Waukesha City committee unanimously approves Mayor's Restaurant liquor license, grants bartender license and multiple renewals

The Waukesha City Ordinance and Licensing Committee unanimously approved a Class B beer and Class B liquor license for Mayor's Restaurant and granted a bartender license to an applicant, during a brief meeting on April 14, 2025.

The approvals came during the committee's regularly scheduled meeting, which convened at 6:04 p.m. The committee voted unanimously to forward Mayor's Restaurant's license application to the full Common Council with a recommendation to approve; the council will consider the licenses the next day. The committee also unanimously approved a bartender license for Destiny Lars and a set of business renewal applications, and it conditionally approved a sidewalk café permit for Magellan's on Main Street pending public works engineering comments.

The approvals were procedural but included a substantive review of one bartender applicant's record. Destiny Lars told the committee she was involved in an alcohol-related traffic stop in May 2023 and acknowledged making “a really bad decision to drive home” while underage and impaired. “I was underage. I was impaired so I shouldn't have been driving,” Lars said. She described being stopped, completing field tests and being taken into custody for a short time, then released to her mother.

Maria Soto, identified at the meeting as Lars's employer and the applicant's agent from Los Accion (the restaurant where Lars works), urged the committee to approve the bartender license. “I'm feeling really confident with Destiny getting bartenders,” Soto said, citing several years of experience with the restaurant and internal promotions that the restaurant said demonstrate maturity and trustworthiness.

Committee members questioned Lars and her agent about the May 2023 incident and about whether the applicant had prior convictions. Lars said she paid some tickets and that an attorney handled court interactions; she described the record as not requiring her to appear for court dates. After discussion, a committee member moved to approve the bartender application; another member seconded the motion and the committee voted aye. The committee chair stated the motion passed unanimously; the chair said the bartender license would be available on Wednesday following council action.

On the Mayor's Restaurant application, the…