Council may suspend Met. Cafe liquor license Residents concerned over loud noise, other disturbances from cafe BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer WOODBRDIGE - The Township Council will hold a liquor license hearing for the Metropolitan Café, which is at the intersection of St. Georges Avenue and Enfield Road. in Colonia, on Jan. 30. The hearing stems from two incidents that occurred on Oct. 26. "The [establishment] is charged with township ordinance and state violations, which include immoral conduct and public disturbance and nuisance, and serving intoxicated persons," said Township Clerk John Mitch. The first incident involves a female patron being assaulted inside and outside of the bar. On the same night, a fight started that led to several arrests, Mitch said. Residents, who live on Enfield Road, came to the Jan. 16 council meeting and voiced their concerns about the Metropolitan Café, which operates until 3 in the morning on the weekends. The residents say Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights are when the problems occur. "The Oct. 26 incident is not an isolated incident," said Alec Moore, who has lived on Enfield Road for two years with his wife and two young children. "This has been a systematic and chronic problem for my family and my neighbors. It disrupts our quality of life." Moore said cars line up and down his street. "The cars park in front of our houses and sometimes block our driveways," he said. "They have only 28 parking spaces for their establishment and we feel that there are more people in the place than are allowed." Coray Spillar, who was the fire chief of the Avenel Fire Department last year, said the maximum capacity the club can hold is 88 patrons, which was previously changed from 120 recently. Spillar said the fire department has issued several violations in the past with the Metropolitan Café, which include violation of blocked exit doors. Anthony Fabbricatore, who grew up in the area, and still lives on Enfield Road, said the problems at Metropolitan Café have gotten progressively worse. "The place used to be a neighborhood pub called the Spread Eagle Inn, which brought out guys who had a beer and watched a ball game," said Fabbricatore, who came to the meeting with his two young sons. '"The place now has clearly increased the scope of their clientele with DJ nights and they are advertising their place in Super Coups, which extends to South Plainfield, North Edison, Metuchen, and Iselin and I'm sure they are advertising elsewhere." Fabbricatore said the late partying produces garbage on his front lawn as well as his neighbors'. "I find half filled beer bottles, broken beer bottles…," he said. "People urinate and keep us up at 2, 3, 4 in the morning with their loud car alarms, stereos cranked up…. They linger out in the streets when the place lets out at 3 a.m. It's not safe for my two sons to go play out in the front lawn and does not allow us to have a quality of life." The council will also have a liquor license hearing for 88 Keys located on Route 1 North in Iselin on Feb. 13.