APOPKA, FL. Back in April 2026, state inspectors walked into No 1 Chinese Restaurant at 38 E Main St and found what they had found there before, more than once: roaches. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation ordered the restaurant closed on April 8, with a deadline to vacate by April 9.
It was the seventh time the state had shut the restaurant down.
What Inspectors Found
No 1 Chinese Restaurant: Emergency Closure History
The April 8 closure was triggered by roach activity documented during that day's inspection. Inspectors also cited four high-severity violations and two intermediate violations on the day of the shutdown.
The high-severity violations included improper hand and arm washing technique and food not cooked to the required minimum temperature. Two intermediate violations were also recorded: single-use items being improperly reused, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
A follow-up inspection the next morning, April 9, showed the restaurant had cleared the roach issue well enough to reopen. Two high-severity violations and two intermediate violations remained on that follow-up visit, but the state allowed the restaurant to resume operations at 8:23 a.m.
What These Violations Mean
Roach activity is one of the conditions that triggers an automatic emergency closure under Florida law, and for straightforward reasons. Roaches carry bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli on their bodies and legs, depositing them on food surfaces, prep equipment, and food itself as they move through a kitchen. A customer eating food that has contacted a roach-contaminated surface has no way of knowing it.
The food temperature violation documented during the April 8 inspection compounds that risk. Undercooking is one of the most direct routes to foodborne illness: Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a piece of chicken pulled from the fryer or wok before it reaches that temperature can deliver a live pathogen directly to a customer's plate. At a restaurant already cited for pest activity, a cooking temperature failure is not an isolated problem.
The improper handwashing technique violation matters because it negates the handwashing itself. An employee who goes through the motions of washing but uses incorrect technique, skipping steps or not scrubbing long enough, leaves pathogens on their hands and transfers them to whatever food or surface they touch next.
Reusing single-use items, the intermediate violation cited on April 9, creates a separate contamination pathway. Gloves, cups, and single-use utensils are designed without the material durability to be cleaned and sanitized effectively. Reusing them carries residue and bacteria from one use into the next.
The Longer Record
The April 2026 closure did not come out of nowhere. State records show 38 inspections at this address over the facility's history, with 445 total violations documented across those visits.
The six prior emergency closures tell their own story. Two came within the same month in 2016, both for roach activity, with only 24 days between the first reopening and the second shutdown. The restaurant was closed again in November 2020, this time for both roaches and rodents, and then again in February 2021 for rodents alone. A May 2023 closure added flies to the list alongside rodents.
The inspection record in the two years before the April 2026 closure shows the pattern continuing at a high-severity level. A July 1, 2024 inspection produced 10 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations. A September 29, 2025 inspection produced the same count, 10 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations. Neither triggered a closure, but both came within months of inspections that did.
The October 2025 follow-up after that September visit showed only 1 high-severity and 1 intermediate violation, a pattern repeated after the April 2026 closure: violations spike, the restaurant clears enough to reopen, and the cycle continues. Across 38 inspections and seven emergency shutdowns, that cycle has repeated itself for at least a decade.
The Current Status
The restaurant was permitted to reopen on the morning of April 9, 2026, after the follow-up inspection. The two high-severity violations that remained on that visit, improper handwashing technique and the food temperature failure, were not resolved before reopening. Whether those violations were corrected in a subsequent inspection is not reflected in the data available for this report.
No 1 Chinese Restaurant holds a permanent food service license and was licensed for operation at the time of the closure.