Bar Asha owner grapples with 'stressful' break-in a month after opening

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Northeast Portland restaurant owner is grappling with the aftermath of a break-in after four masked thieves smashed glass and swiped booze and cash.

Bar Asha in Portland only opened a month ago, making it that much more troubling for its owners to pick up the pieces.

"You can see they tried to come in one door, they couldn't make it in, they broke another door," Bar Asha Chef Deepak Saxena explained while walking KOIN 6 News through the damage that was left behind. "They smashed this door right here and then they came in."

Surveillance video captures at least four masked thieves smashing the glass front door, leaping over the counter and ransacked the place for hundreds of dollars in cash and alcohol.

Bar Asha is back open. But this is a devastating hit since the place is so new.

"It's pretty upsetting. It's upsetting, it's stressful, you know because you're just starting up, you've put all this money in and time in to make this baby happen and all of a sudden right as we're getting going it's like oh here's some really bad news," Saxena said.

Portland police said the break-in at Bar Asha, located off of Northeast 28th Avenue, was one of three that happened in the city, back-to-back, on the morning of Monday, Sept. 9. The first was at Gabbiano's at 4:30 a.m. off of Northeast 28th Avenue. Then Bar Asha was hit at 5:30 a.m. After that, Dick's Primal Burger off of Southeast Woodstock Boulevard was broken into about an hour later.

The Portland Police Bureau said there's no indication the crimes are connected. However, Saxena has doubts.

At Gabbiano's, the employees said security footage showed four burglars using a crowbar to break in through the now boarded-up back door, stealing alcohol and cash from a lock box.

"It seems, like, very similar, like, same group of people. Same, like, movements," Saxena said.

All of the restaurant owners are working to make repairs.

Saxena said the lost money is the least of his worries.

"The emotional cost for us as owners and for employees to come in and be like, 'Oh this business that we put all this energy and love into has been broken into and damaged," he said.

Luckily, the love of the job and the Portland community is helping to fuel Saxena's resilience as he's optimistic about better days ahead.

"I think food brings people together that's kind of why I do this, it builds community," he said.

So far, Portland police haven't made any arrests in these cases.

KOIN 6 looked at PPB's data and compared the first half of 2024 to the first half of 2023. Burglaries actually fell about 19% or roughly 600 fewer cases.