If you’ve ever wondered what inspectors found during their latest visit to your favorite Florida restaurant, you don’t have to rely on reviews or social media posts to find out. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) maintains an official online database where anyone can look up restaurant inspection records, including previous inspection dates, violations and whether follow-up action was required.
How Do You Look Up a Florida Restaurant’s Inspection History?
The easiest place to start is the DBPR’s official Food & Lodging Inspection Search. The database allows you to find inspection records for restaurants and other licensed food establishments across Florida.
Once you’ve opened the search tool, you can look for the restaurant by name or license number. Searching by name is often the easiest place to start, although the name listed in DBPR’s records may differ from the name a restaurant commonly uses. If you can’t find the establishment you’re looking for, try checking its license information or using DBPR’s other search options to narrow down the correct location.
After finding the correct restaurant, open its record to see its available inspection history. The results list the inspection date, inspection type and outcome of each visit. Click an inspection date to open the detailed report, where you can see the individual violations documented during that inspection.
What Do the Inspection Results Mean?
When you open a restaurant’s inspection history, you’ll typically see one of three main results: Met Inspection Standards, Follow-Up Inspection Required, or Facility Temporarily Closed. These labels tell you what happened after the inspection, but they don’t work like a traditional restaurant grading system.
Met Inspection Standards means the inspector determined that any violations found did not require another visit before the restaurant’s next routine inspection. Importantly, this doesn’t necessarily mean that inspectors found no violations.
Follow-Up Inspection Required means inspectors found violations that require further action or another review. According to the DBPR, these violations are not considered severe enough to require the restaurant to close immediately. An inspector may return to check whether the problems have been corrected.
Facility Temporarily Closed is the most serious result. This means an inspector recommended that the establishment stop operating after finding conditions that could endanger public health and safety. The restaurant must address the problems before it can resume normal operations.
It’s also important to remember that Florida does not grade or rate restaurants based on a single inspection. The DBPR describes each inspection report as a “snapshot” of the conditions present at the time of the visit, meaning conditions at a restaurant can change between inspections.
What Do the Violation Terms Mean?
Florida restaurant inspection reports classify violations into three categories: High Priority, Intermediate and Basic. High Priority violations are those that could contribute directly to a foodborne illness or injury. These can involve issues such as improper cooking, reheating or cooling of food, as well as hand-washing practices.
Intermediate violations are issues that, if left unaddressed, could lead to risk factors that contribute to foodborne illness or injury. These can include problems involving employee training, record keeping or labeling. Basic violations, meanwhile, are issues considered best practices to implement. A restaurant can have violations from more than one category during the same inspection, and reports may also note when an issue was corrected while the inspector was still on site.
What’s the Difference Between a Violation and a Final Determination?
A violation listed in an inspection report reflects what an inspector observed at the restaurant during that particular visit. It shouldn’t automatically be treated as a final determination about the restaurant or its overall compliance history, especially when follow-up action or further review may still take place.
Some violations may be corrected while the inspector is still at the restaurant, while others can require additional action or a follow-up inspection. That’s why it’s important to read the full inspection history rather than focusing on a single finding. Later records can show whether an issue was corrected, whether inspectors returned and what ultimately happened after the original inspection.
Can You Search by City or License Number?
Yes. If searching by restaurant name doesn’t bring up the establishment you’re looking for, the DBPR’s inspection search provides several other ways to narrow things down. You can search using information such as the restaurant’s city, county, state or license type, which can be particularly useful when multiple businesses have similar names.
A license number offers one of the most precise ways to identify a specific establishment because it is tied to that licensed business. If you don’t know the number, however, combining the restaurant’s name with its location can help you find the correct record. It’s worth double-checking the address before opening an inspection history, particularly for restaurants with multiple Florida locations.
How Far Back Do Florida Restaurant Inspection Records Go?
The amount of inspection history available can vary by establishment, so you may find several previous visits listed when you open a restaurant’s DBPR record. Older records may not always be available through the online search, however, so readers researching a restaurant’s longer-term history should treat the results as the inspection history currently available through the DBPR rather than assuming they represent every inspection the establishment has ever received.
Accuracy and Update Note
Restaurant inspection records can change as follow-up inspections take place, violations are corrected or new inspections are completed. The information shown in an inspection report reflects conditions documented at the time of that visit and shouldn’t necessarily be taken as a restaurant’s current status. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, readers should check the DBPR’s official inspection search directly.
