FLORIDA. Twenty-six restaurants, bars, and food businesses across the state were emergency-closed for pest activity between August 3 and August 16, 2026, a two-week stretch that touched everything from a tourist-strip crab house on International Drive to a golf club dining room in Sun City Center to a Jersey Mike's franchise in a strip mall on Conroy Road.
The Week's Worst
Shells of St Pete Beach on Gulf Boulevard drew the period's most layered closure, shut down August 7 after inspectors documented all three pest categories simultaneously: rodent activity, roach activity, and flies. The Gulf Boulevard seafood chain location sits in one of the state's most heavily trafficked tourist corridors. It had cleared the closure and reopened by 12:24 p.m. the same day.
Orlando logged six of the 26 closures statewide, more than any other city. Juicy Crab at 7308 International Drive was shut August 7 for a combination of roach and fly activity, then cleared by 11:17 a.m. Jersey Mike's Subs at 6700 Conroy Road was closed the same day for roach activity and reopened at 8:43 a.m., the earliest clearance in the entire two-week period.
Castello's Pizza at 8947 Conroy Windermere Road was closed August 4 for roach activity and did not clear until 2:18 p.m. that afternoon. Subway Sandwiches and Salads at 8839 Conroy Road was also closed August 4, for fly activity, and reopened at 1:36 p.m.
Hooters at 8510 Palm Parkway was shut August 5 for fly activity and did not reopen until 1:18 p.m. White Wolf Cafe and Bar at 1829 North Orange Avenue was closed August 3 for rodent activity and cleared by 10:15 a.m.
Rodents in the Kitchen, Roaches Behind the Counter
Miami's closures were concentrated on August 3 and 6. Pack Supermarket at 8235 Northeast 2nd Avenue was shuttered for rodent activity and reopened at 8:17 a.m., the second-fastest clearance of the period. Cafe Enclave at 524 West 27th Street in Hialeah was also closed August 3 for rodent activity, clearing by 9:55 a.m.
Tacombi at 3930 Northeast 2nd Avenue was closed August 6 for a combination of rodent and fly activity. The Tacombi chain operates upscale taco restaurants in New York, Washington, and Florida. It had cleared and reopened by 9:21 a.m.
Eleventh Street Pizza at 9025 Southwest 72nd Place was closed August 3 for fly activity and reopened at 9:14 a.m.
Panaderia Restaurante La Bamba Inc. at 3900 Palm Beach Boulevard in Fort Myers was closed August 3 for rodent activity and cleared by 8:50 a.m.
Rotis Indian Restaurant at 13025 US Highway 301 South in Riverview was closed August 4 for rodent and fly activity and did not reopen until 4:08 p.m., the latest clearance of the entire two-week period.
Cypress Creek Golf Club at 1011 Cypress Village Boulevard in Sun City Center was closed August 5 for rodent and fly activity and cleared by 9:29 a.m.
Pickles Pub Sandbar at 511 Greene Street in Key West was closed August 3 for rodent and fly activity. It did not reopen until 4:20 p.m., tied with Rotis for the latest clearance of the period.
In the Tampa Bay area, Buffet City at 1030 58th Street North in St. Petersburg was closed August 3 for roach activity and cleared by 12:42 p.m. Cafe Bich Nga at 5572 Park Boulevard in Pinellas Park was shut August 5 for rodent and fly activity and reopened at 12:24 p.m.
Devito's Italian Specialties at 200 North Tampa Street in Tampa was closed August 4 for roach activity and cleared by 1:50 p.m.
Pit Boss Bar B Que and Pub at 4221 Little Road in New Port Richey was shut August 7 for rodent and fly activity but cleared by 9:13 a.m., the fastest rodent-related reopening of the period.
Sugar Bae at 8253 Sunset Strip in Fort Lauderdale was closed August 7 for roach activity and reopened by 12:37 p.m.
Italiano's at 4191 Tamiami Trail South in Venice was closed August 3 for roach activity and cleared by 2:08 p.m.
Maggie McFly's at 662 Southeast Becker Road in Port St. Lucie was closed August 5 for fly activity and reopened at 10:41 a.m.
Taqueria La Calentana Dos LLC at 604 East Moody Boulevard in Bunnell was closed August 3 for fly activity and cleared by 9:04 a.m.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen at 6310 103rd Street in Jacksonville was closed August 4 for roach activity and reopened by 8:58 a.m. Apna Addaa at 8350 Baymeadows Road in Jacksonville was also closed August 4 for roach activity and cleared by 8:05 a.m., the fastest clearance of the entire period.
Yellow Tail Subs Grill Inc. at 27275 South Dixie Highway in Homestead was closed August 6 for roach and fly activity. Its reopening status was not available in state records.
What These Violations Mean
Live roaches inside a food establishment are not a housekeeping problem. Cockroaches carry pathogens on their bodies and in their digestive systems, including salmonella and E. coli, and they deposit those pathogens on food-contact surfaces, equipment, and stored ingredients as they move. An inspector documenting live roach activity is documenting an active contamination route, not a future risk.
Rodent activity carries a different and in some respects more acute danger. Rodents leave droppings, urine, and hair in areas they travel, and those areas frequently include dry storage, behind equipment, and inside wall voids adjacent to food prep surfaces. Rodent droppings are a direct transmission vector for hantavirus, leptospirosis, and salmonellosis. When inspectors at Pickles Pub Sandbar in Key West, Rotis Indian Restaurant in Riverview, and Cypress Creek Golf Club in Sun City Center documented rodent activity, they were documenting evidence that animals had been moving through the facility, likely repeatedly, before the inspection date.
Fly activity, which triggered closures at Hooters on Palm Parkway in Orlando, Maggie McFly's in Port St. Lucie, and Subway on Conroy Road in Orlando among others, represents a third contamination route. Flies feed on organic waste and carry pathogens from that waste directly to food surfaces. A fly landing on bread or produce is not an aesthetic problem. It is a transfer event.
The combination closures, where inspectors documented two or three pest types simultaneously, as at Shells of St Pete Beach, Tacombi in Miami, and Pit Boss Bar B Que in New Port Richey, indicate conditions that have deteriorated enough to support multiple pest populations at once. That typically points to structural gaps in sanitation, storage, or the physical building itself.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for the individual facilities in this period, which limits the ability to say with certainty which of these closures followed a documented pattern of prior warnings. What the record does show is the volume: 26 emergency closures in 14 days, across 15 cities, involving every major pest category Florida inspectors track.
Orlando's six closures in the period stand out. Four of the six involved restaurants in close geographic proximity on Conroy Road and the International Drive corridor, two of the busiest commercial strips in Central Florida. The Conroy Road closures alone, Jersey Mike's, Subway, and Castello's Pizza, all within roughly a mile of each other, closed within a 24-hour window on August 4 and 7.
The speed of most reopenings is notable. Twenty-five of the 26 closed facilities had cleared state standards and reopened, most within the same business day. That pattern reflects how Florida's emergency closure process is designed to work: inspectors document conditions that pose an immediate public health risk, order closure, and facilities must demonstrate correction before they can reopen. A same-day reopening means the immediate hazard was addressed. It does not address how the conditions developed.
Yellow Tail Subs Grill Inc. at 27275 South Dixie Highway in Homestead remains the one facility in this period with no confirmed reopening date in state records.
