ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Health inspectors shut down an Orange County bar and restaurant after they found live and dead roaches inside, but the business was able to reopen the same day.
The Social House, one of the newest arrivals to Waterford Lakes Town Centre, touts craft beer and burgers.
It’s now overcome a temporary shutdown, brought on by a state inspection that found eight “high priority” violations, including live roaches, flying insects, improperly stored food and a malfunctioning dishwasher.
“You can put them in any order you want to, they all carry the same amount of weight,” said Paul Cook, a retired FDA inspector and trainer.
Yet in a rare move—that even the state admits—inspectors cleared The Social House to reopen within hours of the inspection.
“That would not have flown in other states,” said Cook.
He said Florida inspections allow for immediate correction of certain issues, which is what happened in this case.
“We were aggressive and focused on getting the issue taken care of as we possibly could be,” said Jamie Feldman, part-owner of the restaurant.
Feldman said he called inspectors himself to come back the same day after a complete overhaul within the walls of the existing building they moved into last January.
The overhaul included an immediate replacement of the restaurant’s pest-control service.
“We resealed the walls. We did some construction to make extra sure this will never be an issue in our restaurant again,” Feldman said.
The latest reports from the state found no health threat and said the business meets all inspection standards.