Local News

Monica’s Trattoria license suspended in wake of attempted murder charge for owner

The suspension will likely force the North End restaurant to close.

Monica’s Trattoria on Prince Street in the North End has had its food and liquor license suspended. John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe

By Susannah Sudborough

July 25, 2023

5 minutes to read

Boston’s licensing board voted Tuesday to suspend the food and alcohol license for Monica’s Trattoria, just a few days after the restaurant’s owner was arrested for allegedly trying to shoot a man he’d been feuding with for years.

The board suspended the license because they determined the North End restaurant was operating without a manager of record — a person approved by the licensing board who is formally responsible for a restaurant or bar, and because they have concerns about owner Patrick Mendoza, the person who is still the official manager of record.

With 54-year-old Mendoza allegedly on the run from police last week, he was unable to transfer authority to run the restaurant to someone else, they said. While the restaurant’s lawyer had applied for a new manager of record to take over, the board said it needed time to review her qualifications.

“We need to know, as a regulatory authority, at any given time, who is in charge at a licensed premise,” Licensing Board Chair Kathleen Joyce said Tuesday.

The suspension will likely force the Prince Street restaurant to close, as they cannot serve food or alcohol. The board said it would reinstate the license once they have approved a new manager of record for the restaurant, and that they would work quickly to schedule a hearing.

What led up to the license suspension

The licensing board meeting was called because Monica’s Trattoria violated state law when Mendoza failed to appear at an “informational hearing” last Thursday during which the board considered whether the restaurant should keep its liquor and food license in the wake of the shooting.

Boston police also cited the restaurant for having “no manager on duty” when an officer came to the restaurant later that day.

After the hearing, the board gave the restaurant until the end of the day Friday to submit written proof that a proposed new manager of record was qualified for the job. That responsibility fell to William Ferullo, the Mendoza family’s long-time lawyer.

Ferullo requested that Monica’s operations manager, Amanda McQueen, be made the new manager of record and submitted her application Friday.

What the Mendoza’s lawyer argued

Ferullo contended Tuesday that Boston police’s claim that there was no manager on duty when they inspected the restaurant was false because McQueen and other floor managers were there, running the restaurant as normal.

Ferullo said he’d requested a hearing be held Tuesday to make her the manager of record, but the licensing board refused. He argued that the resolution to the issue should be to approve McQueen as the new manager of record during the meeting.

Ferullo claimed Mendoza was at a treatment facility on Thursday before he turned himself in to police the next day.

He also said Mendoza had resigned from his “positions in the corporation,” which are to be assumed by his wife and son. Documentation of this has been forwarded to the board, he said, and they are “in the process of making the official changes.”

How the licensing board responded

Licensing Board Chair Kathleen Joyce confirmed that the board had received McQueen’s application, but said they needed sufficient time to review it. She added that they were up against scheduled vacations and a truncated summer meeting schedule.

“Given that it’s for a change of manager, which is a very important position in this heavily regulated industry, we need time for staff to review it,” she said.

The decision to suspend the license came down to the board not knowing “who was in charge” at the restaurant, Joyce said.

“You stated that Amanda McQueen was in charge,” the chair said to Ferullo. “It’s difficult for the board to understand who put her in charge, who deputized her to be in charge if Mr. Mendoza — who is the 100% holder of the license and 100% responsible for the restaurant — if he was unavailable and evading the police.”

Joyce continued, saying that the board would evaluate whether McQueen is fit to be the new manager of record independent of Mendoza’s actions at a later date, but that the meeting Tuesday was to address Mendoza’s failures.

“It was more than a week he had been evading law [enforcement] and we had no idea who was in control of Monica’s,” she said to Ferullo. “It turns out, based on your testimony here today, it was being controlled and run by someone who was unknown to the board and never approved by the board.”

Joyce asked Ferullo repeatedly how McQueen was put in charge — whether Mendoza had put her in charge, whether there was a plan to put her in charge in his absence, or whether she took charge on her own. Ferullo never answered the question directly, but simply restated McQueen’s qualifications to run the restaurant.

The vote

Joyce moved to suspend the license.

“I have serious concerns about the person who’s still listed as the manager of record and 100% owner,” Joyce said. “I know those changes are in place, but we have not reviewed them yet. And we also have not reviewed this new application before us. We do have every right to review those things and to look into the new person’s character and fitness.”

Board member Liam Curran seconded the motion, saying he felt that any person who presents themselves as a manager to police must be empowered to do so by the person approved by the board. He said he thought Mendoza had not done so with McQueen, and couldn’t do so because he wasn’t “available to the business.”

“The reason he was not available to the business was not sickness. It wasn’t vacation — all reasons we might in our discretion be able to excuse their absence,” he said.

Ultimately, the board voted unanimously to suspend Monica’s food and liquor license.

What’s next

It is unclear if Monica’s is operating in some fashion at this time. A Globe reporter wrote that he did not get a response when he visited the restaurant Tuesday, and a call to the restaurant during business hours went unanswered.

Ferullo lamented the impact that the license suspension would have on other employees at Monica’s. The Boston Globe previously reported that Monica’s employs 25 people, 15 of which work full-time.

Other local news

Board member Keeana Saxon addressed Ferullo’s concern when she voted to suspend the license.

“Even given my understanding of the effects, I understand that there’s staff and family that are involved, but as the chairperson has said, this is a very heavily regulated industry, and you simply must have a manager of record,” she said.

After the vote, Ferullo said he hoped the board “doesn’t hold this matter hostage.”

“You know what the situation in the industry is. Once people leave, it’s very difficult to get them back, and you potentially endanger a long-term family business as a result of waiting for scheduling and the hearing,” he said.

It is unclear if the hearing to instate McQueen as the manager of record has been scheduled. Ferullo did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.

Mendoza pleaded not guilty to several charges, including assault with intent to murder, in Boston Municipal Court Friday, The Boston Globe reported. The judge ordered him held without bail until a detention hearing Wednesday.

Mendoza allegedly tried to shoot and kill 60-year-old Rocco Giovanello, with whom he and his brother reportedly have a long-term feud, outside Modern Pastry on July 12.

Monica’s Trattoria license suspended in wake of attempted murder charge for owner