Wellington strip bar Mermaids offered dinner and a show on Easter but the dining experience fell short of what police wanted.

Wellington strip bar Mermaids has lost its alcohol licence for four days after its pork fried rice dining excuse fell flat with authorities.

The Courtenay Place strip joint opened on Good Friday and sold alcohol under a law that it could sell alcohol on the sacrosanct day as long as punters were on the premises to dine.

But the thoughts of sex tycoons the Chows on what "dining" was were markedly different to the authorities', leading to the suspension.

Company director Michael Chow argued that pork fried rice ordered from a nearby restaurant constituted "dining", that the legally-necessary "preparation" was the act of ordering the meal and the "presentation" of the meal was the act of putting it on the plate.

Alcohol legislation for Good Friday states that if alcohol is served, meals more substantial than snacks are needed and required "some preparation and presentation".

Eating had to be the focus, while entertainment - such as a show - should be incidental.

Chows' excuses fell flat with the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority, which described the bar's actions as "disingenuous, cavalier and cynical".

As a result, Mermaids had its liquor licence suspended from 10am on December 1.

In their prosecution, police pointed out that Mermaids had a stated "no dining" policy for 361.5 days of the year, though for licensing purposes, sold some reheated frozen meals.

On Good Friday, the strip club marketed the night as a "dinner and show", selling tickets for $25 instead of the standard $20 entry fee.

The meal was a dish of pork fried rice, ordered from a Courtenay Place restaurant and delivered at 11pm.

Police argued the meal was remarkably similar to frozen meals available on most other nights, when there was no dining.

While bar management gave staff instructions that punters wanting to buy alcohol had to show a dinner ticket, police at the bar for the sting that night disputed that and said there did not appear to be any special "show".

"The show appeared to be business as usual, which consisted of girls only in throngs dancing around a pole," the authority's decision said.

"Other scantily dressed females were either delivering alcohol to the tables, engaging patrons in conversation or serving at the bar."

Michael Chow, director of B & M Entertainment, which owned Mermaids, argued the pork fried rice was a meal, not a snack.

"Preparation" was ordering the pork fried rice and the "presentation" was putting the meal on a plate, he said.

The main activity on the night was indicated on the poster, he said.

"The poster provided depicts three young women bedecked with bunny ears attired in bunny ears," the authority's decision said.

Chow Group operations manager Jenny Chow argued that "preparation" was putting two scoops of fried rice on to a plate and the "presentation" was making sure those scoops were in the centre of the plate.

In the licensing authority's decision, it said it was clear that the meal billed as a dining experience was similar to the snacks served every other day and the Chows were paying "lip service" to the concept of dining.

But Michael Chow hit back in a statement accusing police of inconsistencies.

He approached Auckland and Wellington police before Easter, but only Auckland got back to him to say the meal was legal.

"Wellington police's answer was to ignore our request for advanced approval and instead turn up at Mermaids at 12.45am and tell us that the meal of pork fried rice we were serving was only a snack, so we were flouting the law."

The bar was shut as soon as police told staff to stop serving alcohol but the four days of closure would cost "tens of thousands" of dollars in lost revenue.

On Easter Sunday, he said police visited the bar and signed off on the same meal.