Restaurateurs in Queens, New York lost their liquor license for serving patrons in violation of Gov. Cuomo’s order barring eating and drinking on its premises, officials said yesterday, according to a report in the New York Daily News.
The operators of the New Oriental Guyana Restaurant on Liberty Ave. in South Richmond Hill shut its front gates but they let dozens of customers in through an alley door so they could wine and dine the night away, the State Liquor Authority (SLA) said.
Forty patrons ate and drank inside when the NYPD visited on Wednesday. Restaurant workers ignored cops’ orders that the eatery be emptied out, the SLA said, according to the newspaper report.
SLA officials suspended the eatery’s liquor license Friday for “operating in flagrant violation of the Governor’s Executive Order to cease on-premises sales of food and alcoholic beverages to combat the spread of the coronavirus.”
“These directives are not helpful hints, they are not suggestions, they are mandatory and SLA will not hesitate to take immediate action to protect the public health and safety against the spread of the coronavirus,” SLA Chairman Vincent Bradley said in a statement, the New York Daily News said.
The SLA charged the restaurant with several violations, including failure to comply with Cuomo’s order and failing to supervise the premises. The agency said it will begin immediately to permanently rescind the restaurant’s license.
The restaurant’s owners could not be reached yesterday.
