ORLANDO, FL. Inspectors ordered Juicy Crab on International Drive shut down on August 7 after documenting roach and fly activity inside the restaurant, the second emergency closure the 7308 International Drive location has accumulated since opening.
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation gave the restaurant until August 8 to vacate. A follow-up inspection that same day found the facility had met state standards, and the restaurant was cleared to reopen at 11:17 a.m.
But the closure was only the most visible problem inspectors found.
What Inspectors Found
The August 7 inspection that triggered the closure produced 8 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations. The roach and fly activity that prompted the shutdown was accompanied by a finding that employees were not reporting symptoms of illness, that food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, that food was not being cooked to required minimum temperatures, and that toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled.
The intermediate violations included improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and improper waste disposal.
That is a wide range of failures for a single inspection visit.
The follow-up inspection on August 8 still found 4 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate violations remaining, even after the restaurant was cleared to reopen.
What These Violations Mean
The pest activity alone is enough to warrant a shutdown, but the violations documented alongside it compound the risk considerably. Roaches and flies are disease vectors, moving bacteria from waste and drains directly onto food surfaces. When those same surfaces are already documented as improperly cleaned and sanitized, the contamination pathway from pest to plate becomes direct.
The finding that employees were not reporting illness symptoms is among the most serious categories in the state's inspection system. Food workers who fail to report symptoms are the leading driver of multi-victim outbreaks. Norovirus, in particular, spreads rapidly when an infected employee continues working, and a busy International Drive seafood restaurant serving high volumes of tourists is exactly the environment where a single unreported illness can become a public health event.
Undercooking is its own separate danger. Poultry must reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit to kill Salmonella. A documented failure to reach required cooking temperatures, found in the same inspection as pest activity and improperly sanitized surfaces, means multiple contamination pathways were present simultaneously.
The improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals add a fourth risk category entirely. Chemicals stored near food, or mislabeled so staff cannot distinguish them from food-safe products, create the potential for acute chemical poisoning independent of any biological contamination.
Improper sewage or wastewater disposal, listed as an intermediate violation, introduces the risk of fecal contamination throughout a facility. Paired with improperly cleaned multi-use utensils, which develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours that standard cleaning does not remove, the August 7 inspection describes a kitchen where contamination was possible at nearly every stage of food preparation.
The Longer Record
The August 7 closure did not arrive without warning. The restaurant has accumulated 310 violations across 35 inspections on record, and the pattern of high-severity findings has repeated itself with notable regularity.
In February 2026, inspectors found 8 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations on February 18, a tally that mirrors the closure inspection almost exactly. A follow-up eight days later on February 26 showed zero high-severity violations, suggesting the restaurant had corrected the findings. But the corrections did not hold.
The same pattern played out in August 2025. Inspectors found 6 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate violations on August 26. A follow-up two days later on August 28 still produced 2 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate violations. A third visit on August 29 finally showed zero violations at either severity level.
That is a recurring cycle: a high-violation inspection, a partial correction, and a clean bill of health, followed months later by another high-violation inspection.
The February 2025 inspection found 4 high-severity violations and 2 intermediate violations. The restaurant has not had a sustained stretch of clean inspections between its periodic spikes. This is the second time the location has been emergency-closed, and the first closure is also part of the official record.
Across 35 inspections, 310 total violations, and two emergency shutdowns, the August 7 closure is less a sudden finding than the latest point in a documented line.
The restaurant reopened at 11:17 a.m. on August 8. Four high-severity violations were still on the books at the time inspectors signed off.
