FLORIDA. A Jacksonville restaurant on Baymeadows Road was shut down July 27 after inspectors found rodents, roaches, and flies all active on the premises at the same time, one of 23 Florida restaurants emergency-closed for live pest activity during a two-week stretch ending August 7, 2026.
The Scale of It
Of the 23 closures, 13 were roach-related, 7 involved rodents, and 3 were driven primarily by fly activity. Seven facilities had more than one pest type active at once, a detail that inspectors treat as evidence of an infestation that has had time to establish itself rather than an isolated incident.
Jacksonville accounted for six of the 23 shutdowns, more than any other city in the state during this period.
The Worst of the Two Weeks
Tunis Fresh N Fast on Baymeadows Road in Jacksonville was closed July 27 for simultaneous rodent, roach, and fly activity. It was one of only two facilities in the dataset to carry all three pest types in a single inspection. Inspectors cleared it for reopening by 8:22 a.m. the following morning, less than 24 hours after the closure order.
Hooters on San Jose Boulevard in Jacksonville was closed July 28 for both rodent and fly activity. It reopened by 10:32 a.m. the next day.
Captain D's at 2062 N Main Street in Jacksonville was also closed July 28, this time for rodent activity alone. Inspectors allowed it to reopen by 10:08 a.m. July 29.
Beirut Restaurant and Spirit on Baymeadows Road, less than two miles from Tunis Fresh N Fast, was closed July 27 for fly activity and cleared to reopen by 9:18 a.m. the next morning. Cruz Mexican Grille at 13423 Beach Blvd was also closed July 31 for roach activity, though its reopening status was not confirmed in state records.
Mod Pizza at 12547 Bartram Park Boulevard, a national chain location, was closed July 31 for fly activity and reopened by 9:14 a.m. that same morning.
South Florida saw a heavy concentration of closures in the same period. Gourmet Creole on NE 36th Street in Pompano Beach was closed July 27 for both roach and rodent activity, reopening by 8:48 a.m. the next morning.
Rendez-vous on East Oakland Park Boulevard in Oakland Park was also closed July 27 for roach and rodent activity, cleared by 8:18 a.m. the following day.
Lucky Cat Street Eatery on N Andrews Avenue in Fort Lauderdale was closed July 28 for roach activity and reopened by 9:38 a.m. July 29.
Brass Monkey Sports Bar and Grill on Lake Worth Road was closed July 28 for both roach and rodent activity, reopening by 9:44 a.m. the next morning.
Le Genie Restaurant on NE 167th Street in North Miami Beach was closed July 29 for rodent and fly activity combined. It reopened by 8:10 a.m. the following day.
Foodeyez Caribbean Cuisine Corp on W Sample Road in Coral Springs was closed July 30 for roach activity, with a reopening time of 3:29 p.m., one of the longer turnarounds in the dataset.
Sebra Bakery and Cafe on NE Spanish River Boulevard in Boca Raton was closed July 27 for fly activity and cleared by 8:04 a.m. the next day.
Ifra's Indian Kitchen on S Dixie Highway in Pinecrest was closed July 27 for roach and fly activity. It did not reopen until 4:20 p.m. that same day, suggesting remediation work extended well into the afternoon.
Outside the two major metro corridors, Mel's Family Diner on S Orlando Drive in Sanford was closed July 29 for rodent activity and reopened by 8:28 a.m. the next morning. Chef Nina and Co on W State Road 436 in Altamonte Springs was closed July 30 for rodent activity and reopened by 11:38 a.m.
Mama Kitchen at 2200 W International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach was closed July 30 for roach activity and reopened by 9:41 a.m.
Healthy Hub on NW 21st Avenue in Ocala was closed July 30 for roach activity and cleared by 10:12 a.m. Heytea at Brandon Town Center Drive was closed the same day for roach activity, reopening by 10:55 a.m.
Kenia Plaza on SW 266th Street in Naranja was closed July 31 for rodent activity and reopened by 9:20 a.m.
Hungry Howies on N 4th Street in St. Petersburg was closed July 27 for both rodent and fly activity, reopening by 10:43 a.m. the next morning.
Taqueria Don Gonzalo on US Highway 17-92 in Haines City was closed July 29 for roach activity. It did not reopen until 3:43 p.m., one of the latest clearance times recorded during the two-week period.
What These Violations Mean
Live pest activity during a health inspection is not a paperwork violation. When an inspector documents live roaches in a food prep or storage area, it means insects with direct exposure to raw food, cooking surfaces, and dishware are moving through the same spaces where customers' meals are being prepared. Roaches carry bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli on their bodies and in their droppings, and a live sighting during an inspection typically reflects a population large enough to survive daylight activity, not a stray insect.
Rodent activity carries a distinct and in some ways more serious contamination profile. Rodent droppings and urine can carry hantavirus and leptospirosis in addition to foodborne pathogens. An inspector documenting rodent activity does not need to find a live animal; droppings, gnaw marks, and grease trails are sufficient. Their presence in a food establishment indicates sustained access through gaps in the structure, meaning the contamination zone is not limited to one corner of a kitchen.
Fly activity, which drove three of the 23 closures, is most dangerous when flies are documented landing directly on food, as was the case at Ifra's Indian Kitchen and Le Genie Restaurant, both of which had flies alongside a second pest type. Flies transfer pathogens through contact with food surfaces and can carry bacteria from waste areas into prep zones within minutes.
The simultaneous presence of multiple pest types, documented at seven of the 23 closed facilities in this period, tells inspectors that the infestation is not recent and that basic structural or sanitation controls have been absent long enough for separate pest populations to establish independently. Tunis Fresh N Fast, Hooters on San Jose Boulevard, Le Genie Restaurant, Brass Monkey Sports Bar and Grill, Gourmet Creole, Rendez-vous, and Hungry Howies all fell into this category.
The Longer Record
The state inspection database does not include prior inspection counts in the source data for this period, so a facility-by-facility history comparison is not possible from the records available. What the reopening times do reveal is that most of these facilities resolved the documented pest activity overnight or within a single business day, which tells an incomplete story about the underlying conditions that allowed the infestations to develop in the first place.
Several of the closures involved facilities in densely clustered commercial areas. Both Tunis Fresh N Fast and Beirut Restaurant and Spirit sit on Baymeadows Road in Jacksonville within a short distance of each other. Both were closed on the same day, July 27, for pest activity. Whether that reflects a shared structural vulnerability in the corridor or coincidental timing is not clear from the available records.
Foodeyez Caribbean Cuisine Corp in Coral Springs and Taqueria Don Gonzalo in Haines City both had significantly longer clearance timelines than the majority of facilities in this dataset, with Foodeyez reopening at 3:29 p.m. and Taqueria Don Gonzalo at 3:43 p.m. on their respective reinspection days. Longer remediation windows often indicate that the initial pest presence required more than a single cleaning and pest control visit to satisfy the inspector on callback.
Cruz Mexican Grille at 13423 Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville, closed July 31 for roach activity, had no confirmed reopening time in state records as of the close of this reporting period.
