Columbia restaurant barred from alcohol sales as ownership faces scrutiny
A downtown Columbia restaurant promised luxury dining, but for more than a year it’s patrons haven’t been able to order a cocktail or a glass of wine with their steaks and salmon as the South Carolina Department of Revenue has refused to grant the business a permit to sell alcohol.
The Department of Revenue says it can’t approve a license because of past alcohol violations and outstanding questions over the establishment’s ownership, which recently changed hands despite no money being exchanged.
Now, a judge will decide whether the state was right to deny the permit, or if the restaurant will finally be allowed to sell alcohol after first applying for the permits in October 2024.
Losing money, luxury dining without the drinks
Large paper flyers taped to the windows of suite “a” at 1614 Main Street advertise karaoke and game nights at Top Tier featuring the Genesis Room, a Columbia restaurant located on the busy 1600 block of Main Street. The restaurant is in a prime location and promises “luxury dining,” showcasing on its menu lemon-baked lamb chops, steak over asparagus, and salmon with roasted vegetables. On its social media pages, the restaurant boasts special events and posts videos of sizzling specials.
But the business is struggling. Diners at the restaurant can’t order a cocktail or a glass of wine with their meals. Patrons frequently walk in and then upon learning they can’t order drinks, walk right back out. The dynamic is borne out on social media, too.
“My friends tried to go last week. No liquor license so they left,” wrote one commenter on a recent Facebook post asking for reviews of the restaurant. Bakari Sellers, the restaurant’s high-profile attorney, said the business has lost “hundreds of thousands” of dollars from not being able to sell alcohol for more than a year.
Sellers said he views the case as an example of the Department of Revenue stifling a small business, and that he believes the department expected Top Tier to go out of business while it fights the denial of its license to sell alcohol.
Attorney Patrick McCabe for the South Carolina Department of Revenue said the state agency cannot approve a liquor license for the Main Street restaurant for multiple reasons. The restaurant’s former owner was cited for selling alcohol without a permit and the department is uncertain if that person is still involved with the business, McCabe said.
The restaurant’s initial owner was Norman Harvin, who in October 2024 applied for a permit to sell alcohol at Top Tier but whose application prompted a series of questions from the state agency, including whether he had filed taxes in 2022 and 2023. Later, Harvin’s name was removed from the business, its LLC, its bank account and other legally-binding documents, and replaced with another name: Claudette Outen, the mother of one of Harvin’s restaurant managers. Outen said in court that she doesn’t know Harvin and that she agreed to take over the business to help her daughter and her grandchildren.
McCabe said this has raised red flags for the Department of Revenue, including why Harvin would hand his business over for nothing in return, and why would Outen accept a business from a man she has said she does not know.
“A major red flag would be someone who just takes a business and can’t explain how they got that business … We have seen in the past where people will transfer a business to a third party as a way to avoid a revocation or still remain in control,” McCabe told The State in an interview after the Thursday hearing.
Sellers said Harvin has been completely severed from the restaurant, but the Department of Revenue remains skeptical.
“The facts are, he is no longer a part of the business,” Sellers said, adding that Harvin’s name has been removed from the business’ LLC, bank account and lease agreement, and that Harvin receives no money from the business.
“We’ve even been willing to sign a stipulation with the department that he can’t enter the premises,” Sellers said.
Past incident at the restaurant
Beyond questioning who truly owns Top Tier, the Department of Revenue is also questioning how well the restaurant’s new owner knows Outen, and how relevant is a past incident at the restaurant that led to Harvin being ticketed for illegally selling alcohol, and one of the restaurant managers being ticketed for selling alcohol to someone under 21 years old.
In order to sell alcohol in South Carolina, regulators must establish that a person is of “good moral character.” McCabe for the Department of Revenue has argued that Outen was dishonest in saying she doesn’t know Harvin and that warrants her character being questioned and therefore her ability to hold a liquor license in the state.
Also in question is a 2024 incident in which the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division raided Top Tier and cited Harvin and another for illegally selling alcohol.
Soon after Harvin initially applied for Top Tier’s liquor license in October 2024, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division conducted an undercover operation at the restaurant. McCabe said that operation was random and had nothing to do with Harvin’s permit application, but the incident has impacted the business’ subsequent attempts to secure that license.
In November 2024, SLED conducted an undercover operation at Top Tier, sending an 18-year-old with a fake ID into the business. A Top Tier employee served the undercover agent without asking to see her ID. Then, SLED agents realized the business also did not have a permit to sell alcohol.
One of the business’s managers was cited for selling alcohol to a person under 21 years old, and Harvin was cited for selling alcohol without a permit. SLED also seized dozens of bottles of liquor, wine and beer from the restaurant.
After the citations and the failed application, Harvin withdrew his liquor license request in September 2025. A month later, the business submitted a new application listing Outen as the sole owner.
Outen is the mother of Christina Sikes, one of the managers at Top Tier. Outen’s name replaced Harvin’s on a number of formal business documents, including on the business’s new application for a liquor license.
When it became clear that Harvin would be an obstacle to the business getting the needed permits to sell alcohol, he was removed from all of the business documents, Sellers said. In court Thursday, Outen said she paid nothing for the restaurant, which is now in her name.
Sellers and McCabe argued the case last week before South Carolina Administrative Law Court Judge Crystal Rookard. Neither could say how long it might be before Rookard issues her ruling, but Sellers said he’s hopeful his clients will be able to serve alcohol “within a year.”
Judge Rookard will now have to untangle the various aspects of the case to weigh the Department of Revenue’s objections against the restaurant’s claims. There is no timeline for when a decision might be issued, leaving Top Tier in limbo. Meanwhile, the restaurant continues to operate without a liquor license, limiting its menu offerings and ability to earn money from those sales.
