TARPON SPRINGS, FL. State inspectors ordered Outside BBQ LLC on Pinellas Avenue closed on September 8 after finding rodent, roach and fly activity at the 505 Pinellas Ave. restaurant, the third time the Tarpon Springs barbecue spot has been emergency-closed since October 2023.
The closure order required the restaurant to vacate by September 10. Inspectors returned twice on September 9 and again on September 10, when a single high-severity violation remained. The restaurant reopened at 8:22 a.m. that day.
What Inspectors Found
Outside BBQ LLC: Recent Inspection History
The September 8 inspection produced 6 high-severity and 5 intermediate violations, the most serious inspection result the restaurant has generated in the records reviewed for this article. The combined presence of rodents, roaches and flies in a single inspection is what triggered the emergency order.
Among the violations documented during the closure inspection was a missing consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. That citation carried over through both September 9 follow-up visits and was still present when inspectors cleared the restaurant to reopen on September 10.
What These Violations Mean
Rodent, roach and fly activity in a food service environment is not a housekeeping problem. Each of those three pests is a documented vector for bacterial contamination. Rodents leave droppings and urine across food preparation surfaces, inside storage areas and on equipment. Roaches carry pathogens on their bodies and deposit them wherever they travel, including directly onto food. Flies land on waste, then on food, transferring bacteria with each contact. Finding all three simultaneously, as inspectors did at Outside BBQ on September 8, indicates a contamination risk that extends across multiple areas of the facility, not a single isolated source.
The consumer advisory violation, which persisted through reopening, carries its own risk category. A consumer advisory is the notice posted on menus or elsewhere that warns customers when a dish contains raw or undercooked animal products, including rare beef, undercooked pork or certain preparations common in barbecue service. Without that warning, customers who face elevated health risks, including elderly diners, pregnant women, young children and anyone with a compromised immune system, cannot make an informed decision about what they order. They have no way of knowing a dish may contain undercooked protein. If someone in that group becomes ill, the missing advisory also complicates any attempt to trace the illness back to a specific item.
The Longer Record
The September closure did not come out of nowhere. State records show Outside BBQ LLC has accumulated 126 violations across 26 inspections at this location. That works out to an average of nearly five violations per inspection over the life of the facility's record.
The October 2024 inspection produced 7 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations, the second-heaviest documented result before the September 2026 closure. The April 2025 inspection added 4 more high-severity citations. A February 2026 inspection came back clean, with zero violations at either level. That stretch of compliance did not hold.
The pattern at this address goes back further than the current inspection cycle. On October 25, 2023, inspectors ordered Outside BBQ closed for roach and rodent activity. That closure lasted two days, with the restaurant reopening on October 27, 2023. The September 2026 closure is the second time the facility has been shut down for the same combination of pests at the same address.
Three emergency closures in under three years, two of them for roach and rodent activity, is the fact the record leaves behind.
Where Things Stand
The restaurant was cleared to reopen on the morning of September 10. A single high-severity violation, the missing consumer advisory for raw and undercooked foods, was still on record at the time inspectors determined the facility had met state standards for reopening.
Whether that citation has since been resolved, and what the next scheduled inspection will show, is not reflected in the data available at the time this article was published.
