$1,000 Fine for Restaurants That Served Underage Patrons During Swedish Days

Geneva Liquor Commissioner Kevin Burns issued a $1,000 fine and a day's suspension of the liquor license of Sergio's Cantina and Fiora's restaurant during a Liquor Commission hearing Monday at City Hall.

A third business, EvenFlow Music and Spirits, 302 W. State St., will have a separate hearing, most likely later this week.

All three restaurants were cited for serving an underage patron or patrons during Swedish Days.

This is the first citation for Sergio's Mexican Cantina, 30 W. State St., and Fiora’s restaurant, 317 S. Third St. Both waived a right to a hearing and agreed to a consent order for the $1,000 fine and 24-hour liquor-license suspension. Fiora's one-day suspension will be on July 19, Sergio's on Aug. 23.

Lindsey De Los Santos of Sergio’s Mexican Cantina and Ann Anastasio of Fiora's were present at Monday's hearing.

De Los Santos said this was the fifth year Sergio's has hosted a beer garden at Swedish Days, and the restaurant owners try very hard to prevent underage serving. She said the $1,000 fine was a "wake up call."

"We do take it very seriously," she said. "We have a teenage boy, and we understand it is a big deal. We kind of look at it as a blessing in disguise ... and it's something that has made us re-evaluate: Do we really want to have a beer garden? Our focus is our food—that's why we opened our restaurant."

This is the second violation for EvenFlow. Owners Michael Knuth and Nicholas Mercadante were fined $1,000 and a day's liquor-license suspension following a hearing in December. That fine was for allowing one of the owners, Mercadante, to consume alcoholic beverages inside the venue after hours.

Related Article

• UPDATE: Even Flow Gets Fine, One-Day Liquor License Suspension, But New Venue Is Doing Well

Download the movie