WELLINGTON, FL. State inspectors ordered CMX Wellington Cask and Shaker at 10312 W Forest Hill Blvd shut down on May 20 after finding roach and fly activity inside the bar, the third time in less than eight months that the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation has forced the restaurant to close its doors.
The closure order required the facility to vacate by May 21. Inspectors returned that same day, and again later in the afternoon, before clearing the bar to reopen at 2:36 p.m.
What Inspectors Found
CMX Wellington Cask and Shaker: Recent Closure History
The May 20 inspection produced six high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. The specific pest activity that triggered the shutdown, roaches and flies, mirrors what inspectors documented at the same location seven months earlier.
The single intermediate violation recorded during the May 21 clearance inspection involved single-use items being improperly reused. That violation was resolved before inspectors issued the all-clear later that afternoon.
What This Means
Roach and fly activity inside a food service operation is among the fastest routes to an emergency closure order under Florida law, and for specific reasons. Both insects carry bacteria on their bodies and legs, and both move freely between waste, drains, and food preparation surfaces. A roach crawling across a cutting board or a fly landing on an open food container can transfer pathogens directly to food that customers will eat minutes later.
The fly activity documented at CMX Wellington Cask and Shaker on May 20 was not the first time inspectors had cited this specific problem at this address. The October 2025 closure was also triggered in part by fly activity, alongside a sewage issue. Finding the same pest category driving a second emergency closure at the same location raises the question of whether the underlying conditions that attract flies, standing moisture, organic debris, drain buildup, were fully addressed after the first shutdown.
The intermediate violation on May 21, single-use items being improperly reused, carries its own contamination risk. Items like gloves, single-use cups, and foil containers are manufactured without the material durability or surface integrity to survive cleaning and reuse. When they are reused, microscopic tears and degraded surfaces trap bacteria that standard washing cannot remove, creating a contamination vector that is invisible to staff and customers alike.
The Pattern
The May closure was not an isolated event in an otherwise clean record. The facility has accumulated 129 violations across 28 inspections on record, and this was its third emergency closure.
The first emergency closure came on October 1, 2025, for a sewage issue combined with fly activity. The bar cleared reinspection the following day. Two months later, in early December 2025, inspectors were back for a three-day sequence, finding five high-severity violations on December 2, followed by follow-up visits on December 3 and December 4.
By March 2026, the bar had accumulated three more high-severity violations in a single inspection. That visit came just two months before the May closure.
The inspection on October 2, 2025, the day after the first emergency closure, showed zero high-severity violations. The inspection on October 2 appeared to reflect a facility that had responded quickly. But the pattern that followed, five high-severity violations in December, three more in March, and then a second pest-driven emergency closure in May, suggests that rapid clearance after a shutdown has not translated into sustained compliance.
The Longer Record
Twenty-eight inspections and 129 total violations place CMX Wellington Cask and Shaker among the more heavily scrutinized food service operations in Palm Beach County. Two emergency closures in an eight-month span is an uncommon distinction. Most permanent food service operations in Florida go years between closure orders, if they receive one at all.
The facility's inspection record shows a recurring pattern of elevated violation counts followed by quick clearance, then a return to high-severity findings within weeks or months. The December 2025 sequence required three visits over three days before the bar met standards. The May 2026 closure required two reinspections on the same day before inspectors cleared it at 2:36 p.m.
What the record does not show is a sustained stretch of clean inspections. The last visit to produce zero violations at any severity level was October 2, 2025, the single-day clearance after the first emergency closure. Every inspection since that date has produced at least one high-severity or intermediate violation.
The bar was cleared to reopen on May 21. Whether the conditions that produced two pest-driven closures in eight months have been durably corrected is a question the next routine inspection will answer.