Travel enough kitchens and the patterns rhyme: Statewide frame: the Tampa Bay area's chronic density is 39% below the Florida average. the Tampa Bay area's current board shows 193 recent high-priority hits. Mix: 2 bars, 1 Burritos, 1 Diner, and 1 Performing Arts. Kitchen-English translation: a 90-day window means the recent inspection stretch, not a verdict on every kitchen in the county.
Emergency Orders
43 records this window
Restaurants closed by DBPR emergency order in the last 90 days.
Forty-three kitchens got slapped with an emergency order shutdown recently in Tampa Bay. Those are state-ordered temporary shutdowns, meaning the regulator told them to stop serving before they even hit paperwork limbo. The Boat Club in Tarpon Springs and ROUEN THAI RESTAURANT in Tampa were among the places that drew this attention. EL LUNCH LATINO in Clearwater also made the list of operators who had their operations ordered closed by the department. When inspectors slap down an EOR, it’s immediate heat; that’s faster than just letting a license expire. We saw four spots under this emergency order umbrella across Tampa Bay County. The line cooks there were running against the clock when the state stepped in to make them stop serving food.
- THE BOAT CLUBTarpon Springs1 HP2 INT12 BASPestScore 182last visit 2026-06-08
- ROUEN THAI RESTAURANTTampa1 HP1 BASPestScore 151last visit 2026-06-03
- EL LUNCH LATINOClearwater1 HP1 INT4 BASPestScore 164
- CAFE BICH NGAPinellas Park9 HP6 INT11 BASPestScore 1021last visit 2026-06-04
- DISCOVERY INDIAN CUISINEPalm Harbor2 HP2 BASPestScore 252last visit 2026-06-02
+38 more in this section on the live site.
Near Miss
193 records this window
Inspections in the last 30 days that posted high-priority violations but were not shut down.
TIJUANA FLATS #114 in St. Petersburg, VINTAGE ON 5TH in Crystal River, and K-POT KOREAN BBQ & HOT POT in St. Petersburg sat at the head of the list for the Tampa Bay area. They drew the most heat during a recent 30-day window. Inspectors posted 193 high-priority citations across these locations. These are near misses, meaning they are serious safety slips that did not result in an emergency order to shut the doors immediately. The line cooks might be sweating, but for now, the lights stay on and the burners stay lit. The violations focused on HP and BAS categories. A restaurant can survive a bad night, but when you see these numbers, you know management has some work to do before the next inspector walks through the door.
- TIJUANA FLATS #114St. Petersburg4 HP1 INT3 BASScore 413last visit 2026-02-23
- VINTAGE ON 5THCrystal River6 HP2 INT6 BASPestScore 676last visit 2026-06-17
- K-POT KOREAN BBQ & HOT POTSt. Petersburg3 HP2 INT5 BASPestScore 375last visit 2026-06-17
- SALEM'S FRESH EATSTampa6 HP1 INT4 BASScore 614last visit 2026-04-06
- RED THREADSt. Petersburg3 HP3 INT1 BASPestScore 381last visit 2026-06-16
+188 more in this section on the live site.
Chronic Violation Record
228 records this window
Active enforcement targets and repeat offenders: restaurants carrying emergency-order history, chronic 11-year systemic violation patterns, or cross-flag enforcement tiers.
Oy gevalt, qué desastre. Listen, mein kind, I am looking at this list from the Tampa Bay area and my heart is just breaking for your stomach. In this 11-year pattern view—that means we are looking at a long history of bad behavior, not just one bad day—228 restaurants showed up with chronic violation records. Ay bendito, that is a lot of schmutz in the kitchen! Mira, hijita, you need to know who is making these same mistakes over and over again like it is a hobby. Leading this group of repeat offenders is CITRUS SPGS GOLF&COUNTRY CLUB in EL TENAMPA. It is a shanda, truly. No tiene vergüenza.
- CITRUS SPGS GOLF&COUNTRY CLUBCitrus Springs8 HP5 INT14 BASScore 864Active bad actorlast visit 12/01/2025
- EL TENAMPASt. Petersburg9 HP1 INT13 BASScore 923Active bad actorCurrently Activelast visit 01/13/2026
- ROCKING CRABSt. Petersburg11 HP7 INT16 BASScore 1186Active bad actorlast visit 10/16/2025
- GREEN TEAPort Richey9 HP3 INT8 BASScore 938Active bad actorlast visit 02/23/2026
- KAWA JAPANESE STEAK HOUSE & SUSHINew Port Richey6 HP9 INT7 BASScore 697Active bad actorlast visit 06/05/2026
+223 more in this section on the live site.
Closed/Delinquent
59 records this window
Two tiers: confirmed closures (owner-validated posts, news, and external places data that say service has stopped) and DBPR delinquent/inactive licenses (Primary Status Code 45/46) — a regulatory state, not by itself a confirmed closure.
