The Village of Westbury denied a local restaurant’s application to stay open until 4 a.m. on weekends, saying that it had a previous record of being a disturbance to the neighborhood.
Los Amigos Restaurant, at 501 Union Ave., had initially brought its request for a special use permit before the board in November 2015, asking to stay open past 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. Sundays through Thursday, and until 4 a.m. on Fridays and Saturday. “The hours that he’s operating now is a big strain,” said Los Amigos’ legal counsel at last week’s meeting. “This is his only means of income. Even being open until 2 a.m. would provide more business and income.” 
However, restaurant owner Mario Reyes has less than a clean record of operating his restaurant within compliance. At the November meeting, senior building inspector Bill Mello cited at least eight incidences within a year of interactions with the Nassau County Police Department, incidences that included reports of assault, domestic violence, larceny and misuse to a vehicle. Residents that lived close to the property also said they had called the police multiple times because of rowdy patrons, people urinating on their property and excessive noise coming from the restaurant.
Mello noted that the restaurant had also been cited eight times for operating past the allowed hours of operation, on several occasions, staying open past midnight.
It was a trend that seemed to continue past the adjournment of the November hearing, as Mello revealed last week that in the last three months, there has been at least three occasions where the restaurant has been observed operating past 10 p.m.
“Based upon the record, your client hasn’t been a good corporate citizen and there’s been disturbances of not only other commercial businesses but other residential properties,” said Village Mayor Peter Cavallaro.
The board voted unanimously to deny the permit, as well as approved a six month moratorium on the reapplication of a special use permit.
