Florida restaurant inspection reports are free and public, and you can pull any licensed establishment’s full history at myfloridalicense.com. Search by the restaurant’s name, address, or DBPR license number, and the system returns every inspection on file: the date, each violation cited, how serious it was, and whether the place passed, got a warning, or was shut down.
Where to Look Up a Report
The Division of Hotels and Restaurants, part of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, runs the public database. Go to the DBPR licensing portal and choose “View Food & Lodging Inspections.”1MyFloridaLicense.com. Licensing Portal – License Search You can search by name, physical address, or license number, and the results include both recent and historical inspections.2MyFloridaLicense.com. Hotels and Restaurants – Public Records
If you’d rather check from your phone while you’re standing outside the restaurant, DBPR publishes a free app called DBPR Mobile for iPhone and Android that searches the same food service and lodging data.3MyFloridaLicense.com. DBPR Mobile App for iPhone and Android Devices
What a Single Report Shows
Each report opens with the date of the visit and the type of inspection — routine, callback, or complaint-driven. Underneath that, you’ll see a list of every violation the inspector cited, each one tagged with a priority classification, and at the bottom the inspection’s final disposition. That disposition is the single most useful line on the page, because it summarizes what actually happened: pass, warning with a required return visit, or closure.
What the Violation Levels Mean
Florida sorts violations into three tiers, and the tier matters more than the raw count. A long list of basic items is normal in a busy kitchen; a short list that includes repeat high-priority items is the thing to notice.
- High Priority: Conditions that could directly cause foodborne illness or injury — unsafe food temperatures, missing handwashing, cross-contamination, or food from unapproved sources.4MyFloridaLicense.com. Hotels and Restaurants – Inspections
- Intermediate: Problems not causing immediate harm but likely to escalate if ignored, such as missing documentation, labeling errors, or no certified food manager on staff.5Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Inspection Details – Violation Classification Definitions
- Basic: General sanitation and maintenance items — a cracked floor tile, a missing thermometer, a dirty ceiling vent. Not a direct health threat, but a signal about how the kitchen is run.5Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Inspection Details – Violation Classification Definitions
When you’re skimming a restaurant’s history, look for repetition at the high-priority level across multiple inspections. The division identifies five major risk factors behind foodborne illness: unsafe food sources, inadequate cooking and cooling, improper hot and cold holding temperatures, poor personal hygiene including handwashing, and contaminated or poorly sanitized equipment.4MyFloridaLicense.com. Hotels and Restaurants – Inspections A restaurant that keeps getting cited in the same category is one whose controls aren’t holding.
What the Disposition Tells You
Every inspection closes with one of three broad outcomes.6MyFloridaLicense.com. Hotels and Restaurants – Inspection Dispositions
Met Inspection Standards
The best result. Either no violations, or only minor ones that didn’t need a return visit. Specific labels under this heading include “Inspection Completed – No Further Action” (a clean routine visit), “Callback – Complied” (prior violations fixed), and “Emergency Order Callback Complied” (a previously closed establishment corrected whatever caused the closure).
Follow-Up Inspection Required
The inspector found violations serious enough to require a return but not severe enough to close the restaurant. The most common entry here is “Warning Issued.” If the operator fails the return visit, you may see “Callback – Administrative Complaint Recommended,” which pushes the matter toward formal enforcement. “Callback – Extension Given, Pending” means the operator is working on compliance but is held up by something outside their control, like waiting on equipment parts.
Facility Temporarily Closed
The most serious disposition. The inspector shut the restaurant down on the spot, usually for sewage backups, pest infestations, lack of hot water, fire damage, or inadequate refrigeration.2MyFloridaLicense.com. Hotels and Restaurants – Public Records The restaurant stays closed until it’s reinspected and the problems are confirmed fixed. The division performs that reinspection within 24 hours, and the operator can request it sooner.7Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Hotels and Restaurants – Enforcement Actions
A single closure years ago, followed by a clean callback and a long run of met-standards inspections, isn’t the same story as a closure last month. The dates and the sequence matter.
When a Restaurant Isn’t in the Database
If you search and nothing comes up, the establishment may fall outside DBPR’s jurisdiction rather than being unlicensed. Grocery stores, convenience stores, and food processing plants are inspected by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Institutional food service, including detention facilities and certain health-care-related food operations under Section 381.0072, is handled by the Department of Health.8The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes Title 33 Chapter 509 – Lodging and Food Service Establishments
Several categories are carved out of the DBPR system entirely by Section 509.013, so no inspection reports exist for them in this database:
- Public and private school cafeterias, plus temporary school events like fairs and cook-offs.
- Eating places run by churches, fraternal groups, or civic nonprofits for their members, and temporary events those groups host.
- Food served on airplanes, trains, buses, and commercial watercraft.
- Businesses that only serve drinks, ice, popcorn, or prepackaged items with no preparation.
- Movie theaters whose patron service is limited to typical concession items.
Before you assume a missing listing means a problem, check whether the business fits one of these categories.
How Often Inspections Happen
Florida inspects on a risk-based schedule rather than a fixed one. Under Section 509.032, the division must conduct at least one but no more than four routine inspections per year for each licensed establishment, and it reassesses every operator’s inspection frequency at least annually.9Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 509.032 – Duties Restaurants handling a lot of raw proteins, running complex multi-step preparation, or carrying a history of violations land on the higher end. A simple sandwich counter with a clean record might see one routine visit a year.10Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Risk-Based Inspection Frequency
That’s why some restaurants show four reports a year and others show one. A thin history isn’t necessarily a bad sign; it may just mean a low-risk operation. Callback inspections after a warning, and complaint inspections triggered by consumer reports, appear in the record on top of the routine schedule.
Reporting a Problem Yourself
If you saw unsanitary conditions or think you got sick from a meal at a licensed Florida restaurant, you can file a complaint directly with DBPR, and complaint inspections are one of the three types that can put an inspector on site. The division provides two separate downloadable forms: a general consumer complaint form (DBPR HR 7003) for sanitation or safety concerns, and a foodborne illness complaint form (DBPR HR 7004) for suspected illness from a licensed establishment.11MyFloridaLicense.com. Hotels and Restaurants – Complaints You can also call the DBPR Customer Contact Center at 850-487-1395.