ClearCraves tracks 20,946 Florida restaurants across all 66 counties. When we scored every one of them on its most recent state inspection, 95 landed a Grade F — fewer than one in two hundred. These are the 25 lowest of those 95: the worst restaurant health scores in Florida for 2026.
The math is simple. Every restaurant starts at 100 and loses 7 points per high-risk violation, 3 per intermediate and 1 per basic. Under 40 is an F. High-risk violations are the ones tied most directly to foodborne illness, which is why they cost the most. Two restaurants below scored zero — the formula bottomed out before the inspector finished.
How we ranked the worst restaurant health scores in Florida
Rankings run from lowest ClearScore upward, so #1 is the worst score in the state; ties break on high-risk count. Every entry carries a Grade F from the June–August 2026 DBPR inspection cycle. We capped county representation so the list wouldn't simply mirror Florida's largest metros: Miami-Dade appears three times, no other county more than twice.
See how ClearScores are calculated →
The 25 lowest ClearScores in Florida, 2026
#1 New Chinese Buffet Inc
F · 0/100Clermont · Lake County
Temperature control failure, cross-contamination risk, unsanitized food contact surfaces and evidence of insect and rodent activity. Highway 50 is Clermont's busiest dining corridor, west of Orlando.
#2 Huddle House
F · 0/100Chiefland · Levy County
A sewage and wastewater disposal problem, backflow risk in the plumbing, insect activity and unmaintained equipment. This national chain location serves a rural North Florida community on US-19.
#3 Jamaica Kitchen
F · 1/100Miami · Miami-Dade County
Thirteen high-risk findings — the most of any single inspection in our dataset — and no intermediate ones at all. Hand hygiene failures, improper storage and backflow risk.
#4 Manhattan Gyros and Subs
F · 6/100Gainesville · Alachua County
A sewage issue, unsanitary toilet facilities, improper storage and unmaintained equipment. The address sits minutes from the University of Florida, in a dense student dining market.
#5 Lee Bistro
F · 7/100Orlando · Orange County
Temperature control failure, cross-contamination risk and improper storage across 33 findings — yet the visit closed with no further action. Vineland Road anchors Orlando's tourist corridor off I-4.
#6 Fontana Restaurant
F · 9/100Coral Gables · Miami-Dade County
A sewage issue, cross-contamination risk, hand hygiene lapses and 24 basic violations. Coral Gables is among Miami-Dade's most expensive dining neighborhoods, which makes this score stand out sharply.
#7 Rinconcito Latino Mixto
F · 10/100Miami · Miami-Dade County
The highest total violation count anywhere in the dataset. Twenty-six were basic — labeling, date marking, storage, upkeep — layered beneath temperature control failure and cross-contamination risk.
#8 Shibuya Sushi
F · 12/100Jacksonville · Duval County
Temperature control failure at a sushi restaurant, plus cross-contamination risk, a sewage issue and hand hygiene lapses. Raw fish handling leaves very little margin on any of those.
#9 China Garden
F · 13/100North Lauderdale · Broward County
Food found in poor condition or adulterated stands out here, alongside hand hygiene failures and improper labeling. North Lauderdale is a dense Broward suburb thick with family dining.
#10 Las Carretas Mexican Restaurant
F · 14/100Gainesville · Alachua County
Temperature control failure, cross-contamination risk and hand hygiene lapses. The second Gainesville restaurant in the bottom 25, which is notable for a city of its size.
#11 Kura Revolving Sushi Bar
F · 15/100Wellington · Palm Beach County
The fewest violations on this list, and the densest cluster of serious ones: eleven of fifteen were high-risk, including temperature control failure and food in poor condition.
#12 Thunder Burger
F · 17/100Orlando · Orange County
Cross-contamination risk, hand hygiene lapses and improper labeling on International Drive — Florida's most-walked tourist strip, an address millions of visitors pass every year.
#13 Say Taco
F · 21/100Ocala · Marion County
A sewage issue alongside hand hygiene problems, improper labeling and no food thermometers. This is a downtown address in Marion County's seat.
#14 Stefano's Family Restaurant
F · 22/100Englewood · Sarasota County
Inadequate refrigeration equipment stands out here, because it makes every other temperature rule harder to keep. Englewood straddles the Sarasota–Charlotte line and runs on seasonal visitors.
#15 Pupuseria y Restaurante Maria
F · 22/100Jacksonville · Duval County
Food contact surfaces left unsanitized, improper date marking and hand hygiene lapses. The only restaurant in the top 15 without a food manager certification finding.
