Chophouse plagued by unpaid bills and paycheques

A downtown Hamilton restaurant on James St. North has been in business for just under two months and it’s already getting a lot of negative attention.

Complaints of unpaid bills and services continue to hamper 28 Lister Chophouse Grill.

Most recently the restaurant’s website was shut down for unpaid bills.

In a Hamilton Spectator article, restaurant owner Chris DesRoches says his website was shut down because it was allegedly hacked by a malicious former webmaster.

DesRoches and his restaurant have been embroiled in controversy well before the restaurant opened up.

The restaurant was first scheduled to open in August of last year, in December and then again in July.

The high-end eatery was granted a 10 year lease with the city of Hamilton in the spring of 2013.

Now employees from bus boys to chefs and even the restaurant’s public relations company say they are owed money.

The restaurant’s former public relations agent says she saw numerous red flags while working with DesRoches.

She said after having a number of cheques bounce and being owed almost $2,000 she decided to no longer represent the restaurant.

DesRoches did not respond to phone calls or emails sent by CHCH.

He used a blog post to get his message to the public.

The post says, “I encourage those that think that they have been hurt in any manner to launch a legitimate claim. By not doing so the claim is a lie, untrue, and nothing more than a figment of ones imagination.”

On Saturday the restaurant didn’t open at its usual time and employees said they weren’t sure if DesRoches would be coming in to work.