The liquor license for a new Morningside Heights restaurant is in jeopardy after complaints of loud music and late-night fights.
Neighbors claim that Papasito Mexican Bar and Grill, on Broadway between 104th and 105th streets, is acting more like a nightclub—frisking customers for weapons on weekends—and attracting a rowdy clientele. One altercation in front of the restaurant led to an arrest.
The Business and Consumer Issues Committee of Community Board 7, which represents the Upper West Side, met last week to discuss Papasito’s application for a two-year liquor license, voting to recommend that the license be granted on the condition that the restaurant complied with certain terms.
These terms included “adjusting the hours of operation, certain aspects of the way in which amplified sound would be used in the premises, the way in which the bouncers outside would interact with the public,” according to Community Board 7 chair Mark Diller. He added that members of the community have raised “serious concerns about the operation of the applicant’s business.”
The restaurant will have to wait another two and a half weeks, when the full community board votes on the recommendation, before the final verdict is made.
Papasito is operating under the liquor license of Angelina Pizza Bar, the previous occupant of the space. The restaurant will need its own license once Angelina’s expires in two years.
Peter Ackerman, who lives on 104th Street and attended the committee meeting, said that there have been at least three incidents of fighting or boom cars—cars that blast music so loud passersby can feel the bass—outside of the restaurant in the last two months.
But Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for the Northern Manhattan Restaurant and Lounge Association, said that only one of those incidents—on Oct. 16—involved Papasito.
“That incident was a disorderly guy inside,” Mateo said. “We called the police so they could come and ask the guy to leave. He was escorted outside. The cop did come, which was very shortly after. The guy assaulted the cop physically and he was arrested.”
“The thing that struck me most and caused me most concern is that they’re frisking people, that they’re obviously expecting to keep patrons’ weapons out of the establishment,” Ackerman said.
Mateo said that the restaurant has done everything possible to address the concerns of members of the community. For example, a technician came in to lower the speakers, adjust the direction of the speakers, and install mounts on the walls so that the speakers don’t cause any vibrations.
Harold Meth, a Morningside Heights resident who shares a wall with Papasito’s building, told the committee that the vibrations were a huge issue when the restaurant opened, but it has improved in recent weeks. When the restaurant first opened, he said he could hear the beat thumping between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. every weekend.
“But they’ve kept it down the last two weeks,” Meth said. “It’s been a little bit better.”
Manuel Melchor, who became the manager of Papasito’s a month ago, acknowledged the noise complaints but said he has not run into any problems so far.
“Now the neighborhood knows that I am running this place,” Melchor said. “Right now, I have no problems.”
This isn’t the first time the Papasito name has riled up its neighbors. Another Papasito restaurant in Inwood is one of a string of noisy restaurants along a section of Dyckman Street that locals have dubbed “Alcohol Alley.” Over the summer, residents complained that the proliferation of rowdy bars along the street has caused them to lose sleep.
While the community board does not have the legal power to grant or deny liquor licenses, it can make a recommendation to the State Liquor Authority. The full Community Board 7 meeting will take place Dec. 6.
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