Great Wall Faces License Revocation

Restaurant will again face the Board of Health, which will vote at its next meeting whether to permanently revoke the restaurant's license.

It was the third time the restaurant had been closed by the Board of Health.

Great Wall reopened on April 18, and Health Agent Jamie Terry said it had made vast improvements during the closing.

"They had corrected all the violations that were outstanding," said Terry. "They closed so they could educate and train the staff about the serious nature of the violations in general, and those that happened specifically, so they could take appropriate measures so it doesn’t happen again."

The restaurant is within a 4-6 week multiple inspection period, and has since been cited for a violation. Though this violation was "minor," because of the strict guidelines that had been placed on the restaurant upon its last closing, a minor violation automatically results in a hearing to permanently revoke its license.

"It’s difficult for any establishment for there not to be any violations," said Terry. "They did not have any critical violations and they had corrected all the critical violations. Because of the way my board worded it, any violations whatsoever bring them to the board. It'll be a revocation hearing because of how they worded it, not because the violations were severe. They are voting on whether to revoke the license permanently. They already had two last chances, so this is the final say. Again, there were no critical issues."

It is Terry's first time in her 10 years as Northborough's health agent that she has encountered a revocation hearing for a restaurant.

The licensing issue for Great Wall Restaurant will be on the agenda for the Board of Health's regular public meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 15, at Town Hall.

"I plan to do multiple inspections before that time so I can show the full realm of what they do," said Terry. "They have been very responsive. I wrote that I noticed significant positive changes."

Terry added that if the inspections until the hearing go positively, and the board votes in favor of Great Wall remaining open, the restaurant will be inspected monthly for some time.

The present owners have owned Great Wall since 2009.

Northborough Patch visited Great Wall on Wednesday, asking to speak to the owners or management. Advised that few of them "speak English very well," an employee said a representative would respond by phone. As of publishing time, no one had returned our call.