FORT MYERS, Fla. — It's named after the inventor of the light bulb. But the lights at the Edison Restaurant on McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers were dimmed last Monday and Tuesday after state inspectors reported finding more than twenty dried rodent droppings in the kitchen area.
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation considers rodent droppings to be a "high-priority" violation. The restaurant was ordered to stop serving customers until that and other violations were fixed.
Inspectors found multiple violations, for everything from damaged ceiling tiles to grease build-up.
When reached by phone, a manager at the Edison told Fox 4 that the temporary closing had more to do with repairs to a walk-in cooler that was a few degrees higher than normal.
She said that the rodents got into the restaurant last year while trying to get away from construction work being done on McGregor Boulevard. She said the restaurant then stepped up its pest control, and that the rodents hadn't been a big problem since.
But Sue Singletary, who lives across the street from the Edison, doubts that the construction drove the rodents to the restaurant.
"If that was the case, then everybody around here would have had some kind of rodent issue, and obviously we don't," she said. "They go where the food is."
Fox 4 also spoke with several golfers at the Fort Myers Country Club, which is adjacent to the Edison. They said that they like the food at the restaurant, and that the temporary closure wouldn't keep them from dining there in the future.
