FLORIDA. A Key West pub, a golf club in Sun City Center, and a Jersey Mike's on International Drive were among 28 Florida restaurants emergency-closed in a single week, with state inspectors documenting roaches, rodents, flies, and in one case a complete absence of a handwashing sink across a seven-day stretch from August 3 through August 9, 2026.
Twenty-six of the 28 closures were triggered by pest activity. Orlando led all cities with six shutdowns. Miami had three, Jacksonville and Tampa each had two. The remaining closures were scattered from Key West to Homestead to Bunnell, a geographic spread that underscores how broadly the state's pest pressure runs in early August.
The Week's Worst Findings
The most layered finding of the week came out of St. Pete Beach. Shells of St Pete Beach at 7081 Gulf Blvd was closed August 7 after inspectors documented rodent activity, roach activity, and fly activity simultaneously. That combination, three distinct pest categories in a single inspection, made it the most broadly contaminated site of the week. It reopened the same day at 12:24 p.m.
Pickles Pub Sandbar at 511 Greene St in Key West was shut down August 3 for both rodent and fly activity. It had the latest reopening of any facility that day, not cleared until 4:20 p.m. A tourist-district bar in the middle of the summer season, closed for most of a business day for rodents.
White Wolf Cafe and Bar at 1829 N Orange Ave in Orlando was closed August 3 for rodent activity and reopened by 10:15 a.m. It is one of Orlando's older neighborhood establishments, which makes its appearance on this week's list notable.
The Non-Pest Closures
Two closures this week had nothing to do with insects or rodents.
Fryer House at 6617 N Nebraska Ave in Tampa was shut down August 3 because it had no handwashing sink. Not a broken sink, not a sink without soap. No sink. It reopened at 2:41 p.m. after the deficiency was corrected.
Mil Amores Mexican Food at 421 Northlake Blvd in North Palm Beach was closed August 7 for a sewage backup. It reopened the same morning at 9:22 a.m.
Chains and Familiar Names
Three national or regional chains appeared on the closure list this week.
Jersey Mike's Subs at 6700 Conroy Rd in Orlando was closed August 7 for roach activity and reopened at 8:43 a.m., the fastest turnaround of any pest-related closure that day. Subway Sandwiches and Salads at 8839 Conroy Rd in Orlando was closed August 4 for fly activity and reopened at 1:36 p.m. Both locations sit within roughly a mile of each other on the same corridor west of downtown Orlando.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, location number 1369 at 6310 103rd St in Jacksonville, was closed August 4 for roach activity and reopened the following morning at 8:58 a.m. No URL was available for that location in state records.
Tacombi at 3930 NE 2nd Ave in Miami was closed August 6 for both rodent and fly activity. The fast-casual taco chain, which has locations in several states, reopened the same day at 9:21 a.m.
Hooters at 8510 Palm Pkwy in Orlando was closed August 5 for fly activity, adding a fifth closure to Orlando's total for the week. It reopened at 1:18 p.m.
The Rest of the Week
Monday, August 4, was the single busiest closure day, with seven restaurants shut down across the state.
Castillo's Pizza at 8947 Conroy Windermere Rd in Orlando was closed that day for roach activity and not cleared until 2:18 p.m. DeVito's Italian Specialties at 200 N Tampa St in Tampa was also closed August 4 for roaches, reopening at 1:50 p.m.
Rotis Indian Restaurant at 13025 US Hwy 301 S in Riverview was closed August 4 for rodent and fly activity and had the latest clearance of the day, reopening at 4:08 p.m.
Apna Addaa at 8350 Baymeadows Rd in Jacksonville was closed August 4 for roach activity and reopened at 8:05 a.m., the earliest clearance of the day. No URL was available for that location in state records.
Cypress Creek Golf Club at 1011 Cypress Village Blvd in Sun City Center was closed August 5 for rodent and fly activity. A golf club kitchen is not a typical closure target, which makes its appearance on this list unusual. It reopened at 9:29 a.m.