#16 Rum Runners
F · 22/100St. Pete Beach · Pinellas County
Temperature control failure, cross-contamination risk and hand hygiene lapses on Gulf Boulevard, one of the most heavily visited coastal dining strips in the state.
#17 China Cafe Restaurant Inc
F · 24/100West Palm Beach · Palm Beach County
A sewage issue and plumbing carrying backflow risk — a pairing that turns up repeatedly at the bottom of this dataset — plus hand hygiene lapses.
#18 Beirut Grill and Deli
F · 24/100Oviedo · Seminole County
The lowest high-risk count so far, offset by 27 intermediate and basic findings: cross-contamination risk, food in poor condition, improper date marking and storage. Oviedo is a UCF-adjacent suburb.
#19 Chicken Exit Wings & Boba
F · 25/100Daytona Beach · Volusia County
Nine of seventeen findings landed in the most serious category: temperature control failure, food in poor condition or adulterated, hand hygiene lapses. North Nova Road is a main Daytona route.
#20 XiXi Hibachi and Sushi
F · 26/100Fort Myers · Lee County
A sewage issue and toilet facilities in unsanitary condition sit at the center of this one, with improper storage and labeling alongside.
#21 Country Club of Mount Dora
F · 27/100Mount Dora · Lake County
A sewage issue, unsanitary toilet facilities and a plumbing problem — at a country club dining room, which is not where diners expect a failing score.
#22 Akaya Grill & Sushi
F · 27/100Orange Park · Clay County
Temperature control failure and cross-contamination risk, plus hand hygiene lapses and improper labeling. Oakleaf Plantation is a large planned community on Jacksonville's southwestern edge.
#23 The Dandee Donut Factory
F · 28/100Pompano Beach · Broward County
Yes, that's a donut shop — and nine of its fourteen findings were high-risk, including a sewage issue and hand hygiene lapses.
#24 Norwoods Restaurant
F · 28/100New Smyrna Beach · Volusia County
Half the findings landed in the most serious category: hand hygiene lapses, equipment not maintained, improper storage. Norwoods is a known dining institution in this coastal Volusia town.
#25 Prohibition Kitchen and Tap
F · 28/100Dunedin · Pinellas County
Infrastructure rather than food handling: a sewage issue, unsanitary toilet facilities and backflow risk in the plumbing. Dunedin's Main Street is one of Pinellas County's busiest dining strips.
What these violations actually mean
High-risk violations are tied directly to foodborne illness: food held outside safe temperatures, raw product contaminating ready-to-eat product, hands not washed when they should have been. Intermediate violations are the systems meant to stop those problems — thermometers, a certified food manager, date marking. Basic violations cover cleanliness and upkeep; individually minor, but 26 in one visit says something. Our guide to DBPR violation categories breaks all three down.
The disposition tells you what the state did next. No further action closes the visit. Warning Issued puts the restaurant on notice and usually means a re-inspection. Administrative complaint recommended is the most serious, and opens a process that can lead to fines or license action.
Important caveat
Every entry above describes what a state inspector documented on one specific date in July or August 2026. It's a snapshot, not a verdict, and not a statement about conditions today. Restaurants improve — a warning or an administrative complaint is designed to produce exactly that — and most of these will have been re-inspected since. Before deciding anything about a specific restaurant, check its current status at myfloridalicense.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
By ClearScore, lowest first. Every restaurant starts at 100 and loses 7 points per high-risk violation, 3 per intermediate and 1 per basic, with a floor of zero. We applied that to the most recent inspection on file for all 20,946 restaurants we track, then took the 25 lowest, capping how many entries any single county could contribute.
We can't tell you that, and neither can this data. These entries record what inspectors documented on one date in July or August 2026 — nothing more. Most of these restaurants have been re-inspected since, and violations that draw a warning or complaint are usually corrected. For the current picture, check myfloridalicense.com.
An F is any ClearScore below 40. It's rare: of the 20,946 Florida restaurants we track, 95 carried an F on their most recent inspection — under half a percent. Grades run A (90–100), B (75–89), C (60–74), D (40–59) and F (below 40).
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which licenses and inspects restaurants statewide and publishes the results as public records. We don't inspect anything ourselves — the ClearScore is just a consistent way of reading the state's findings, so a score in Pensacola means the same thing as one in Key West.
We refresh against new DBPR inspection cycles as the state publishes them; the scores here come from the June–August 2026 cycle. Because inspections happen on a rolling basis, each restaurant's score reflects whenever its last inspection took place, which is shown on its page.
Twenty-five out of 20,946 is a rounding error. The useful question is
what the record looks like where you actually eat.