TAMPA, FL. State inspectors ordered Memo Modern Italian on Montague Street shut down on August 17 after finding roach activity inside the restaurant, the third time the Hillsborough County establishment has been emergency-closed in 2026.
The closure order required the restaurant to vacate by August 18. Inspectors returned that same morning and cleared the facility to reopen at 8:29 a.m., after finding just two remaining violations, neither of them roach-related.
What Inspectors Found
Memo Modern Italian: 2026 Inspection Pattern
The August 17 inspection that triggered the closure documented one high-severity violation and two intermediate violations. The roach activity was the basis for the emergency order.
The follow-up inspection on August 18 found the restaurant had cleared the roach problem but still had two violations on record: one high-severity citation for failing to post a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and one intermediate citation for multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
Those two violations were enough to reopen, but neither had been resolved from the prior day's inspection.
What These Violations Mean
Roach activity in a food service kitchen is one of the conditions Florida law treats as an immediate public health threat, serious enough to close a restaurant on the spot. Roaches carry bacteria including salmonella and E. coli on their bodies and legs, depositing them on food preparation surfaces, utensils, and stored ingredients as they move through a kitchen. A single roach sighting in the wrong location can contaminate dozens of surfaces before it is seen.
The consumer advisory violation that remained after the August 18 reopening is a separate but significant concern. When a restaurant serves raw or undercooked proteins, including items like beef tartare, seared fish, or runny eggs, customers who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised need to know the risk before ordering. Without that advisory posted on the menu, those customers have no way to make an informed choice. If someone gets sick, there is also no documented warning that the restaurant provided.
The intermediate citation for improperly cleaned multi-use utensils compounds that risk. Utensils that are not cleaned and sanitized correctly develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours. Those biofilms are resistant to standard cleaning once established, meaning contamination can persist across multiple service periods even after a surface appears clean.
Both violations were present at the reopening inspection, meaning the restaurant was cleared to serve customers while those conditions still existed.
The Pattern Before August
The August closure was not a sudden finding. State records show Memo Modern Italian was first emergency-closed on February 10, 2026, for roach and fly activity. The reopen status from that February closure is not confirmed in state records.
What followed that February closure was an extraordinary stretch of inspections. Between February 14 and February 20, inspectors visited the restaurant five times in seven days. Every single visit documented at least one high-severity violation.
Then on April 22, inspectors returned and found five high-severity violations in a single inspection, the worst single-day tally in the recent record. One intermediate violation accompanied those five high-priority citations.
The restaurant went from that April inspection to August 17 without a documented visit in the state record, and the next visit produced another emergency closure order for the same category of violation that triggered the February shutdown: roaches.
The Longer Record
Memo Modern Italian has 39 inspections on record and 293 total violations documented across its history as a permanent food service facility. That volume places it in a category of restaurants where the inspection record tells a story of recurring, unresolved problems rather than isolated incidents.
Two of its three emergency closures in 2026 were for roach activity, the same violation type appearing six months apart. That repetition is significant. A pest problem that triggers a closure, clears a follow-up inspection, and then reappears months later suggests the underlying conditions that attract and sustain roaches were not fully addressed between visits.
The February closure's unconfirmed reopen status adds a gap to the record. State data does not show when or whether the restaurant was cleared to reopen after that first 2026 shutdown, only that five inspections followed in the week after, each with high-severity findings.
Across eight inspections documented in 2026, Memo Modern Italian has not had a single visit with zero high-severity violations. The April 22 inspection alone accounted for five. The restaurant has been inspected, cited, closed, reopened, and cited again in a cycle that the August 17 closure extended into a third emergency shutdown.
As of the August 18 follow-up, the restaurant was cleared to operate. The consumer advisory for raw and undercooked foods was still not posted.
