A downtown Columbia restaurant promised upscale dining, but for more than a year its patrons couldn’t order a cocktail or a glass of wine with their steaks and salmon because the South Carolina Department of Revenue refused to grant the business a license to sell alcohol.
The Department of Revenue says it cannot approve a license because of past liquor violations and outstanding questions about ownership of the establishment, which recently changed hands despite no money changing hands.
Now, a judge will decide whether the state was right to deny the permit or whether the restaurant will finally be allowed to sell alcohol after first applying for permits in October 2024.
Waste of money, fancy meals without drinks
Large paper fliers taped to the windows of the “a” apartment 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 ‘fine dining’ with lemon-roasted lamb chops, steak over asparagus and salmon with roasted vegetables on the menu. On its social media pages, the restaurant boasts special events and posts videos of special offers.
But the business is struggling. Diners at the restaurant cannot order a cocktail or a glass of wine with their meal. Patrons frequently walk in and then, after finding out they can’t order drinks, walk right back out. The dynamic is also confirmed on social networks.
“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 top lawyer, said the business had lost “hundreds of thousands” of dollars due to the inability to sell alcohol for more than a year.
Sellers said he sees 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 fighting the denial of its license to sell alcohol.
Attorney Patrick McCabe of the South Carolina Department of Revenue said the state agency cannot approve a liquor license for the Main Street restaurant for several reasons. The former owner of the restaurant was cited for selling alcohol without a license, and the department is not sure if that person is still involved in the business, McCabe said.
The restaurant’s original owner was Norman Harvin, who in October 2024 applied for a permit to sell alcohol at Top Tier, but whose application raised a number of questions from the state agency, including whether he filed taxes in 2022 and 2023. Harvin’s name was subsequently removed from the business, his LLC, his bank account and other documents, legally replaced by Outending’s mother with another name, his Claudette-binding. Harvin’s Restaurant Managers. Outen said in court that he did not know Harvin and that he agreed to take over the business to help his daughter and grandchildren.
McCabe said this raised red flags for the Department of Revenue, including why Harvin would hand over his business for nothing in return and why Outen would accept business from a man he said he did not know.
“A major red flag would be someone who just takes a business and can’t explain how they got that business … We’ve seen in the past where people will transfer a business to a third party as a way to avoid a revocation or stay in control,” McCabe told The State in an interview after Thursday’s hearing.
Sellers said Harvin was completely separated from the restaurant, but the Department of Revenue remains skeptical.
“The facts are that he is no longer part of the business,” Sellers said, adding that Harvin’s name has been removed from the company’s LLC, bank account and lease, and that Harvin receives no money from the business.
“We were even willing to sign a stipulation with the department that he can’t go on the premises,” Sellers said.
Past incident at the restaurant
Beyond questioning who really owns Top Tier, the Department of Revenue is also questioning how well the restaurant’s new owner knows Outen and how relevant a past incident at the restaurant is that led to Harvin being penalized for illegally selling alcohol and one of the restaurant’s managers being penalized for selling alcohol to a person under 21.
To sell alcohol in South Carolina, regulators must establish that a person is of “good moral character.” McCabe for the Department of Revenue argued that Outen was being dishonest when she said she didn’t know Harvin, and that warrants questioning her character and therefore her ability to hold a state liquor license.
Also at issue is a 2024 incident in which the South Carolina Division of Law Enforcement raided the Top Tier and cited Harvin and another for illegally selling alcohol.
Shortly after Harvin initially applied for the Top Tier liquor license in October 2024, the South Carolina Division of Law Enforcement conducted an undercover operation at the restaurant. McCabe said the operation was random and had nothing to do with Harvin’s permit application, but the incident affected the company’s subsequent attempts to obtain that license.
In November 2024, SLED conducted an undercover operation at Top Tier, sending an 18-year-old into the business with a fake ID. A Top Tier employee served the undercover agent without asking to see his ID. SLED agents then realized the business had no license to sell alcohol.
One of the business managers was cited for selling alcohol to a person under 21 and Harvin was cited for selling alcohol without a license. SLED also seized dozens of bottles of liquor, wine and beer from the restaurant.
After the citations and failed application, Harvin withdrew its liquor license application in September 2025. A month later, the business filed 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 official business documents, including the company’s new application for a liquor license.
When it became clear that Harvin would be an obstacle to the business getting the necessary permits to sell alcohol, he was removed from all business records, 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 Court Judge Crystal Rookard. Neither could say how long it would take for Rookard to issue her ruling, but Sellers said he hopes his customers 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 to the restaurant’s claims. There is no time frame for when a decision could be issued, leaving Top Tier in limbo. Meanwhile, the restaurant continues to operate without a liquor license, limiting its menu offerings and ability to make money from those sales.