Danvers Restaurant's Alcohol License Suspended 1 Day For Violation

DANVERS, MA — A Danvers restaurant whose owners admitted to failing an alcohol compliance check in December had its license to serve alcohol suspended for one day for the violation and for an accused lack of cooperation with police officers following the offense.

The Select Board voted 3-2 in favor of the one-day suspension for Torito Mexican Restaurant on Newbury Street with the two dissenting Board members voting to hold that suspension for a first offense in abeyance for one year unless there was an additional violation during that time.

Torito moved into the location in December 2020 with owner Ramon Michel telling the Board that there this was the first time in his 30 years in the business that one of his locations had failed a compliance check.

An attorney for the restaurant admitted that "the incident did occur" and that the waiter involved was "relieved of his duties."

He said all restaurant workers will be required to retake TIPS training regardless of whether they currently have TIPS on Premise certification and that the restaurant has purchased an "ID checker" to scan licenses for possible fakes.

"We recognize this is a blemish but we hope that this never happens again," the attorney told the Select Board.

Danvers Police Chief James Lovell told the Select Board on Feb. 7 that compliance checks were made at Danvers restaurants that have liquor licenses on Dec. 20 with 44 of 45 passing. He said Torito failed the test when an 18-year-old girl trained as a "decoy" entered the restaurant alone at 4:25 p.m. and ordered a Bud Light at the bar.

Lovell told the Board last month that the teen was served without being asked for identification, promptly left the restaurant after the open bottle was placed in front of her, and that the bottle of beer was open on the bar when officers entered to question restaurant management about the violation.

"According to the report, they were met with less-than-cooperative employees," Lovell told the Select Board on Feb. 7 before adding, "after much resistance and lack of cooperation, the parties were identified and informed of the violation."

Lovell said that a notice of the upcoming compliance checks at an undisclosed day and time was posted via social media on Nov. 20. While he said the notices are no longer published in a local newspaper, Patch did publish the compliance test notice from the department both in 2021 and 2022.

Lovell confirmed on Tuesday that this was the restaurant's first alcohol offense in Danvers.

The Board voted to have the restaurant serve the alcohol-serving suspension on March 21.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)