16-year-old drinking at midnight at a Seaport hotel raises official ire

Boston Licensing Board members reacted with shock on hearing that police on a surprise inspection found a 16-year-old at a table - with five other underage people - drinking alcohol at midnight in a Seaport hotel last November.

The board decides Thursday what punishment, if any, to levy against the Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport - which leases its liquor license to the management group that runs the Coquette restaurant in the hotel lobby.

"That is unbelievable," board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce said. "This is a real problem ... You cannot tell me someone at 16 years old, [the server] thought they looked like they were 21."

Coquette attorney Dennis Quilty and manager Mark Malatesta acknowledged all six got drinks because the server violated restaurant policy and didn't check their IDs.

"Once they made it to the table, our server just didn't do their job," Malatesta said. "We terminated this individual immediately."

In addition to firing the server, who initially lied about carding the six, all restaurant staffers had to undergo retraining to make sure that they will not server alcohol without checking IDs, Quilty said. "We can assure you this will not happen again," he said.

Malatesta said the restaurant does not require ID checks at the door for people who make dinner reservations, which the six did, but servers are always supposed to check IDs, he said.

BPD Det. Eddie Hernandez said that as he and his partner were talking to the six young women, they told him they had made a reservation at Coquette after learning on social media it was the place to go to get a drink if you were under 21 - and that they tested that out by sending one of their number to the bar to order a drink and when she got one without having to show ID, the entire table summoned the server to order a round.

Hernandez did not specify what drinks the table had ordered.