Friday, November 11th, 2011

UPDATE 1/2/13: Papasito Officially Kaput

UPDATE 10/15/12: Papasito Denied Liquor License Renewal; Likely To Close In Coming Months

UPDATE 3/3/12: Papasito Closed By Court Order

When news came in July that Papasito Mexican Grill & Agave Bar was coming to 2708 Broadway (btw. 104/105) it didn’t seem like a big deal — just another opening in the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, in the two months since it has been open, the restaurant has drawn the ire of its neighbors. They have complained to police, 311, and Community Board 7 about fights, loud music, and raucous crowds gathering late into the night.

Has Papasito officially taken the role of “Most Hated Bar/Restaurant On The Upper West Side” now that 420 Bar has been shut down?

DNAinfo recently had two stories on the restaurant and neither one paints a pleasant picture. Per the first article:

Neighbors near the Broadway location say Papasito feels more like a nightclub than a restaurant, with bouncers frisking customers before they enter late on weekend nights.

Since Papasito opened in mid-September, residents claim they’ve watched in dismay as fights have broken out and police have handcuffed people on the sidewalk outside the restaurant.

“I’ve been here 35 years, I’ve seen a lot of stuff come and go,” said neighbor Kevin Krajick, who lives across from Papasito. “I’ve lived through the high crime. This is one of the worst things that’s happened to the neighborhood.

The second article provides details from the Community Board 7 Business & Consumer Issues Committee meeting on Wednesday night, where Papasito sent a representative to give their side of the story. That representative, Fernando Mateo, apparently accused neighbors embellishing and fabricating complaints. Per DNA:

“There are some legitimate [complaints], but don’t accuse us of anything that’s not true,” Mateo told neighbors at a tense four-hour meeting of Community Board 7′s Business and Consumer Issues committee, which advises the State Liquor Authority on Papasito‘s liquor license.

Later in that meeting, another neighbor of the bar voiced his concerns:

“This is so much more extreme than what the officers have said,” said Peter Ackerman, who lives across from Papasito.
 “It’s outrageous. It’s screaming and fighting at 4:30 in the morning. It is completely destroying the fabric of the neighborhood. We have two kids and we chose to live in this neighborhood because it’s not a nightclub neighborhood.”

Frankly, the whole thing seems like a total shit-show. I’m confident this is going to drag on for a while with no resolution.

I actually received an e-mail from a reader on 10/17 about Papasito that I’ve been sitting on, waiting for an appropriate time to use it — this seems as good as any. Per MUW reader Beth:

On Saturday night at about 3:00 in the AM, there was a terrible situation at Papasito.

To back up, my area of Broadway has been completely changed by the opening of Papasito. The screaming patrons that wake us up from 3 to closing time are bad enough but Saturday night turned a little scary.

At around 3, there were bloodcurdling screams after the arrival of several police cars. It seemed that the crowd was so uncontrollable that the police had to pepper-spray them!

This place continues to serve more alcohol to already intoxicated angry patrons…fueling violence.

Sounds like a joy to live near this place.

For the record, UWS neighbors complaining about Papasito isn’t a new thing. The restaurant has a location in Inwood and DNAinfo reports residents up there have the same complaints.

Here’s a photo that a neighbor sent to DNAinfo showing police cars outside the restaurant during a recent incident:

Filed under: Bars, Clubs, Food & Drink, Going Out, Manhattan, New York City, News, NYC, Restaurants, Upper West Side, Upper West Side Blog, UWS 2 Comments »
Tags: 2708 Broadway, 420 Bar, Complaints, crowds, New York City, Noise, NYC, NYPD, Papasito, Police, Upper West Side, UWS