Business & Tech

Clearwater Mexican Restaurant Reopened After Failing 3 Food Inspections

Find out why this restaurant was forced to temporarily close three times in March.

A Clearwater Mexican restaurant has reopened after it failed three food inspections last month, online records show.

Taqueria del Valle, 2140 Drew St., was temporarily closed three times in March because of violations found during routine inspections by the state's Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Inspectors on March 18 found three "high priority" violations, including eight live roaches in a bag of to-go containers on a shelf in the kitchen and more than 20 in a cooler used to store some food items. They also noted seven "basic" violations. The violations were enough to order the restaurant to be closed while staff worked to correct violations.

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The restauarant was ordered temporarily closed again March 19 and a third time on March 25, records show, as "roach activity" was still present. 

Taqueria del Valle reopened the following day after meeting inspection standards. The only remaining violations were for a license that had been expired for more than 30 days and for "standing water in mop sink/mop sink draining very slowly."

Find out what's happening in Clearwaterfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

You can check for inspections on your favorite restaurants by going to the the department's online services website.

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