Cafe Bich Nga at 5572 Park Blvd in Pinellas Park was also closed August 5 for rodent and fly activity, reopening at 12:24 p.m.
Maggie McFly's at 662 SE Becker Rd in Port St. Lucie was closed August 5 for fly activity and cleared by 10:41 a.m.
Earlier in the week, Buffet City at 1030 58th St N in St. Petersburg was closed August 3 for roach activity and reopened at 12:42 p.m. Italiano's at 4191 Tamiami Trl S in Venice was closed the same day for roaches, not cleared until 2:08 p.m.
Eleventh Street Pizza at 9025 SW 72nd Pl in Miami was closed August 3 for fly activity and reopened by 9:14 a.m. Pack Supermarket at 8235 NE 2nd Ave in Miami was closed the same day for rodent activity, cleared by 8:17 a.m.
Cafe Enclave at 524 W 27th St in Hialeah was closed August 3 for rodent activity and reopened at 9:55 a.m. Panaderia Restaurante La Bamba Inc at 3900 Palm Beach Blvd in Fort Myers was closed August 3 for rodent activity and cleared by 8:50 a.m.
Taqueria La Calentana Dos LLC at 604 E Moody Blvd in Bunnell was closed August 3 for fly activity and reopened at 9:04 a.m. Sugar Bae at 8253 Sunset Strip in Fort Lauderdale was closed August 7 for roach activity and reopened at 12:37 p.m.
Pit Boss Bar B Que and Pub at 4221 Little Rd in New Port Richey was closed August 7 for rodent and fly activity and reopened at 9:13 a.m. Juicy Crab at 7308 International Dr in Orlando was closed August 7 for roach and fly activity, reopening at 11:17 a.m.
Yellow Tail Subs Grill Inc at 27275 S Dixie Hwy in Homestead was closed August 6 for roach and fly activity. No URL was available in state records, and no reopening time was recorded.
What These Violations Mean
Roach activity inside a food service facility is not simply an aesthetic problem. Cockroaches carry bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli on their bodies and in their digestive tracts, and they deposit those pathogens on food prep surfaces, utensils, and food itself. When inspectors close a restaurant for roach activity, they are responding to a direct contamination pathway, not a nuisance. Fourteen of this week's 28 closures cited roaches as a triggering factor.
Rodent activity carries a different but equally serious risk. Rodents urinate constantly as they move, and their urine can transmit Leptospirosis and Hantavirus. Rodent droppings in a food prep environment represent contamination that may have been occurring for days or weeks before an inspector arrives. Twelve closures this week involved rodents, often alongside fly activity.
Fly infestations, which triggered closures at locations including Hooters on Palm Pkwy and Eleventh Street Pizza in Miami, are particularly dangerous in kitchens because flies move between waste and food surfaces within seconds. A fly that lands on raw protein and then on a prepared plate is a direct vector.
The Fryer House closure for no handwashing sink is in a category of its own. A handwashing sink is not optional equipment. Its absence means employees handling food had no compliant facility to wash their hands between tasks, between handling raw and cooked food, or after using the restroom.
The Longer Record
Several facilities on this week's list carry substantial inspection histories in state records. Shells of St Pete Beach, which had the broadest pest combination of the week, and White Wolf Cafe and Bar, a long-established Orlando neighborhood bar, both have extended records that predate this closure. A facility with years of inspections on file that still triggers an emergency closure for rodents or roaches is a different story than a newly opened location encountering its first serious citation.
Rotis Indian Restaurant in Riverview and Cafe Bich Nga in Pinellas Park both closed for the same combination of rodent and fly activity on consecutive days. Whether either facility had prior citations in the same pest categories is a question the full inspection record would answer.
The two Jacksonville closures, Popeyes and Apna Addaa, both reopened before 9 a.m. the following day, suggesting corrections were made overnight. Fast corrections do not erase the underlying question of how pest activity reached closure-level severity in the first place.
Yellow Tail Subs Grill Inc in Homestead was closed August 6 for roach and fly activity. It is the only facility from this week's list with no recorded reopening time in state data.
