Fourth of July celebrations at Box 63 will be alcohol-free affairs, thanks to a suspension of the Elm Street restaurant’s liquor license.
The state Liquor Control Commission announced Friday that Box 63 has paid a $1,000 fine and will have its liquor license suspended for July 3 and 4.
The penalties are being imposed for several liquor control violations, including sale to a minor and having a minor in a barroom.
John Suchy, director of the Liquor Control Division of the Department of Consumer Protection, said the suspension stems from a nighttime enforcement inspection by liquor control agents and New Haven police back on Oct. 13, 2011. The inspectors found two minors had been served by bartenders, that the restaurant’s liquor license was not properly recorded with the city town clerk, and that one customer had been served two drinks at one time.
The full penalty for those violations was a four-day suspension and a $1,500 dollar fine, Suchy said. But the two days and $500 is being “held in abeyance” for six months, he said. “If they don’t violate any rules or regulations in the next six months, they don’t have to pay the additional two days and $500.”
Box 63 management did not return a call for comment by press time.
Those violations don't surprise me. Their staff seems disorganized and poorly trained. Last time we ate there, there was no host to seat us so we just wandered out to the patio where the waitstaff sort of forgot we were there, except once in a while the owner or manager would point us out and then two or three different staff would rush to us to see if we needed anything. Hopefully somebody from there will see this because they need some help streamlining the operation.