Charles Paz arrived at his Downtown Manteca restaurant on Wednesday morning expecting to prepare for the deluge of regular weekend customers seeking Besiotos’ unique twists on classic comfort foods.
But instead he ended up cleaning up the extensive damage that somebody did to the beloved restaurant he manages with Guivia Uchida the previous night – a combination of theft and vandalism that left them with a nearly $10,000 loss just a week before Christmas.
Broken wine bottles, a destroyed cash register, and things strewn all about the inside and outside areas of Besitos Fine Cuisine is what greeted Paz and Uchida as they did what they always do – come in to serve their fellow residents and bring a smile to people’s faces with delicious food.
While the restaurant does have surveillance cameras, the person responsible stayed out of sight of them and used the restaurant’s outdoor minifridge to stand on and propel the items to the other side of the wall where he had a shopping cart waiting.
“It’s not fair and it’s not right to work so hard at creating something for this town and the people, only to have some lowlife with a shopping cart come and take it away,” Paz said in a Facebook post announcing the vandalism and theft. “It’s bad enough we are into our slow season and now we need to repair and replace things.
“It’s disappointing to say the least.”
As a result, the restaurant will not be open today (Friday) because of the extensive damage and destruction that will need to be cleared before they can welcome customers back.
The restaurant will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon.
According to Paz, the store lost cash, cameras, cell phones, tools, a large speaker, and other items were all stolen in the break-in, and both the inside of the restaurant and the outdoor patio area were strewn with garbage and items displaced from ransacking.
A lot of the items will likely be able to be replaced through insurance, Paz said, but the immediate hit to their pocketbook will be felt at the worst possible time – just a week before Christmas during a time of the year that restaurants already traditionally slow down.
Besitos Fine Cuisine, located at 216 W. Yosemite Ave., will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. For additional information, or to place a phone order, contact the restaurant at 209.707.5801.
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
