A representative for Bangkok Bento Thai Kitchen and Sushi at 272 Newbury St. was on hand for the monthly meeting of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay Licensing and Building Use Committee, which took place virtually on Monday, Dec. 4, to discuss the restaurant’s proposal to secure to a beer-and-wine license for the premises.
The applicant, Wikanda Wiwitted, said she and her husband opened the Newbury Street restaurant in March. Its current hours of operation are 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., seven days a week, she said, while patrons dining in currently accounts for about 90 percent of the restaurant’s business, with takeout orders comprising the remaining 10 percent of sales.
When Conrad Armstrong, LBU Committee chair, informed Wiwitted that she would need to provide a closing time on the business’s application with the city for its beer-and-wine license, she said that the restaurant currently has a 10:30 p.m. closing time but has been closing an hour earlier because business has typically been waning in the later hours. Wiwitted indicated that if it’s granted a beer-and-wine license, the restaurant might seek a later closing time on weekend nights.
Armstrong also informed Wiwitted that NABB would ask that the restaurant’s small outdoor patio close no later than 10 p.m.; Wiwitted replied that would be “no problem at all.”
Regarding trash removal, Wiwitted said trash is stored in a large, locked dumpster in the rear of the restaurant, which is removed from the premises every other day by a trash company.
Wiwitted said she and her husband also own another restaurant in Quincy, which was granted a beer-and-wine license last year.
Armstrong told Wiwitted that he would inform her of NABB’s determination on her application via email by the end of next week.