Florida Taco Bell Shut Down After State Inspection

Photo byMichael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Although Florida isn't known for its Tex-Mex in the way that, say, California or Texas is, some excellent independently-owned restaurants in Florida offer this type of food. However, sometimes you want spicy choices on the cheap and fast. In this case, there are chains like Taco Bell. Unfortunately, one Florida Taco Bell, in Daytona Beach, was recently temporarily shut down after a state inspection.

About Taco Bell In Florida: This is a vintage chain, having got its start in California in the 1960s. As its name implies, it serves traditional Mexican dishes quickly like tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and nachos with cheese on the side. The chain prides itself on offering value, inexpensive options, and on being the first QSR restaurant to proudly offer American Vegetarian Association (AVA)-certified menu items.

There are 7,400 Taco Bell restaurants around the world and there are around 480 Taco Bell locations in Florida, making Florida the state with the 3rd most locations, behind California and Texas.

The Taco Bell in question, located at 2140 W International Speedway Boulevard, gets mixed reviews, earning 3.5 out of 5 stars on Google reviews. Some mentioned wrong orders, but one reviewer mentioned cleanliness. A reviewer named Erica wrote, in part:

"If at all possible I'd rate this place 0 stars...(While) waiting to pay at the register, we noticed everyone in the back was standing around playing on their phones, I spoke up to get someone's attention and was ignored. Once we we're able to finally pay and get our food we opted to not dine in and left because our shoes were literally getting stuck to the floor and nothing was stocked in the dining area. Not even making it out of the parking lot we realized our food was cold...(We) just went home to heat up our food. I wasn't going to write this review, that is, until I pulled out a long hair from my quesadilla as I was eating. At that point, we just threw everything away...We will never be going back to this location again."

What Happened At Inspection?: According to data from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, an inspection occurred on October 17, 2024. At that time, ten violations were noted.

Basic violations occurred because at least one bathroom was not available to the public, water damage to ceiling tiles, equipment and utensils "wet nesting" and not being properly dried, grease on the floor, and a toilet flushing slowly.

An intermediate violation came due to the build-up of food debris on pans.

And a high-priority violation came because of raw sewage on the floor of the women's bathroom. Because of some of the above violations, the restaurant was temporarily shut down.

At a follow-up inspection on October 17th, six violations remained, but none were considered an immediate threat to the public so the restaurant "met inspection standards" and was free to reopen.

Please note that an inspection is one moment in time and not necessarily how a restaurant conducts itself every day.