No booze for Taco Bell Cantina in downtown Royal Oak

No margaritas for downtown Royal Oak's Taco Bell Cantina, as city leaders on Monday denied a request to serve alcohol.

"Beer and tacos -- I don't understand why that's that big of an issue," said Jim Rasor, attorney for the restaurant's owner. "They go together like peas and carrots."

The restaurant on Main Street in the heart of downtown opened in January and had sought a bistro-style liquor license that would have allowed it to serve beer, sangria and booze-infused frozen drinks. Royal Oak City Commissioners voted 5-2 on Monday to deny that request after police expressed opposition.

Rasor said Tuesday that similar restaurants, such as Pieology Pizzeria, have gotten the OK to serve alcohol and not generated the numbers of police calls that bars have. But Commissioner Kyle Dubuc said that the Taco Bell Cantina didn't fit with the city's vision for the bistro-style licenses.

"I would say more that when we think of unique concepts that would not include national fast-food chains," DuBuc said. "Think locally managed, local concepts that are bringing a kind of unique flavor and unique identity."

He also said that while the Cantina concept had been pitched as something special, to him, it was just another Taco Bell.

"The Mexican pizzas and the Cheesy Gordita Crunch are great," DuBuc said. "But other than the fact that they would have served (alcoholic) slushy drinks, there would have been nothing to differentiate it from any other Taco Bell."

Rasor said the alcohol options would have included craft beer from nearby Roak Brewing Co. as well as liquor from Motor City Gas. He said the Cantinas are an effort by Taco Bell to make its locations more relevant to upscale neighborhoods, and that virtually all the other locations — including one in Las Vegas, Nevada that offers weddings — have been able to operate with liquor licenses, except Madison, Wis., where a lawsuit is underway.

"I think it was just a (gut) reaction that Taco Bell shouldn't serve alcohol," Rasor said of the Royal Oak decision. "They don't have a level of comfort with the concept, and there's a lot of misgivings about a Taco Bell that serves alcohol."

To address concerns, he said, the owners, Dortch Enterprises, had made substantial changes to their plans after hearing the police department opposed it. They would end liquor service at midnight, provide security and have a manager with experience with alcohol, among other efforts. But it wasn't enough.

"The commission has a fear of being colonized by too many national brands," Rasor said.

He said the location was vacant nearly four years before his client invested $750,000 into the storefront, hiring 20 people. And 20 more would be hired if alcohol were served, he said.

"People keep on coming in, wanting slushy margaritas," Rasor said. "And we don’t have them, and they leave. The location is not doing type of numbers that are going to sustain it without these new novelty alcohol drinks ... (It) may very well turn into another vacant storefront on Main Street."

Rasor, who served as a city commissioner from 2009-2013, said the owners plan to continue working with the city and remain hopeful they might be able to obtain a probationary type of license.

"We face a lot of competitive pressure from Detroit and Ferndale for entertainment and leisure dollars," Rasor said. "If you don't innovate, you stagnate as a community. I think this is a vote to stagnate."

A third-generation business that was started in 1938 owns the Taco Bell Cantina, as well as a Qdoba and another Taco Bell in Royal Oak, among about 80 restaurant locations from areas around Flint to Hazel Park.

DuBuc said the decision wasn't a reflection on the business owners or how they would operate in the city. And he said a similar concept in an area outside downtown would be worth of discussion.

"I'm not trying to encourage proliferation of national fast food franchises on our main street," he said.

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Contact Robert Allen on Twitter @rallenMI or rallen@freepress.com.