At one point last year, neighbors were trying to get Bissap Baobab’s alcohol license revoked because of music playing past 10 pm. But the Senegalese restaurant won that fight, and now can stay open until 4 am on Friday and Saturday nights.

As recently as March 2023, NIMBY neighbors were trying to get the alcohol license revoked from the newly reopened Bissap Baobab over their concerns that the venue’s music was too loud. Those neighbors’ efforts were unsuccessful; as the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) not only upheld the beer and wine license for the Senegalese restaurant and dance club, but granted them a liquor license too a few months later.    

Bissap Baobab had even bigger aspirations. Mission Local reports that the restaurant and club got a permit to stay open until 4 am on the weekends at Tuesday night’s SF Entertainment Commission meeting. Technically speaking, the permit allows the place to operate until 4 am on Saturday and Sunday mornings, as well as the early mornings of certain federal holidays.

And stunningly, there were no complaints voiced by neighbors about this arrangement. Entertainment Commission staff said Tuesday that the club had “distributed a letter to the surrounding neighbors,” and “there was no opposition” toward the later hours.

A Bissap Baobab representative who only identified himself as “Kevin” phoned in to tell the commission that “We’ve really been able to work with the neighbors to have a productive and healthy working relationship” that in his words, has, “not resulted in any sound complaints.”

(Note: Is this Kevin Ortiz, who’s currently mired in sexual assault allegations? Kevin Ortiz has been a longtime consultant to Bissap Baobab, though is currently on leave from his position as the co-president of the Latinx Democratic Club over the allegations. The Kevin on Tuesday’s Entertainment Commission call said he phoned in because “I’ve had a little bit of a family issue come up.”)

By state law, Bissap Baobab can’t serve alcohol after 2 am, as no bar in California can. But the club can still serve food and have music until 4am.

“I’m trying to give as much license as possible to my space because during this economy it’s very hard,” Bissap Baobab owner Marco Senghor told Mission Local. “The Mission is already going through very strong difficulties right now, so I feel like why not stay open longer and try to get some of the late night business.”

But this is a risky move for Senghor and Bissap Baobab. It’s no secret that people are tending to go home early and don’t stay out late anymore as we come out of the pandemic. Senghor’s move seems to run counter to that trend.

But at the same time, there’s certainly a lack of late-night dining options in San Francisco, so maybe the African cuisine at Bissap Baobab will do thriving late-night business, merely for lack of non-burrito options at that hour in the Mission District neighborhood.

Related: The New, Big Bissap Boabab Has Big Problems With Condo Neighbors’ Noise Complaints [SFist]

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist