Mesita, a Garden City restaurant, in cleanup mode after electrical fire

Employees of a Garden City Mexican restaurant, Mesita, with an assist from staff of a nearby eatery, spent Sunday closed to the public and in cleanup mode after a Saturday electrical fire.

Meli, a Greek restaurant on Franklin Avenue that shares a wall with Mesita, also was closed Sunday because of the fire. No one could be seen inside, but a sign posted on the front door told customers the restaurant lacked power.

The Garden City Fire Department responded to an automatic fire alarm and a phone call about 1 p.m. Saturday from Mesita about smoke coming from a basement electrical outlet, the authorities said. The fire was small but the loss of electricity meant refrigerated food spoiled, Philip Montgomery, general manager of Mesita, told Newsday on Sunday as he and other staff members dumped out food that had gone bad.

The fire department cut power from Mesita and neighboring restaurant Meli. Both restaurants were using a generator Sunday as electricians worked to restore power.

"As soon as we can get everything restored back to normal, we’re trying to open as soon as possible," Montgomery said. "So it could be tomorrow, could be in a couple days. I don’t know yet."

He added, "There’s a few things we have to go through between getting the power back on. The health department has to come back in and make sure we’re all set to open."

The sign on the front door of Meli read: "Due to a transformer fire our power is out. We are working to get back up and running. We apologize for the inconvenience."

Other businesses on the block — two banks, two restaurants, a health club and an arts and crafts shop — were not affected by the fire.

Mikayla O’Connell, a bartender at Sparrow, a restaurant next to Mesita with the same owners, helped employees of the closed eatery transfer some perishable food to Sparrow's basement refrigerator. O’Connell said she and other employees brought firefighters water as they tended to the restaurant in Saturday's blazing heat.

"It was a lot," said O’Connell, 24, of Franklin Square. "You don’t know what’s going on. You don’t know if we have to evacuate."

She added, "We had a bridal shower going on. We don’t want to scare 50 guests in a restaurant celebrating their engagement. I mean, obviously it’s nerve-wracking."

Mike Wayda, Sparrow’s executive chef, said Sparrow helped serve Mesita’s customers Saturday.

"We were just picking up some of the leftover reservations they couldn’t accommodate and trying to help them out as best as we can," said Wayda, 38, of West Babylon.

A total of 12 fire departments and about 75 firefighters responded, the fire marshal’s office said. The fire was controlled within 55 minutes.

Montgomery said being closed over the weekend hurt business, but he is hoping to reopen soon.

"It’s always tough, and of course, it’s unlucky when this thing has happened on Saturday because that’s our best day of the week as far as business goes," he said. "It’s a big loss between the food and the lost business."