TAMPA, FL. State inspectors ordered Pisco Bar and Restaurant on N Armenia Ave closed on September 28 after finding roach activity inside the restaurant, triggering the Tampa establishment's sixth emergency closure on record and its fourth roach-related shutdown since 2017.
The closure order required the restaurant to vacate by September 30. A follow-up inspection that same day found two high-severity and one intermediate violation still on the books, but the facility was cleared to reopen at 10:43 a.m.
What Inspectors Found
Pisco Bar and Restaurant: Emergency Closure History
The September 28 inspection that triggered the closure also turned up five high-severity violations and five intermediate violations, the most serious single-visit tally the restaurant has recorded in the recent inspection history on file.
Two of those high-severity findings are worth noting on their own terms. Inspectors cited the restaurant for failing to post a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and for improperly storing or labeling toxic chemicals.
The chemical storage violation was found alongside the roach activity that forced the closure. Inspectors also flagged inadequate ventilation and lighting as an intermediate violation during the same visit.
What These Violations Mean
Roach activity is one of the few violations that triggers an immediate emergency closure under Florida law, and for a specific reason. Cockroaches carry pathogens including Salmonella and E. coli on their bodies and in their droppings. When they move through a kitchen, they contaminate food preparation surfaces, utensils, and food itself, often without any visible trace left for kitchen staff to detect before the next meal is served.
The chemical storage violation found during the same September 28 inspection compounds that concern. When toxic chemicals are improperly stored near food or mislabeled, the risk is acute poisoning through direct contamination. A customer would have no way of knowing.
The consumer advisory violation, also flagged as high-severity, carries a different kind of risk. Without a posted notice about raw or undercooked items on the menu, customers who are pregnant, elderly, immunocompromised, or very young have no information to make an informed choice. Those groups face the most severe consequences from foodborne illness, including hospitalization.
The intermediate violation for inadequate ventilation matters beyond comfort. Poor ventilation allows grease-laden vapors and carbon monoxide to accumulate in kitchen spaces, creating conditions that degrade air quality for both workers and, over time, food safety practices throughout the facility.
The Longer Record
The September closure did not arrive without warning. State records show Pisco Bar and Restaurant has accumulated 454 violations across 52 inspections, a volume that works out to roughly 8.7 violations per inspection visit on average.
The five prior emergency closures tell a consistent story. Roach activity forced shutdowns in August 2017, November 2019, and June 2021. Each time, the restaurant was back open within a day. A 2023 closure came for a different reason, the absence of a required handwashing sink, and also resolved in a single day.
The pattern of rapid reopening after closures is notable. A one-day turnaround means pest control was called, the immediate evidence was addressed, and inspectors cleared the space. It does not mean the underlying conditions that produced the infestation were eliminated. The fact that roach activity has now triggered four separate emergency closures at this address over nine years suggests the remediation, however fast, has not held.
Recent inspection history reinforces that picture. The November 2025 inspection found five high-severity violations. The March 2025 visit found four. The April 2026 inspection found two high-severity violations just five months before the September closure. None of those visits resulted in a closure, but they document a facility that has not strung together a clean stretch of inspections in the available record.
What Comes Next
The restaurant was cleared to reopen on September 30 following a follow-up inspection that still found two high-severity and one intermediate violation on the books. What those two remaining high-severity violations were at the point of clearance is not specified in the inspection record available.
Florida's inspection process allows a facility to reopen once it has addressed the specific violations that triggered the emergency order, even if other violations remain open. That means Pisco Bar and Restaurant was serving customers again on September 30 with at least two high-severity findings still documented and unresolved.
The facility has now been emergency-closed six times. Five of those closures have been for roach activity or conditions serious enough to require immediate vacation of the premises. The most recent inspection on record, from September 30, shows the restaurant open, with violations still on file.
