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Angry, brawling women trash Chinatown restaurant

Chau Chow City in Chinatown

Melee scene.

An argument between neighboring tables at Chau Chow City on Essex Street early one August morning ended with plates and silverware flying through the air - and generally crashing to the ground, except for one plate that connected with a woman's cheek first, police told the Boston Licensing Board this morning.

At a hearing on the Aug. 17 incident, police officers said an argument between two tables of women in their 20s around 3:50 a.m. quickly escalated.

"Broken plates and silverware were all over the place," one officer said. "They destroyed the place," Sgt. William Gallagher added. Police said they were unable to learn from the combatants - who continued yelling at each other even as police arrived - what the fight was about or who started it.

Police said the woman hit in the cheek declined medical attention.

The licensing board decides Thursday what action, if any, to take about the incident.

Patrick Foley, attorney for restaurant owner Dennis Luu, pleaded for mercy, saying Luu immediately called 911 at the first sign of trouble that morning and that Luu has hired an extra security guard. He added Luu is well known in Chinatown for his charity work.

Gallagher and board Chairwoman Christine Pulgini suggested Luu install a video surveillance system - and post signs alerting customers they're on camera.

Gallagher said the restaurant does the bulk of its business on weekend nights after nearby clubs let out. "There's a lot of alcohol involved," he said. "It can get kind of tough down there."

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Comments

To the drunken messes that ruin all the fun for everyone else by brawling in clubs, bars, restaurants, etc., I wish they could just disallow these idiots from drinking in public places. Punched someone in a bar? Your ID will reflect that you're an idiot and establishments can refuse entry. Certainly makes it easier for places to protect against liability.

Made it three years without starting a fight in a club? You can pay for a new ID without the mark, with the proceeds going to help treat people with emotional and/or alcohol issues.

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Does anybody know if a restaurant can refuse to admit/seat/serve someone who is ragingly drunk?

It sounds to me like these people tanked up elsewhere before the witching hour, then went and started fights in a place that could not legally serve drinks after hours.

On the other hand, cutting these after hours places some slack when patrons get out of hand might not be a bad public health move. They do perform a public service when they retain these folks for an hour or so and feed them, instead of sending them into their cars or into the night.

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I've seen people, plenty of times, who were refused entry to an establishment based on a perceived level of intoxication.

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Isn't that the purpose of signs which state "The management reserve the right to refuse service"?

Of course it gets tricky as the restaurant can claim you were drunk while the person might claim unfair discrimination for something not booze related.

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The entire reason these restaurants existed. was to serve drunk people at night.

Who else is looking for bad Chinese food at 3:50 a.m?

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Chau Chow has some damn good sesame chicken.

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Have you ever eaten there sober? Like at 7pm on a Wednesday or something?

Im curios to know if there is a beer goggle effect with food too. You know? Tastes better when drunk?

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I've gone for dinner a few times, and a few friends that I tend to go with at night also go for lunch or dinner on occasion and enjoy it sober. I stick to the sesame chicken because I'm boring and it's really good, not sure what they get.

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For the drinks they light on fire.

I know of people that swear by their dim sum.

Though side note, while most people end up in the downstairs dining room late night, head upstairs some time. It's a trip.

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I've never wandered up there, even during "normal" hours.

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There are plenty of people who are intoxicated who are capable of not being public menaces. I have handfuls of friends that moved to NYC and were startled to find out that it was possible to spend an entire night on the town and not see a single drunken fight.

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I simply stated that I thought these restaurants existed to cater to drunk people.

I never mentioned brawling patrons.

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I'd imagine people who work at bars until 2am end up in these sorts of places, too.

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There's a Michelin-and-Zagat-type chef in my family, that's exactly what they do after work. Their "happy hour" is at 2 am.

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I've experienced the same thing many times in Boston, too. And actually being from NYC, and knowing Manhattan, if not Brooklyn (less so) very well, there's no shortage of obnoxious drunks (not to mention mind altering drugs), fights, brawls. This is actually an issue the world over.

