity violations and one intermediate, roughly four months before the second rodent closure. And the April 14, 2026 inspection, conducted two months after the February shutdown, still documented three high-severity violations and two intermediate violations.
The Longer Record
Camille's has accumulated 216 total violations across 32 inspections on record at this address, a rate that works out to roughly 6.75 violations per visit on average. That figure spans all severity levels, but the high-severity counts have been a consistent feature of recent visits, not an anomaly.
A facility with 32 inspections on record has been seen enough times that the patterns are documented, not inferred. Two emergency closures for the same specific violation, rodent activity, within 13 months is a fact the record states plainly.
The most recent inspection on record, from April 14, 2026, found three high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. That inspection came eight weeks after the February closure and more than a year after the January 2025 closure. High-severity citations continued to accumulate after each corrective action cleared the immediate shutdown condition.
What the record does not show is any extended stretch, in the past 14 months, in which Camille's completed a routine inspection with zero high-severity violations and did not face a follow-up visit. The January 9, 2025 follow-up and the March 12, 2025 follow-up both cleared the facility. The underlying count of high-severity violations at subsequent visits did not drop to zero.
The April 14, 2026 inspection is the most recent entry in the state's file for this address.