Hanami Japanese Restaurant was granted a liquor license from Prince George’s County.
Sushi enthusiasts looking to wash down their California rolls with some sake won’t need to venture out of the downtown bubble for much longer.
Hanami Japanese Restaurant, located in the Campus Village shopping center, cleared the second and final hurdle to securing a liquor license Tuesday morning and will begin serving beer and wine as soon as the final paperwork clears. Students said they are looking forward to having a new watering hole close to the campus but don’t anticipate Hanami will become a target for overly boisterous partiers.
The Prince George’s County Board of License Commissioners had one license to give out to a county establishment, as it does each month, and two candidates made their cases why they should be the latest business to turn on the tap.
Hanami owners presented character witnesses and petitions in favor of their receiving the license, helping Hanami beat out El Ranchero Y Sus Mariachis, a Mexican restaurant in Beltsville, a clerk on the board said.
“It was a competition,” said Diane, a 30-year employee of the board who asked her last name be withheld. “They’re both fine restaurants, but we only had one license … Hanami demonstrated the public would be accommodated by a liquor license.”
Owner and manager Irene Song said she is excited about the advantages of bringing a liquor license to her business, an almost five-year-old establishment serving sushi and traditional Japanese food.
“It should help a lot,” Song said. “Sake goes with sushi, and you can sake bomb.”
Song hopes to add Japanese beer, such as Sapporo, to her menu, in addition to a wine selection. Tables of six or more will be able to order pitchers of beer.
Students said a liquor license will separate Hanami from the other Asian restaurants nearby that do mostly carry-out orders or serve quick eat-in meals. Though Seven Seas, located further north on Route 1, is students’ go-to sake bombing destination, several said having that option within walking distance from the campus is ideal.
“That does sound like more fun,” said senior accounting major Parisa Karimi, who said she goes to Hanami for sushi but would be interested in bringing a group of friends to have a couple drinks with dinner.
“It’s definitely a change from the standard bars in College Park,” she added.
Although Song said she expects adding alcohol to the menu will bring in extra revenue, she knows she might have to prepare for some rowdy patrons and said she plans to monitor that possibility.
In order to minimize any negative alcohol-influenced incidents, Song said only parties ordering food will be allowed to add beer or wine to their bill. The county will not require the restaurant to purchase ID scanners to serve customers drinks.
College Park City Council District 1 Councilman Marcus Afzali said he doesn’t think inappropriate behavior will be an issue — the established atmosphere in the typically mellow restaurant just doesn’t lend itself to that kind of behavior, he said.
“Considering the restaurant, I don’t think people are going to go and start sake bombing,” Afzali said. “I don’t think it’s going to have much impact on the atmosphere of the restaurant.”
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