Why Is Prince George’s County Punishing a Successful Restaurant?
La Caj has become one of the rare success stories in Prince George’s County dining — a small, independent restaurant that people actually love. Great food, live music, a real atmosphere. The kind of place residents always say the county doesn’t have enough of.
And now that it’s successful, the landlord is trying to force them out. The excuse? The restaurant is too popular. People gather outside, the music draws a crowd, and suddenly that’s being treated as a lease violation.
Instead of stepping in to protect a thriving small business, the county appears to be siding with the landlord. DPIE, code enforcement, and other agencies are suddenly paying attention — not to help the business, but to pressure it.
This is the same county government that constantly talks about wanting “destination dining,” “vibrant nightlife,” and “economic development.” Yet when a restaurant finally delivers exactly that, the county’s response is to let a landlord squeeze them for more rent and push them out.
Residents say they want nice places. Entrepreneurs build one. Customers support it. And the county’s reaction is… to help shut it down?
It raises a simple question: Why is Prince George’s County punishing a small business for succeeding? And who benefits if La Caj is forced out?
People complain that PG County never gets the restaurants Montgomery County or DC gets. But maybe the problem isn’t the customers — maybe it’s the politics.
The next time you hear the so-called chubby-wubby contingent on County Council and County government talking about that we need to get good restaurants. Ask yourself why don’t they protect the restaurants we do get?
It would be nice to get some credit for my photo LOL
It would have been so helpful if you had explained where this restaurant is, how long it's been around, what kind of people go to this restaurant, what incidents prompted the landlord to take action, who the landlord is, what county officials said -- or link to some news report that could provide this information. I'm probably not the only one of your readers not to know these things.