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8/28/2008
SMITHFIELD - An Asian restaurant at 566 Putnam Pike that recently expanded, and then ran into trouble with town officials over licensing, suddenly shut its doors for good.
As of last week, signs for the Lily Garden Restaurant had been removed from the building and replaced with a banner reading "For Sale or Lease."
Efforts to reach Sophin In, apparently a relatively new operator of the restaurant, were unsuccessful.
A spokesman for Richard Conti, who owns the building, said the tenant had left and that Conti filed in District Court to re-establish possession of the space that the Lily Garden had occupied.
The unit had housed the Bella Luna Restaurant, and then a Vietnamese restaurant, before Cambodian Leane Kaun opened the Lily Garden in 2005 to positive reviews both for the variety of Asian cuisine and the extensive menu, said to offer some 150 selections.
The restaurant raised eyebrows in Town Hall this past June when officials said that In, who had increased the restaurant's capacity from 50 to between 100 and 150 people, was operating without a victualling license, was behind on tax payments, and had not undergone a state health inspection or a town public safety inspection that was required because of the renovations.
The Town Council ordered the restaurant to close until the deficiencies were remedied, and later fined In $150 for remaining open after the order was delivered.
The differences seemed resolved when an attorney for In attributed them to a language barrier, and the council granted In a license to operate provided everything was corrected.
- Reach Gerry Goldstein at gerry76@cox.net