GOOD INTENTIONS in St. Petersburg, RED MESA CANTINA in St. Petersburg and TASO ITALIANO in New Port Richey drew the loudest scorecard in the Tampa Bay area. These places are gone for good. When news reports or state actions confirm a location is no longer serving customers, it is more than a rumor; it is a confirmed permanent closure. Four closures were confirmed through news reports, state action, or multiple agreeing social signals across the region. A kitchen that stops running usually does so because of money or management, not just a bad inspection. These four spots have officially left the building.
- GOOD INTENTIONSSt. Petersburgclosure score 3
- RED MESA CANTINASt. Petersburgclosure score 3
- TASO ITALIANONew Port Richeyclosure score 3
- CRAZY GIRLSLargoclosure score 1
- CAFFE PARADISOTampaclosure score 2
+54 more in this section on the live site.
New Owners
50 records this window
DBPR ownership-change records in the last 30 days — "Approve Change Owner Request" actions.
HER BAR in Oldsmar, COURTYARD CAFE in Palm Harbor and PROMENADE DESIGN KITCHEN in Tampa carried the weight of the Tampa Bay area file. These spots are seeing new faces behind the desk. 50 ownership-change filings posted in the 30-day window. This means a new owner-of-record stepped onto an existing license, which is just paperwork for a change in management. It is not a closure or a revocation; it is simply one person handing the keys to another. The volume of these turnovers remains even with the last period. Change is the only constant in this industry.
- HER BAROldsmar
- COURTYARD CAFEPalm Harbor
- PROMENADE DESIGN KITCHENTampa
- GRILL HOUSESt. Petersburg
- 200 COPAS BAR & GRILLRiverview
+45 more in this section on the live site.
Chain Activity
115 records this window
Multi-location chain brands flagged via aggregated signals across all locations.
I've seen this in kitchens from Saigon to Sarasota: 115 chain brands surface in the Tampa Bay area’s rollup, covering 466 locations between them: 162 FSQ-confirmed closures, 33 lapsed licenses. Leading brands: Subway, Dunkin', Sub Tenn Llc. Kitchen-English translation: a chain rollup groups related brand locations so one sloppy operator cannot hide inside a familiar logo.
- SubwayFlorida96 flagged locations
- Dunkin'Florida116 flagged locations
- Sub Tenn LlcFlorida16 flagged locations
- KfcFlorida26 flagged locations
- Dunkin'Florida14 flagged locations
+110 more in this section on the live site.
Openings
274 records this window
New DBPR licenses plus confirmed opening signals: the places that just joined the map and still need their first public-record track record.
Two hundred seventy four opening signals landed in the Tampa Bay area recently. That’s a lot of new plates hitting the street, folks. We are talking 649 brand new license records through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation alone. We see 90 openings announced publicly by news or the operators themselves. Some names already popping up include HUNGRY HOWIES in San Antonio and FATHEAD GOURMET PIZZA in Largo. These signals—a license being issued, a public announcement, or just operational proof—can happen before an inspector ever pulls up to check on 'em; it's not the same as walking into a clean kitchen. Over 312 opening signals have been tracked across Tampa Bay County over the last 90 days. This pace is steady work. Of those new spots, 76 show records for re-opening or ownership transfers outside of just being brand new to the system. The concentration is heavy in Tampa, with 247 of these signs coming from there alone. Clearwater accounts for another 77 openings within that same window. You can taste the hustle in this data; a good cook is always working toward the next service.
- HUNGRY HOWIESSan Antonio
- FATHEAD GOURMET PIZZALargo
- N/ATampa
- SHELBY'S DUCK TRUCK 2Tampa
- STAR MARKETS LLCTampa
+269 more in this section on the live site.
Clean Plates
528 records this window
Restaurants with multiple inspections in the current quarter and zero high-priority or intermediate violations.
Heat, salt, time — and a citation if you're not careful: 528 the Tampa Bay area licensees ran a clean Q2 2026 ledger across multiple inspections — PHO KIEN GIANG, TACOS GONE MOBILE, CAPTAIN JACK'S WATERFRONT GRILLE among them. These are repeat visits with zero high-priority or intermediate violations — the operators rewarded for consistency, not one lucky inspection. PHO KIEN GIANG stretched a high-priority-free run to 33 inspections covering roughly 8.2 years. Kitchen-English translation: a clean plate means the recent inspection record stayed quiet where the state was looking. That is management, not mystery.
- PHO KIEN GIANGPinellas Park
- TACOS GONE MOBILETampa
- CAPTAIN JACK'S WATERFRONT GRILLETarpon Springs
- THE REEFMadeira Beach
- CHINA TASTEBrooksville
+523 more in this section on the live site.