ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FL. A Chinese restaurant in Orlando has now been emergency-closed nine times by state inspectors, the most of any facility in this two-week roundup, and its latest shutdown for roach activity came on September 22 as part of a wave of nine closures across Jacksonville and Orlando between September 22 and October 5, 2026.
The Worst Offender
China Lee on S. Kirkman Road was ordered closed on September 22 for roach activity and had reopened by 10:17 a.m. the following morning. That rapid turnaround is a pattern inspectors have seen at this address before, nine times now in the available record.
No other facility in this roundup comes close to that number.
What Inspectors Found
The closure wave began on September 22 and did not let up for ten days. Eight of the nine shutdowns were triggered by pest activity, the most common and most visible reason a Florida restaurant gets an emergency order.
St James Café at 117 W. Duval St. in downtown Jacksonville was closed September 23 for roach activity. As of this report, its reopening status remains unknown.
Pho Vinh at 657 N. Primrose Dr. in Orlando was shut down September 28 for roaches and had cleared inspection by 10:44 a.m. the next day. This was the restaurant's third closure on record.
Hong Kong Station at 7534 Beach Blvd. in Jacksonville was also closed September 28 for roach activity and reopened by 12:54 p.m. the same day.
El Primo Restaurant and Grocery at 6715 Powers Ave. in Jacksonville was ordered shut on September 28 as well, its third closure on record, also for roaches. Inspectors cleared it for reopening by 11:15 a.m.
Three closures in a single day, all for the same reason, all in the same county.
Moe's Southwest Grill #759 at 9620 Applecross Rd. in Jacksonville was closed September 30 for fly activity and back open by 10:06 a.m. the next morning.
Ya Habibi Slice and Spice at 6271 St. Augustine Rd. in Jacksonville was closed October 1 for roach activity and reopened by 9:39 a.m.
The one outlier in the pest-heavy period was Hot Dog Guy at 929 W. Michigan St. in Orlando, closed September 24 for having no potable water on the premises. No URL is on record for this vendor. It reopened by 12:17 p.m.
Hooters at 8938 San Jose Blvd. in Jacksonville was closed September 29 for roach and rodent activity combined. It is the only closure in this period triggered by both pest types simultaneously. Its reopening status is not confirmed in state records.
What These Violations Mean
Roach activity is not a paperwork violation. When a state inspector triggers an emergency closure for roaches, it means live insects were observed in a food-preparation or food-storage area in numbers sufficient to constitute an immediate public health threat. Roaches carry bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli on their bodies and legs, and they move freely between sewage, garbage, and the surfaces where food is prepared and plated.
The fact that most of these restaurants reopened within hours does not mean the problem was resolved in hours. It means the operator demonstrated to a follow-up inspector that conditions had improved enough to meet the minimum threshold for reopening. Whether the underlying infestation was eliminated is a question the next routine inspection will answer.
The Hooters closure on San Jose Blvd. is the most acute case from a pest standpoint. Roaches and rodents in the same facility at the same time represent two separate harborage and contamination pathways. Rodent droppings can contaminate dry goods, shelf surfaces, and equipment with pathogens including Hantavirus and Leptospira, both of which can cause serious illness in humans.
The Hot Dog Guy closure for no potable water is a different category of risk. Without a verified safe water supply, a food vendor cannot properly wash hands, sanitize equipment, or prepare food safely. Any customer who ate from that stand on September 24 consumed food prepared under conditions that state law prohibits for exactly that reason.
The Longer Record
Four of the nine facilities closed during this period had been through this before. China Lee's nine total closures make it the most-documented repeat case in this roundup by a wide margin. A facility reaching a ninth emergency shutdown is not encountering a surprise pest problem. It is demonstrating a recurring inability to maintain conditions that prevent infestation between inspections.
Pho Vinh, El Primo Restaurant and Grocery, and Hooters each carry two prior closures before this period's events, bringing each to three total. That puts all three in a category where the pattern is established: inspectors have been to each of these addresses for emergency conditions more than once, and the most recent visit was not the first time.
El Primo's situation is worth noting specifically. Three closures at the same address, all for roach activity, suggest the problem is structural or environmental rather than a one-time lapse. A roach infestation that returns twice after remediation points to conditions in the building, the neighboring units, or the surrounding area that continue to reintroduce the pest.
The five facilities with no prior closure history, Ya Habibi Slice and Spice, Moe's Southwest Grill, Hong Kong Station, St James Café, and Hot Dog Guy, represent first-time emergency orders at their respective addresses. For Moe's, a national chain, the closure stands out. Franchise operations typically carry corporate food safety protocols and regular internal audits. A fly-activity closure sufficient to trigger an emergency order at a location like Moe's Southwest Grill is the kind of finding that does not fit the brand's standard operating narrative.
As of the close of this reporting period, two facilities remain unresolved. St James Café on W. Duval Street in downtown Jacksonville has no confirmed reopening in state records. Hooters on San Jose Blvd., the only location in this period closed for both roaches and rodents, also has no confirmed reopening date on file.
