Saga Hit with 10-Day Liquor License Suspension

Next month, Saga Hibachi Steakhouse and Sushi Bar will be unable to serve alcohol for about a week and a half.

Tuesday night, the Board of Selectmen voted 4-0 to suspend the Patriot Place restaurant’s liquor license for 10 days following a hearing for four violations that occurred after a New England Patriots Monday Night Football game on Nov. 24. Selectman David Feldman was not present at the meeting.

The suspension will take place from Jan. 8 to 18. The selectmen intentionally chose the dates to include a Patriots playoff game to take place on Jan. 16 or 17.

During the meeting, the board decided that the restaurant was guilty of allowing patrons to keep possession of and consume alcohol past 1:05 a.m., failing to clear all bottles and glasses from the tables and bars prior to 1:05 a.m., failing to have all patrons off the premises by 1:15 a.m. and failing to prevent patrons from entering the building after 1 a.m.

According to a police report from Sgt. Richard Noonan, he received a call from the stadium command booth at 1:15 a.m. reporting that Saga was serving alcohol after hours.

When Noonan responded, he didn’t observe alcohol being served but saw several patrons drinking alcohol and consuming food. Members of the staff said they served their last alcoholic beverages at closing time at 12:40 a.m. When Noonan asked the bartenders to show their last sale, none of the workers were able to due to the inaccurate time on the cash register.

The restaurant’s staff would eventually collect all the alcohol beverages from the tables and bar area at the order of Noonan, with extra time allowed for patrons to finish their meals. 20 minutes later, Noonan told staff management it was their responsibility to have the customers leave the establishment. By 2 a.m., every customer had left, with the exception of one who had to be escorted out of the establishment.

Saga’s attorney Mark Stopa did not deny that the restaurant was guilty of all four violations, but described the incident as “perfect storm of problems.”

“By the time you realize you had a problem, it became a bigger problem,” he said.

According to Stopa, representatives from Saga contacted him immediately to find how the situation arose, concluding that the cold temperature and late end to the game affected the normal cycle of operations for the staff. Unlike other late games which mostly end around 11:30 p.m., the game against the Buffalo Bills finished at 12:02 a.m.

“The whole cycle with people leaving the stadium, going to the restaurant and going home got shifted. No one noticed it because it seemed like the normal cycle,” he said. “It was strange, people were ordering food and drinks and just sitting there. They weren’t eating, they weren’t drinking, they were cold.”

Since the incident, the restaurant has moved last call to 12:30 a.m., retrained the staff with an emphasis on clearing the restaurant, and fixed the clocks on the registers.

Members of the board, however, remained concerned that there appeared to be a lack of attention to the time.

“To use the weather and the game went late as an excuse, it’s clear to me they just didn’t follow our rules and regulations,” Selectman Chris Mitchell said.

Selectman John Gray called the violations an egregious effort.

“The fact that they paid attention to time at last call, it’s a privilege to have a liquor license and you have to be responsible. Theses type of things we have to keep tight and hold management accountable,” Gray said.

Selectmen Chairman Jim DeVellis made the recommendation to include a Patriots game during the suspension.

“If serving on gameday threw them in for a loop, then no serving on gameday until they figure this out,” DeVellis said.

DeVellis added that he reached out to a group of liquor license holders in town known as FoxCares, who informed the chairman that Saga has not responded to multiple invitations to join.

The violation is Saga’s second in about a year. Last year, the restaurant received a three-day suspension for failing a compliance check and serving alcohol to an underage operative.

Saga representatives will meet with the selectmen again in January to discuss the changes they’ve made to avoid a similar incident.