Mexican Eatery's License Clipped for Underage Service
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Licensing Board imposed a two-week liquor license suspension on Iztac Mexican Restaurant after police submitted photographs that appear to show underage patrons drinking.
Formerly Pancho's Mexican Restaurant, the eatery has been in front of the board for several incidents over the last few years. Pancho's had its liquor license suspended for one week in 2023 and its hours reduced twice.
"This is serious, and they have a history, and I think we owe it to this community to do something a little heavier," Chair Thomas Campoli said on Monday after a five-day suspension was proposed by board member Jon Lifvergren.
Reports of underage drinking and fighting from September 2025 and earlier this year were presented.
Gabriel Columna purchased the business in 2022. Last year, the board approved a name change from Pancho's Mexican Restaurant to Iztac, still operating under Columnna LLC.
In January, Capt. Matthew Hill received a call from an upset parent about her 19-year-old daughter patronizing Iztac at night and being served. He is familiar with the parents and family over the course of his time on the force, and the mother reported that her daughter had been served on "multiple" occasions, offering to obtain photos.
The mother said her daughter has been drinking, and it has become "an issue in the household." In one of the pictures, it appears she had a wristband on.
Hill agreed, and at the end of January, he was sent five different photos and one video of the daughter and a friend with what appeared to be a mixed drink. The pictures were printed and presented to the board with faces blurred; the reporting party wishes to remain anonymous along with her daughter and friend, and she was unable to attend the hearing.
He ran the patrons' names through police records to confirm they were not 21.
Officer Angelica Matos said on Sept. 25, while on patrol at about 11:45 p.m., she noticed a group outside of Iztac that included a security guard and the owner. Officers inquired to ensure everything was OK, and the security guard allegedly said Columna had told him to let an individual in without checking an ID.
Police said there are usually 10 to 15 people waiting to get inside the restaurant, which sometimes has a DJ.
"I guess there was like a conflict between the security guard and the owner because the security guard felt uncomfortable with letting these people in without knowing who they are and how old they are, and which is understandable," Matos explained.
"And while that was going on, there was an individual that came out of Iztac that had a facial injury, he was bleeding, and at the same time as I'm dealing with that issue with the IDs, that individual was bleeding. He said he got assaulted inside. So it looked like there were just multiple things going on that needed to be noted."
Columna later said the individual was punched outside.
Matos said they came to the conclusion that the owner was trying to have people come inside without checking their IDs, and the security guards weren't comfortable with it.
"I just wanted to indicate that Mr. Columna does take underage serving very seriously. He has represented to me continuously, throughout my representation of him, that he does check IDs at the door from 10 o'clock on," said his attorney, Loretta Mach, adding that they have been in front of the Licensing Board before, but not on an underage drinking issue.
"…The fights seem to happen, and that's why the security, to try to deal with those fights. He did fire a security guard back in September, and we're thinking that the guard that was speaking to the officer lied with regard to the owner telling him to let people in without an ID."
She said Columna feels "personally attacked," not by the city or police, but by other people frequenting the establishment who may be out to get him.
Columna said the altercation that resulted in a man bleeding happened outside, and that he was speaking to the security guard about letting his sister in when she forgot her ID. He said he was not letting underage people in the bar.
"I check IDs, I pay for a professional security guard," he said.
The board also continued a show cause hearing for Ben Tempi's liquor license, as the same mother submitted an almost identical complaint about the Onota Street establishment and provided photos, one of them with the owner "clearly visible."
The owners, Richard and Elizabeth Zucco, did not show up.
A similar occurrence happened last year, where a mother approached the Licensing Board asking for accountability after her underage child was allegedly served at Bei Tempi. After drinking at a graduation party, she said her 18-year-old son became further intoxicated at the establishment before returning home late and becoming combative, resulting in an arrest by police.
"This is the second time in seven months that an allegation of serving two underage parties has been made against Bei Tempe. The last time the complaint was dismissed, when the reporting party was different from this reporting party, who had made the complaint about her child being served because she and her child failed to attend that final hearing," Hill reported.
He explained that the current complaint was for both Iztac and Bei Tempi, and the unnamed mother found the photos online.
Tags: license board, alcohol violation, license suspension, underage drinking,
