Peggy O'Neill's Fixes Health Violations, Re-Opens

The doors are open and cooks are back in the kitchen preparing food once again at Palm Harbor's landmark restaurant . The restaurant re-opened Friday afternoon, about 24 hours after a state inspector for numerous health violations, including live cockroaches.

Eric Webber says he and the restaurant's other owner, Tamara Helms, worked through the night with their staff, a contractor, and an exterminator to make changes necessary for the restaurant to re-open. 

"We had a problem, we fixed it," Webber told Palm Harbor Patch on Friday afternoon, shortly after got approval to re-open.

A safety and sanitation inspector with Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation's Division of Hotels and Restaurants inspected the restaurant Thursday afternoon after the agency received a complaint.

The inspector noted in the inspection report that she saw live roaches in multiple areas of the kitchen and the walls were in a state of disrepair in three locations in the kitchen as well .

"The perils of a 120-year-old building caught up with us," Webber told Palm Harbor Patch on Thursday evening.

Webber says Peggy O'Neill's had never been closed because of health violations prior to Thursday's inspection. "I've been here 15 years, and it's always gone well," he said.

The restaurant had been receiving a lot of calls about the incident, according to Webber. But, now his staff is able to tell callers the restaurant is open again and operating as usual for a Friday night. For Peggy O'Neill's partygoers, that means live music, $2 "Voli-Tinis" (Voli brand vodka martinis) from 5 to 7 p.m. and $1 canned Corona beer.

More information:

• .
• Read the entire Peggy O'Neill's inspection report.
• Read Peggy O'Neill's previous inspection reports.

is at 1026 Florida Ave.