The Subway inside the Northpoint Centre at 350 Bay Street in the North Beach-Fisherman's Wharf area had its health permit immediately suspended and was ordered closed following a reinspection by the San Francisco Department of Public Health on May 6, 2026. The closure — the second time inspectors have shut this location down in the current inspection cycle — came after health officers found an active cockroach infestation and rodent activity throughout the facility, among a laundry list of other violations that suggest the franchise operator has not been taking the city's prior orders seriously.
What Inspectors Found — and It's a Lot
The violations documented in the inspection report, obtained and reviewed by Hoodline, paint a picture of a facility that has essentially surrendered to its pest problem. Live cockroaches were observed on the dining room floor, inside stored cleaning products around the grease trap, within the gaskets of the bread holder at the end of the cook line, and entering the pony wall of the cold holding station. Dead cockroaches were found behind the hand-washing sink near the point of sale, under the food prep sink, behind the bread warmer, and under point-of-sale equipment. Cockroach droppings were found on a steel panel by the pass-through window. Perhaps most alarming: inspectors noted cockroach bodies on sheets of deli paper — the same paper used to wrap food served to customers — as well as cockroach eggs on scour pads used to clean the kitchen.
The roaches weren't alone. Rodent droppings were found under the soda syrup storage area, running along the back of the facility. Inspectors noted that rodents appear to be actively nesting behind objects stored under the counter behind the point of sale. The inspector also observed what appeared to be bits of cockroach debris on the edge of the ice machine portion of the soda dispenser, along with a mold-like accumulation. The facility was ordered to submit proof of pest control to the district inspector before even requesting a reinspection.
Beyond the infestation, inspectors found meatballs being reheated and served at wildly inconsistent temperatures — ranging from 92°F to 180°F — when the minimum internal temperature for hot-held food is 165°F. Hand-washing violations were flagged again, with an employee observed rinsing hands under running water without soap; this is marked as a repeat violation. There was no food safety manager certification on file, and no food handler cards for any staff — also a legal requirement under the California Retail Food Code. Equipment failures included a leaking refrigerator, a malfunctioning hot holding unit, an ice-choked freezer, and unrestrained compressed gas cylinders. The location's plumbing also lacked the required backflow prevention air gap under the soda machine drain.
A Second Closure — With Permit Revocation Now on the Table
What makes this situation particularly serious is the inspection's own notes: inspector Michael Mooney of the SF Department of Public Health explicitly documented that this was a "second re-inspection," meaning the location had already been closed, supposedly corrected its violations, and cleared a prior reinspection — only to fail again. Mooney noted he would be discussing the situation with his supervisor and following up with the permit holder directly. In unambiguous terms, the report warns: if the facility is found to be operating while its permit is suspended, a citation will be issued to a director's hearing for possible permit revocation — a far more severe outcome than a temporary closure.
There's one more wrinkle that underscores the chaos here: the business's license certificate expired on March 31, 2026. By the time inspectors showed up on May 6, the location had been operating on an expired license for over five weeks. The inspection report identifies the franchise owner as Abhisri Inc. The person who received the closure notice on site — identified as "kamala pantha" — refused to sign it.
The Sandwich Shop That Outlasted the Safeway
The location sits inside the Northpoint Centre, the neighborhood strip mall that has been in a slow-motion transition since the anchor Safeway closed in May 2023. As this Subway and the adjacent Asia Chinese Food were two of the last tenants keeping the lights on while a Grocery Outlet takes over the former Safeway space. The Safeway closure was a gut punch for the neighborhood — North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, Russian Hill, and Telegraph Hill residents were left without a major full-service grocer, prompting a community petition that gathered over 1,000 signatures. As reported by The San Francisco Standard, Grocery Outlet signed a 15-year lease in January 2025, with an early 2026 opening targeted.
That neighborhood comeback story is now sharing a mall corridor with a Subway that can't keep cockroaches out of its bread warmer. SFist noted that District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin once called the Northpoint Centre a "weird fit for North Beach" — a characterization that's hard to argue with when one of its tenants is serving sandwiches in a facility apparently teeming with roaches and rodents. There's nothing particularly fresh about what's going on at this Footlong spot.
Subway's Broader Struggles
This closure is a franchise-level failure, not a Subway corporate one — every Subway is independently owned and operated. But it arrives at an already bruising moment for the chain. As reported by Marketplace, Subway has faced years of franchisee tension, thinning margins, and a need to close and consolidate underperforming locations after Roark Capital completed its acquisition of the chain. New CEO Jonathan Fitzpatrick has acknowledged that some locations will be relocated or closed. A North Beach Subway operating with an expired license, a cockroach-infested bread holder, and rodents nesting behind the cash register would seem like a reasonable candidate for that list.
The facility must remain fully closed until all violations are corrected and a department representative formally reinstates the permit, per SFDPH protocol. Given that this is a second failed reinspection — with the inspector now escalating to a supervisor and permit revocation explicitly on the table — the path back to operating is not a simple one. Diners looking for a quick lunch near Fisherman's Wharf will need to look elsewhere for the foreseeable future.
