ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FL. State inspectors emergency-closed six restaurants across the Jacksonville area and Orlando between September 25 and October 8, 2026, every single one of them for pest activity, and three of the six had been through the same process at least twice before.
The most serious finding of the period came at Hooters at 8938 San Jose Blvd in Jacksonville. Inspectors documented both roach activity and rodent activity at the location, a combination that is relatively rare in a single closure order. It was the third time the restaurant had been emergency-closed. As of this report, its reopening status remains unknown.
What Inspectors Found
The three-day stretch of September 28 through 30 was the busiest of the period, with four closures in rapid succession. On September 28 alone, inspectors shut down three separate restaurants.
Hong Kong Station at 7534 Beach Blvd Bay 03 in Jacksonville was closed for roach activity on September 28. The restaurant cleared reinspection and reopened the same day, at 12:54 p.m., the latest reopening time of any facility in this period.
El Primo Restaurant and Grocery at 6715 Powers Ave Units 3 and 5 in Jacksonville was also closed September 28 for roach activity and reopened at 11:15 a.m. It was the third closure on record for that address.
Pho Vinh at 657 N Primrose Dr in Orlando was closed the same day for roach activity and reopened at 10:44 a.m. That address also carries two prior closures on record.
On September 29, Hooters on San Jose Boulevard was ordered closed. The dual finding of roach activity and rodent activity placed it in a category by itself among this period's closures.
Moe's Southwest Grill #759 at 9620 Applecross Rd Ste 108 in Jacksonville was closed September 30 for fly activity and cleared reinspection the following morning, reopening at 10:06 a.m.
Ya Habibi Slice and Spice at 6271 St Augustine Rd Ste 28-29 in Jacksonville was closed October 1 for roach activity and reopened the next morning at 9:39 a.m., the earliest confirmed reopening in this group.
What These Violations Mean
Every closure in this two-week period was triggered by live pest activity, which under Florida's food safety code constitutes an imminent public health hazard serious enough to require immediate shutdown without a warning period. That threshold exists for a reason.
Cockroaches are not simply a sanitation failure. They carry and spread bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli on their legs and bodies, and they contaminate food surfaces, preparation equipment, and stored ingredients during the same hours a kitchen is actively preparing meals for customers. A roach documented during an inspection is evidence of an infestation that existed before the inspector arrived, meaning any customer who ate at El Primo, Hong Kong Station, Pho Vinh, Ya Habibi, or Hooters in the days before closure was eating in a kitchen where that contamination was already present.
The finding at Hooters adds a second layer. Rodent activity, documented alongside roach activity, means inspectors identified evidence of mice or rats in addition to cockroach presence. Rodents carry their own contamination risks, including Salmonella and hantavirus, and their droppings, urine, and hair can enter food and food-contact surfaces without any visible sign at the point of service.
Fly activity, the basis for Moe's Southwest Grill closure, is categorized as an imminent hazard when flies are present in sufficient numbers or in direct proximity to food preparation. Flies transfer bacteria from waste and decomposing material directly to food surfaces. The fact that Moe's cleared its reinspection by the following morning does not mean the flies arrived overnight.
The Longer Record
Three of the six facilities closed during this period carry two prior closures on record each, meaning this was not a first or even a second encounter with state enforcement.
El Primo Restaurant and Grocery on Powers Avenue has now been emergency-closed three times. Pho Vinh in Orlando has the same count. Hooters on San Jose Boulevard has also been closed three times, and its current reopening status has not been confirmed. A facility reaching a third emergency closure in the same category, pest activity, raises a question the inspection record alone cannot answer: what changed, if anything, between closures.
Hong Kong Station, Ya Habibi Slice and Spice, and Moe's Southwest Grill do not have prior closures listed in the data for this period. For those three locations, this was a first closure on record, though all three reopened within hours of the original order.
The speed of reopening for five of the six facilities reflects the standard pattern: a pest-related closure requires remediation and a passing reinspection before the establishment can reopen, and many facilities complete that process within the same business day. Hong Kong Station reopened in under 13 hours. El Primo and Pho Vinh reopened within the same morning they were closed.
The Unresolved Case
Five of the six restaurants closed during this period have confirmed reopening times in the state record. Hooters at 8938 San Jose Blvd in Jacksonville does not.
That location was closed September 29 for a combination of roach and rodent activity, the only dual-pest closure in this period and the most serious documented finding across all six cases. It was also the third time that address had been emergency-closed by state inspectors.
As of this report, no confirmed reopening time appears in the available record for that location.
