Dave & Buster's Check-in With Braintree Officials Goes Awry

A scheduled review of Dave & Buster's operations went off track Tuesday night when town officials refused to engage with representatives from the restaurant and arcade.

Planning Board members told the company's lawyer and local management that they would hold off on a discussion slated to happen nine months after the establishment's opening because Dave & Buster's had not submitted a required written update of its operations prior to the board meeting.

"It is very unfair to us and to the town if we cannot look at the information beforehand," member Darryl Mikami said.

The company was required to submit documentation two weeks prior to a nine-month review, as built into its special permit conditions, Mikami said. Other board members, including chair Robert Harnais, said they agreed and ultimately voted to continue the discussion in November.

Dave & Buster's attorney Andrew Upton said that about two weeks ago he was told that the board would hear from the restaurant on Tuesday and that at that time he submitted an outline of a more complete narrative of operations.

General Manager Derek Robinson read from that outline prior to the board continuing the matter. He talked about the restaurant's extensive security operations, which include age restrictions, physically IDing all patrons and Braintree Police Department details.

The restaurant, which opened in Braintree at the South Shore Plaza in December 2011, employs 163 full-time employees, Robinson said. It also maintains the 20 percent Braintree resident employee makeup as promised, and will continue to do so as it hires for the winter season.

Dave & Buster's representatives also provided the board with a packet of information about the restaurant's involvement in the community. Still, Mikami said, "an outline is an outline."

"We have four pages of community involvement and nothing on operations," he said.