Jacksonville & Duval County: Which Restaurants Are Actually Clean?

Behind the Kitchen Door — a data-driven series from InspectFL

Jacksonville is Florida’s largest city by area — and with nearly 3,000 restaurants spread across Duval County, the dining scene is as sprawling as the city itself. From Riverside’s craft food halls to the beach bars of Jax Beach, there’s no shortage of places to eat. But which ones pass the health inspection test?

We analyzed state inspection data for 3,010 restaurants across Duval County — and the results show room for improvement.

Duval County at a Glance

Only about a third of Duval County restaurants earn an A grade, while nearly 1 in 10 have failing grades. The B tier is actually the largest group at 33.8%, meaning most restaurants are passing but not excelling.

City-by-City Comparison

Jacksonville proper mirrors the county average with about a third of restaurants earning A grades. The beach communities have a tougher time — Neptune Beach has the highest F rate at 15.2%, and Jacksonville Beach isn’t far behind at 13.7%. Both are small enough that a handful of restaurants can swing the percentages, but the trend is clear: the beaches lag behind the mainland.

🏆 Duval County’s A-Grade Restaurants

With 33.4% of Duval County restaurants earning an A grade, Jacksonville has work to do. But here’s the thing — many of these restaurants have only had a single inspection on record after recent data cleaning. One clean inspection is a good start, not a proven track record.

The restaurants worth watching are the ones that consistently pass inspections over time. As Jacksonville’s sprawling dining scene continues to evolve and more inspection data accumulates, we’ll update this section with restaurants that have earned their reputation through repeated clean visits — not just a single passing grade.

Want to check any restaurant’s full history? Search for it on InspectFL — every inspection, every violation, all public record.

😬 Restaurants That Need Improvement

These spots received F grades, meaning inspectors found a high weighted violation score:

An F grade doesn’t mean a restaurant is dangerous right now. Many violations get corrected quickly after inspection. But it does mean inspectors found significant issues at some point.

What Can You Do?

1. Look up any restaurant before you go — search by name or address at inspectfl.org/search
2. Check the grade — A means a low weighted score (improving!), F means a high score (needs work)
3. Read the violations — not all are equal. A dirty floor is different from improper food temperatures
4. Check recent dates — a restaurant with old violations may have cleaned up since

Browse All Duval County Restaurants

Want the full list? Check out the Duval County page for all 3,010 restaurants with grades, violation counts, and inspection histories.

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👉 Browse all Duval County restaurants →

👉 See all F-graded restaurants in Florida →

Related: 5 most common critical violations · How to read inspection grades · Jacksonville city page

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Data based on Florida DBPR inspection records. Grades use a weighted time-decay system — recent violations count more than older ones. See inspectfl.org/how-to-read for details. Current as of March 2026.