FLORIDA. Forty-six restaurants across Florida were ordered closed for pest activity in the two weeks between September 23 and October 6, 2026, a stretch that swept up national chains, mall food courts, a waterfront restaurant, and a neighborhood bagel shop in the same wave of emergency shutdowns.
Roaches drove 32 of those closures. Rodents forced nine more. Flies and other activity accounted for the remaining four. Jacksonville led all cities with six closures in the period, followed by Tampa with four and Oviedo with four, most of them concentrated inside a single mall complex.
The Worst of the Week
The most alarming single closure of the period belongs to Hooters on San Jose Boulevard in Jacksonville, shut down September 29 after inspectors documented both live roach activity and rodent activity at the same time. As of publication, its status remains unknown, meaning state records do not confirm a successful follow-up inspection or a reopening.
Four other closures from the period also remain unresolved. Winghouse Bar and Grill on East Silver Springs Boulevard in Ocala was closed September 25 for roach and fly activity combined. Nori Thai Restaurant on Blind Pass Road in St. Pete Beach closed September 23 for roach activity. St. James Café on West Duval Street in Jacksonville also closed September 23 for roaches. Lolas Filipino Café and Mini Store on Blanding Boulevard in Orange Park closed October 2, also for roach activity, with no confirmed resolution in state records.
Chains and Mall Courts Were Not Spared
National brands showed up repeatedly in the closure list. Chipotle Mexican Grill on South Dixie Highway in Miami was closed September 29 for fly activity and managed to reopen by 8:10 the following morning, one of the faster turnarounds in the dataset.
Moe's Southwest Grill on Applecross Road in Jacksonville was also closed for fly activity, on September 30, and reopened by 10:06 that same morning. Sonic Drive-In number 5080 on Gall Boulevard in Zephyrhills was closed September 24 for the combination of roach and rodent activity and did not reopen until 3:14 that afternoon.
Chicken Guy on South University Drive in Davie was closed September 30 for fly activity and reopened by 10:08 the next morning. Subway location 4419 on 66th Street North in St. Petersburg was ordered closed September 28 for rodent activity and cleared by 10:38 that morning.
Oviedo's mall corridor produced four closures in a single week, all of them concentrated at or near the Oviedo Mall and Oviedo Marketplace. 2 Hermanos Taco Burrito, Mediterranean Gourmet, Asian Express, and Cuppasta were all closed on September 24 or 28 for roach activity. Three of the four reopened within hours. That density, four emergency pest closures in the same commercial complex inside seven days, stands out even in a statewide count this large.
Rodent Closures Stretched from the Panhandle to the Gulf Coast
The nine rodent-related closures were spread across the state with no geographic cluster matching Jacksonville's roach concentration.
Whistle Stop Grill and Bar on Main Street in Safety Harbor was closed September 30 for rodent activity and cleared by 10:04 that morning. Sailor's Return on Southwest Anchorage Way in Stuart closed the same day for rodent activity but did not reopen until 4:24 that afternoon, one of the longer clearance windows in the dataset.
Pelican Alley on West Albee Road in Nokomis was closed September 24 for rodent activity and reopened by 8:35 the next morning. Asian Gourmet on North Harbor City Boulevard in Melbourne closed the same day for rodent activity and reopened by 9:22.
Los Agaves Royal Palm on Royal Palm Beach Boulevard was closed September 24 for both roach and rodent activity, a dual infestation, and did not reopen until 2:50 that afternoon. Hive Waterfront Restaurant on Floral Road in Lantana also combined roach and rodent activity in its September 23 closure and was cleared by 9:00 the following morning.
Triple J Tiki Hut Bar and Grill on West US Highway 92 in Seffner was closed September 23 for rodent activity and reopened by 2:27 that afternoon. Rocky's Pizzeria Restaurant on North Ocean Shore Boulevard in Flagler Beach closed September 28 for rodent activity and cleared by 9:56 the next morning.
Bagelicious and More on County Line Road in Spring Hill was closed September 23 for roach and fly activity combined and reopened by 8:57 that morning, the earliest clearance time of any multi-pest closure in the period.
What These Violations Mean
Live pest activity inside a restaurant kitchen is not a paperwork violation. Cockroaches carry bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli on their legs and bodies, depositing contamination on food-contact surfaces, prep areas, and equipment as they move through a kitchen at night or during off-hours. When inspectors document live roach activity, they are finding the insects themselves, not just evidence of prior presence.
Rodent activity is a different category of risk. Rodent droppings contain pathogens including Salmonella and, in some cases, Hantavirus. Rodents also gnaw through food packaging, contaminating product that may not show visible signs of compromise. The gap between when an infestation begins and when an inspector arrives means customers may have been eating in affected facilities before any closure order was issued.
Fly infestations, which drove four closures in this period including the Chipotle in Miami and Moe's in Jacksonville, represent a direct contamination pathway from waste and decomposing matter to food surfaces. Inspectors document fly activity by location and volume, and a closure for flies typically means the count and the proximity to food prep areas crossed the threshold for imminent public health risk.
The combination closures, Hooters in Jacksonville for both roaches and rodents, Los Agaves in Royal Palm Beach for both, Sonic in Zephyrhills for both, indicate facilities where two separate infestation vectors were present simultaneously. That is not a single maintenance failure; it points to conditions that allowed multiple pest populations to establish themselves at the same time.
The Longer Record
Several facilities in this roundup carry inspection histories that place these closures in sharper context. Bella's Italian Café on South Howard Avenue in Tampa, closed September 23 for roach and fly activity, sits in one of the city's highest-traffic dining corridors and reopened by 4:01 that afternoon. Pepo's Café on Northdale Boulevard in Tampa closed October 1 for roach activity and cleared by 2:42 that afternoon.
El Primo Restaurant and Grocery on Powers Avenue in Jacksonville was closed September 28 for roach activity and reopened by 11:15 that morning. Hong Kong Station on Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville also closed September 28 for roach activity and did not clear until 12:54 that afternoon, one of the longer roach-related clearance windows in the dataset.
Mama Kitchen on West International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach was closed September 29 for both roach and fly activity and reopened by 9:22 the next morning. Brandon Asian Cuisine on Stirling Road in Davie closed October 1 for roach activity and cleared by 8:37 that morning, one of the faster turnarounds in the roach category.
Tavern at Cheval on Cheval Boulevard in Lutz, closed September 24 for roach and fly activity, sits inside a private golf community, an upscale address that did not insulate it from the same pest pressures documented at strip mall locations across the state that week. It reopened by 9:45 that morning.
The five closures with unresolved status, Hooters in Jacksonville, Winghouse in Ocala, Nori Thai in St. Pete Beach, St. James Café in Jacksonville, and Lolas Filipino Café in Orange Park, remain the open questions in this period. State records show inspectors ordered them closed. What the records do not yet show is whether any of them have met the standards required to reopen.
