UPDATE: Ceviche Reopens, Responds to Shutdown

UPDATE, 7:54 p.m. Tuesday, April 9:

The violations of roach infestation and meats stored at improper temperatures have been fixed, Ceviche management said in a statement Tuesday, after the downtown St. Petersburg restaurant was closed Monday by health inspectors.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Ceviche was cleared to reopen Tuesday afternoon after getting the OK from inspectors. It was open for dinner Tuesday evening.  

The popular St. Petersburg restaurant issued a statement on its Facebook Page Tuesday afternoon, saying it is now in compliance and has been re-inspected, clearing all the violations for which it has been cited.

Jim Snyder, who helps to lead the chain of popular restaurants in Florida, made the following statement:

"Ceviche views anything less than 100% compliance with Florida's Food Code to be unacceptable. We were inspected again this morning, and passed with flying colors. We are committed to providing the safest, cleanest, most enjoyable dining experience to our patrons.

"I am completely confident, based on my PERSONAL inspection of every square foot of our restaurant, that there are no issues. The inspector reached the same conclusion this morning. The violations cited in the inspection report from yesterday - and we don't want to minimize the importance of complying with the Code - have been corrected. I can't emphasize this enough: Ceviche is clean, safe and ready to serve it's customers the finest food in Florida."

- Jim Snyder

ORIGINAL POST: The popular Ceviche Tapas Bar and Restaurant in downtown St. Petersburg hastily closed Monday, after an inspector cited the business for violations ranging from improper temperature for meat storage to roaches in the kitchen.

The Tampa Bay Times reported that the Department of Business and Professional Regulation noted that the St. petersburg restaurant has had previous problems with maintaining proper temperatures for its meats.

Sandi Copes Poreda, the agency spokeswoman, told the Tampa Bay Times:

"Our inspector was there to perform a callback inspection for previous temperature violations," said . "The roaches were discovered during the callback inspection."

Among the inspector's findings:

• Beef thawing in standing water;
• Employee who wasn't washing hands;
• More than 25 live roaches.

The restaurant was closed on Monday. It can request a re-inspection within 24 hours but must prove the violations have been corrected to re-open.

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