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It's something I don't see the world over at the rate in Boston. And I generally spend the biggest drinking day of the year in cities abroad, and I've never seen shit like I see on the average weekend night in October on NYE.

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Too many assholes in Boston, and overreaching authorities

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The booze certainly isn't a calming influence but who's kidding who, the type of low-life that gets into a wild west style saloon brawl will do the same thin in a parking lot or a train station in the middle of the day. Sober as judges.

But yeah, the visible raging drunks should be denied from the start.

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At least in Boston, a place can get written up for serving somebody who's already drunk.

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This brawl was a couple hours after last call. They absolutely can't serve a drunk person more alcohol, but they couldn't serve any person any alcohol at that hour.

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Well, another licensing-board rule lets restaurants and bars deny service not only to anybody who appears intoxicated, but who appears to be intent on causing trouble.

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I don't see how this would have helped. It's a very loose assumption that everyone who sees a camera will decide not to do something stupid, especially in this case, where BPD couldn't even get the situation fully under control. And before the flame war starts, no, I'm not arguing against a surveillance system being a good thing to have, but it seems like a canned suggestion in relation to this specific occurrence...plus as we've learned in the past, having one also apparently makes you responsible for policing the streets as well.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I've never been inside Chau Chow City "after hours" and not seen at least one uniformed BPD officer working inside, right at the front door. Granted I've only been there after midnight 2 or 3 times, but it's been over a span of years and always the same scenario. It seems like they (I'm assuming pay to) always have a detail working, at least on weekends. Not sure if that's what they meant by hiring more security, but that seems a lot more effective than cameras.

Regardless, another case of the establishment that actually takes preemptive steps to avoid issues like this having no control over the situation and immediately trying to put a stop to it by calling the police. I'm not sure of the restaurant's history of issues, but hopefully nothing happens to them.

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Its an interesting experience to go there at 3AM and have a uniformed cop bring your bill over. I think the surveillance cameras would potentially help identify and prosecute people who think its a fine idea to throw plates around a crowded restaurant.

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And again, not necessarily against cameras, but the suggestion from the board seems really out of context considering the police were called and interacted with the alleged offenders (I'm assuming no arrests were made since it wasn't noted).

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Is that if people know they're being recorded, they might be less likely to start trouble in the first place, since police will get a copy of the video (well, assuming the system is working and assuming the owner isn't tampering with it) for use as evidence.

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and in practice, the video could be very useful. But as a deterrent, I don't know. If something isn't pre-meditated, odds are emotions play a role, and people aren't necessarily thinking about anything like that before they act. And again, in this specific case, the police being there still didn't act as a deterrent, so cameras seemed like a canned suggestion in relation to the specific incident.

If you get owners tampering, that's a whole different story. Also, do you know if dummy cameras are legally allowed in restaurants? I'd be interested in knowing how a scenario like that would play out with the board.

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Everybody was kung-fu fighting...

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Everybody was kung-pao fighting ...

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They woudl pass the cruel and unusual test. They are not cruel unless of course peopel are beaten. Not unusual since they have a long historical reputation. And the more used today the less a perception of unusual.

Give the individual convicted of public brawling the choice between current penalties (if any are are imposed) or a duration in the public stocks.

Some might object that this is shaming. But that is the point. They chose to get drunk at which point they sacrifice their ability to make rational choices and instead become petty thugs destroying a peaceful environment for people who know when to stop being an ass. Their violent behavior is shameful; so in this instance an eye for an eye might be appropriate. A little public shaming could make a deep and lasting impression (even to the point of being an effective bottom for those who can't stop abusing alcohol).

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And brawl outside in the parking lot like we used to back in the Moon Villa cold tea days of my youth.

We weren't raised by wolves.

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All those places in Chinatown have been dead to me since the post- 2 A.M. "cold tea" era ended

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Moon Villa oh miss it dearly. Will have to go back and get some boneless terryaki and crab Rangoon.

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Clams in Black Bean Sauce. Yum.

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That's six words! i double checked!

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