HAINES CITY, FL. State inspectors ordered Neapolitan Italian Eatery on Ingraham Avenue shut down on August 17 after documenting roach activity inside the restaurant, the second emergency closure the Haines City location has faced in its inspection history.
The closure order required the restaurant to vacate by August 20. Inspectors returned that same day and cleared the facility to reopen at 9:00 a.m., after a three-day remediation window that included two follow-up visits.
What Inspectors Found
Neapolitan Italian Eatery: Inspection Record, August 2026
The August 17 inspection produced two high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. One of the high-severity citations involved food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, a violation inspectors documented alongside the roach activity that triggered the shutdown.
That combination, live pest activity and contaminated food contact surfaces on the same visit, is what the state considers grounds for an emergency closure rather than a standard warning.
A follow-up inspection on August 19 found the restaurant still out of compliance, with one high-severity and one intermediate violation remaining. Inspectors returned again on August 20 and found one high-severity violation still on record, but determined the facility had met state standards and cleared it to reopen.
What These Violations Mean
Roach activity is one of the conditions Florida law treats as an immediate public health hazard, meaning inspectors do not issue a warning and return later. They close the restaurant on the spot.
The reason is direct contamination. Cockroaches carry bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli on their bodies and legs, and they travel across food preparation surfaces, equipment, and stored food without any barrier between themselves and what customers will eat. A single roach documented in a kitchen is treated as evidence of a larger population, because roaches are nocturnal and inspections happen during operating hours.
The food contact surface violation compounds the risk considerably. Improperly cleaned cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils are a primary transfer point for bacteria, and when those surfaces are also exposed to pest activity, the contamination pathway from pest to surface to food to customer is direct. At Neapolitan Italian Eatery on August 17, both conditions existed at the same time.
The fact that one high-severity violation remained on the August 20 reinspection, even as the state cleared the restaurant to reopen, means the facility was not fully resolved when it resumed service. Inspectors determined the remaining issue did not rise to the level of continued closure, but the record shows it was still present.
The Longer Record
This closure did not come without warning signs in the inspection history.
The August 17 shutdown is the second emergency closure on record for this facility across 31 total inspections. The restaurant has accumulated 116 violations in that time, an average of more than three violations per inspection visit.
The most recent year of inspections shows a facility that has not had a clean run. The September 2024 inspection produced four high-severity violations and one intermediate, the highest single-visit severity count in the recent record. December 2025 brought two high-severity and one intermediate. April 2026 added another high-severity citation before the August closure.
The one exception in recent history is the November 2024 inspection, which produced zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. That visit stands alone in the recent record as the only clean inspection between September 2024 and the August 2026 closure.
The prior emergency closure, which the records confirm but do not date in the available data, means the August 2026 shutdown is a pattern, not an isolated event. A facility that has been ordered closed twice across 31 inspections, and that recorded four high-severity violations in a single visit less than two years before this closure, is one that inspectors have flagged repeatedly for serious conditions.
The three-day remediation period and the August 20 clearance indicate the roach activity was addressed quickly enough to satisfy the reinspection standard. Whether the one outstanding high-severity violation cited on the day of reopening has since been resolved is not reflected in the available records.
Where Things Stand
Neapolitan Italian Eatery was cleared to reopen the morning of August 20, three days after the emergency closure order.
The facility's inspection record now includes 31 visits, two emergency closures, and 116 total violations. The high-severity violation that remained on record at the time of reopening has not been confirmed as resolved.
