3 Newport Beach restaurants cited for serving alcohol to minors

State officials caught three Newport Beach restaurants serving alcohol to a minor in a sting operation last week.

California Alcoholic Beverage Control officials sent supervised minors into eight different establishments on March 18. Citations were issued to the three found serving booze to them: Bear Flag Fish Company, Great Mex Grill and 22nd Street Pizza.

“Great job to the servers and sellers of alcohol at the five locations in which the underage decoys were not able to purchase alcohol,” California Statewide Law Enforcement Assn. President Alan Barcelona said in a statement. “We always hope for a success rate of 100%, in which all server card patrons and decline to serve or sell those under age.”

Proprietors of businesses caught selling alcohol to minors for the first time may face a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 32 hours of community service. Repeated or egregious violations can lead to the the suspension or permanent revocation of a liquor license.