Chinatown restaurant with feuding owners loses alcohol license

The Boston Licensing Board today revoked the beer and wine license for Bubor Cha Cha, 45 Beach St., not because its current owners are involved in a legal tussle over who can run the place, but because they purchased it with an alcohol license that can't legally be sold.

Bubor Cha Cha had a "restricted" license that is supposed to be returned to the city should the restaurant be sold, which it was in 2019. At a recent hearing, the lawyer who handled the sale said he was unaware of that because he never even saw the physical license, which has that condition printed on it in red.

He was unable to explain why one of the previous owners was continuing to file for the annual renewal of the license, or why nobody had ever told the board that the previous owners, one of whom was dead, was no longer involved in running the restaurant, as required by board regulations.

Three of the current owners are currently facing off against a fourth owner, who had been manager after the sale, in legal wrangling in Suffolk Superior Court - as well as in battles over padlocks and signs posted on the restaurant doors about the dispute.