FLORIDA. Eleven of the twelve restaurants that state inspectors emergency-closed during the week of June 17, 2026 were shut down for the same category of violation: pest activity, including live roaches, rodent evidence, and fly infestations documented inside kitchens, prep areas, and dining spaces across the state.
The closures stretched from Pensacola in the Panhandle to Islamorada in the Florida Keys, hitting a waterfront seafood restaurant, a national pizza chain, a Cuban cuisine spot in Hialeah, and a Thai-sushi fusion restaurant in Wilton Manors. Only one closure that week had nothing to do with pests.
The Week's Closures
The week's most striking closure involved a restaurant that, as of the data available for this report, had not yet been cleared to reopen. Tunis Wing and Seafood at 1935 N Main St in Jacksonville was shut down June 19 for roach activity. No reopening time appears in state records.
Roaches also triggered the June 18 closure of Meng's Kitchen at 2415 E Colonial Dr in Orlando, which was back open by 9:20 a.m. the same morning. East Ocean Café at 412 E Ocean Ave in Boynton Beach was closed June 17 for roach activity and cleared by 9:17 a.m.
Rodent activity drove closures at five restaurants across four days. Funky Pelican at 215 S Ocean Shore Blvd in Flagler Beach was shut down June 18 and reopened by 8:17 a.m., the fastest turnaround of the week. Apollo Diner at 201 W Hibiscus Blvd in Melbourne was also closed June 18 and back open by 8:29 a.m.
Hungry Tarpon Restaurant at 77522 Overseas Hwy in Islamorada was closed June 18 for both rodent and fly activity, reopening by 8:39 a.m. The Keys location sits along the Overseas Highway, a stretch of tourist-heavy waterfront dining.
Tee Jay Thai Sushi at 2254 Wilton Dr in Wilton Manors was shut down June 17 for rodent activity and cleared by 10:21 a.m. Lucys In The Square at 301 S Adams St in Pensacola was closed the same day for rodent activity and did not reopen until 11:33 a.m., the latest morning clearance among the rodent-related closures.
Flies, a Chain, and a Water Outage
Fly activity brought down two restaurants and contributed to a third closure. Tijuana Flats #114 at 2117 66th St N in St. Petersburg, part of the Florida-based Tex-Mex chain, was closed June 19 for fly activity and reopened by 10:20 a.m. Soriano Brothers Cuban Cuisine at 2393 W 78th St in Hialeah was shut down June 17 for fly activity and cleared by 9:32 a.m.
Marco's Pizza #8477 at 8955 Hypoluxo Rd in Lake Worth was closed June 18 for a combination of rodent and fly activity. The Lake Worth location is a franchise unit of the national Marco's Pizza chain, which operates more than 1,100 locations across the country. The store reopened by 9:00 a.m.
The week's only non-pest closure was Food Doctor at 2356 Beaver St in Jacksonville, shut down June 17 because the restaurant had no potable water. An absence of running drinkable water is an automatic closure trigger under Florida law, as it makes handwashing, food preparation, and sanitation impossible. The restaurant was cleared by 10:47 a.m.
What These Violations Mean
Roach activity inside a food establishment is not simply a nuisance finding. Cockroaches carry pathogens including Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria on their bodies and legs, and they deposit those organisms on food-contact surfaces, utensils, and exposed food as they move through a kitchen. A single live roach observed during an inspection typically represents a much larger population living inside walls, under equipment, and behind refrigeration units. State inspectors close restaurants for roach activity precisely because the contamination risk is immediate and the population cannot be assessed from a surface-level look.
Rodent activity carries a similar profile with an additional concern: rodent droppings can transmit Hantavirus and Leptospira bacteria through contact or airborne particles in enclosed spaces. The droppings themselves contaminate surfaces, and rodents that move through dry storage areas can compromise food packaging. Rodent activity was cited at Funky Pelican in Flagler Beach, Apollo Diner in Melbourne, Hungry Tarpon in Islamorada, Tee Jay Thai Sushi in Wilton Manors, and Lucys In The Square in Pensacola during this single week.
Fly infestations, documented at Tijuana Flats in St. Petersburg, Soriano Brothers in Hialeah, and Hungry Tarpon in Islamorada, present a direct contamination pathway when flies land on food, prep surfaces, or open containers. Flies regurgitate digestive fluids when they land and pick up bacteria from any organic material they have contacted previously, including waste and decaying matter.
The no-potable-water closure at Food Doctor in Jacksonville is in a separate category but no less serious. Without running water, employees cannot wash their hands between tasks, equipment cannot be sanitized on schedule, and any food prepared during that period is considered potentially compromised. Florida's Division of Hotels and Restaurants treats loss of potable water as an immediate public health emergency, the same threshold that triggers pest-related closures.
The Longer Record
Several of the restaurants that closed this week carry substantial inspection histories. Tee Jay Thai Sushi in Wilton Manors has prior inspections on record going back through multiple years, as does Lucys In The Square in Pensacola, a downtown Adams Street location in one of the city's highest-traffic dining corridors. Whether those prior inspections included pest-related citations is a question readers can examine directly through the facility pages linked in this article.
Hungry Tarpon Restaurant in Islamorada is a Keys institution along the Overseas Highway. Its June 18 closure for both rodent and fly activity is notable because dual pest citations during a single inspection visit suggest inspectors observed evidence of more than one infestation simultaneously, not a single stray finding.
Funky Pelican in Flagler Beach reopened in 17 minutes, the shortest gap between closure and clearance in this week's data. A closure resolved that quickly typically means pest control was already on site or the evidence was addressed on the spot, but it does not mean the underlying infestation was eliminated. Follow-up inspections determine whether the closure-triggering condition has been fully resolved.
Marco's Pizza #8477 in Lake Worth is the only national chain franchise in this week's closures. Corporate franchise locations operate under the same state inspection standards as independent restaurants, and a closure at one unit does not affect other locations. The Lake Worth unit's combination of rodent and fly activity places it among the more complex pest findings of the week.
Tunis Wing and Seafood in Jacksonville remains the one closure from this week without a confirmed reopening time in state records.