St. Roch closed through weekend after electrical fire

A Raleigh restaurant was forced to close for the weekend after being damaged by an overnight kitchen fire.

The owner of St. Roch Fine Oysters + Bar, at 333 S. Wilmington St., said it is suspected that an electrical problem in a cooler caused the smoky fire.

The fire started after the restaurant had closed for the night. There was nobody inside, and there were no injuries. An alarm service notified the local fire department of the fire.

Sunny Gerhart, owner of the restaurant, said the fire was a "unfortunate series of events" after the pandemic year.

The fire started at around 1:30 a.m. He said if the fire happened just an hour earlier, he would have been there.

St. Roch opened at full capacity only last week, and Gerhart said its been difficult to find staff.

He hopes the restaurant will only be closed for a few days.