Clyde’s Tower Oaks Lodge Faces Loss of Liquor License

Hearing scheduled after popular bar cited by police for underage and heavy drinking

October 23, 2014 10:59 a.m.

The issues stemming from an August police sting at Clyde’s Tower Oaks Lodge in Rockville will come in front of the county’s liquor board next month.

Clyde’s owners are facing the loss of the restaurant’s liquor license as well as possible fines or other penalties resulting from the sting and will have to defend themselves before the Montgomery County Board of License Commissioners on Nov. 6.

A letter sent from the board to the restaurant’s liquor license holders states the restaurant is facing charges of over-serving patrons, selling or serving alcohol to underage persons and not having employee records available for inspection.

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The letter notes the restaurant paid a $1,000 fine in December 2008 for selling alcohol to a customer under age 21.

Undercover police officers issued 12 civil citations and made five arrests at the restaurant during an Aug. 11 sting conducted while the restaurant was offering its Monday night half-price wine special. Five people were charged with DUI as they drove away and admitted to being at the restaurant, seven people were cited for having fake IDs and five people were cited for underage drinking, according to police. Police also said they witnessed one woman who required help from other people to walk and who was later found to have a blood alcohol level of .23, nearly three times the .08 legal limit to operate a vehicle. The police operation extended from the night of Aug. 11 into the early morning of Aug. 12.

Claude Andersen, corporate operations manager for Clyde’s, said after the sting in August that the restaurant would discontinue its half price wine night special until it could figure out how the problems happened and work with police to fix issues at the restaurant. He described the fake IDs used at the restaurant as “very good” and that the people using them were able to make it past the restaurant’s security.

An employee at the restaurant said Thursday morning that the half-price wine special currently takes place Monday.

"We cancelled our wine special for several weeks and reinstated it (with a time adjustment) after we received customer requests and complaints that they wanted wine with their dinner," said Katy Adams, a Clyde's spokeswoman, in an email. "The special is all day Monday until 9 p.m. and is intended for guests who enjoy dinner and not for late night consumption."

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The restaurant, located at 2 Preserve Parkway, is owned by the Clyde’s Restaurant Group, which operates 14 other restaurants in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, according to its website.

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