Kitchen roaches briefly cause shutdown at Harvest Cafe

Owner fixes issue by next day, says never any bugs near food

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Harvest Cafe's menu boasts fresh food that nourishes your body and soul. But what inspectors found at the Southside eatery could make you lose your appetite instead. 

Harvest Cafe on Lake Mead Avenue has reopened after an emergency closure.

The owner fessed up to a number of violations in the back of the kitchen.

“It was a plumbing issue too with the water probably and close to the mop sink, he found some dead roaches,” owner Erald Qama said.

The report showed the inspector found nine live roaches and 10 dead roaches. The cafe was forced to shut down for a day. 

Qama said that part of the issue was because they were using the wrong kind of pesticide. They followed up with their pest control company and made some changes.

“I called him immediately, and he came the next day, and we were able to fix everything,” Qama said.

He said customers have nothing to worry about.

“There's no roaches in the prep area. There's no roaches in the food area or the food section,” Qama said. “It wasn't a hazard, and we eat here too.”

From homemade bread to cookies and sandwiches, everything is made fresh daily and put out fresh daily and the busy lunch crowd was all smiles as it chowed down this week.

Harvest Cafe landed a perfect score during a follow-up inspection the next day.