Two more local restaurants were issued emergency closure notices by the state last week for failing random health inspections, bringing the total number of restaurant closures this year up to 16.
Cabana Cafe, located in the Hurricane Lanes Bowling Alley in Destin, was shut down by the Florida Department Business and Professional Regulation on May 14. Two days later, the Golden Buffet, located at 2680 S. Ferdon Boulevard in Crestview, received an emergency closure.
The number of restaurant closures in Okaloosa and Walton counties this year is up 700 percent from last year when Pompano Joe’s in Destin and Beef O’Brady’s in Niceville were the only restaurants shut down.
Santa RosaCountyhas not had any emergency closures this year.
According to the DBPR inspection report, Cabana Cafe had 13 violations, including two high priority violations.
The high priority violations included storing food at improper temperatures and rodent activity.
Owner Wayne Anderson said rodent activity was noticed in the roof of the large building and they had to seal the kitchen off from the rest of the building. Ceiling tiles had to be replaced to make sure nothing could get into the kitchen.
“We shut down to do that and then we reopened back up with 100 percent no problems,” Anderson said. “We work real hard to try to make a living. Everybody’s welcome to come in my kitchens. We’re very clean.”
Golden Buffet had 18 violations, according to its DBPR report. Of those, five were high priority violations.
Golden Buffet was cited for storing food at improper temperatures, storing raw chicken and shrimp together, having roughly 35 live cockroaches and another 30 dead roaches found mostly in the kitchen area and rodent activity.
Attempts to contact the owner of the Golden Buffet on Tuesday afternoon were unsuccessful.
Cabana Cafe reopened May 15 and the Golden Buffet was able to reopen the same day it was shut down, according to the DBPR.
Dusty Ricketts is the Northwest Florida Daily News business editor. Email him, follow him on Twitter or call 315-4448.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Two restaurants fail random health inspections