Twelve restaurants face a four-day alcohol sales ban if the Rome City Commission approves recommendations made by the Alcohol Control Commission on Monday, and another nightspot could lose all alcohol privileges for the rest of the year.

The Rome Police Department and Georgia Department of Revenue cited the establishments for selling alcohol to minors following a sweep of local restaurants in mid-October.

During the sting, a 19-year-old female and 20-year-old male ordered alcohol at the locations, most of the time without showing identification, said Johnny Brown, an agent with the state Alcohol and Tobacco Division.

“We had an undercover (agent) with a hidden camera,” he said. “The whole transaction was recorded on tape.”

Among those who could lose pouring privileges for four days are:

# Applebee’s, 826 Turner McCall Blvd.

# Bistro 239, 239 Broad St.

# Deano’s Pizza, 1800 Dean St.

# Gondolier Pizza, 152 Midtown Crossing

# Hooters, 104 Hicks Drive

# Johnny Carino’s, 838 Turner McCall Blvd.

# Landmark restaurant, 2740 Martha Berry Blvd.

# Las Palmas, 246 Shorter Ave.

# Longhorn Steakhouse, 144 Shorter Ave.

# Los Portales, 2439 Shorter Ave.

# Olive Garden, 789 Turner McCall Blvd.

# El Maguey, 2204 Shorter Ave., Suite 26.

The ACC also recommended revocation of beer-pouring privileges for the rest of the year at The Prickly Pear, 333 Broad St., which was also caught in the sting.

City Clerk Joe Smith said it was the first offense of selling to a minor for all 13 restaurants.

Earlier this year, the City Commission pulled owner Doug Pedrick’s liquor- and wine-pouring licenses after an ACC meeting in which it was determined he bought liquor through his Cartersville business and brought it to both the Prickly Pear and the Alley Sports Bar & Grill on Broad Street, which he also owns, for resale, which defrauded the city of Rome of taxes.

The City Commission on Nov. 19 voted to restore the licenses with the understanding that Pedrick is trying to sell the businesses and repay the city $16,700 in lost taxes.

Pedrick is negotiating with a buyer to sell the business. The ban at the Prickly Pear would be applied only if Pedrick is unable to complete the sale.

The City Commission will likely act on the recommendations during its Dec. 3 meeting.

At Monday’s hearing, managers, owners or attorneys for the establishments came before the commission to explain the violations.

Most of them depicted busy restaurant scenes in which employees failed to ask for valid proof of age before serving the minor.

Some said they fired the employees who sold the alcohol. Others said the citations triggered renewed training of alcohol-serving policies among their staff.

But a few of them requested leniency.

“Not having alcohol sales at family restaurants does deter people from coming,” said attorney Kevin Leff, who represented Longhorn and Olive Garden.

Both establishments fired their employees for serving the minor, he said.

“The bad apple has been removed from the chain, but all of the other servers are going to suffer from the loss of tips,” Leff said.

He asked that the four-day ban be suspended until after December, which he called the “busiest month of the year.”

Applebee’s manager Steve Smith echoed his concerns.

“(The other employees) are going to serve a much greater consequence than the person ... who committed a crime and lied about it,” Smith said.

THEY DID IT RIGHT

The following restaurants were also targeted in an October underage alcohol sting, but employees there did not serve to minors:

# Magretta Hall, 201 Broad St.

# Harvest Moon Café, 234 Broad St.

# La Scala, 413 Broad St.

# El Zarape, 429 Broad St.

# Crystal Thai Restaurant, 526 Broad St.

# Mexico Tipico, 144 Hicks Drive.

# Sumo Japanese Steakhouse, 1301 Martha Berry Blvd.

# China City restaurant, 1803 Martha Berry Blvd.

# Los Amigos, 5 E. 12th St.

# Moe’s Southwest Grill, 110 Shorter Ave.

# Provino’s Italian Restaurant, 288 Shorter Ave.

# Buffalo’s Café, 440 Shorter Ave.

# Red Lobster, 700 Shorter Ave.

# Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q, 2103 Shorter Ave.

# Chili’s Bar & Grill, 1310 Turner McCall Blvd.

# Outback Steakhouse, 1404 Turner McCall Blvd.

# Pizza Hut, 1808 Turner McCall Blvd.