Amid a temporary closure and allegations that former employees went unpaid, the owner of Lexington’s Alodia’s Cucina Italiana is pushing back against what’s been said about his restaurant.

The restaurant, which also has a location in Irmo, has been closed since at least June 30. 

Former employee Zoe Spires posted to Facebook on June 27, “We are in deep trouble right now so if you happen to come in tomorrow, Thursday or anytime this week please pay with cash.”

Spires claimed she and other employees had not been paid in two weeks in a post that has now gotten more than 1,000 comments and 390 shares. 

As it continues to sit closed, the Lexington restaurant doesn’t have any employees, owner Adam Huneau confirmed.

Now, Huneau said he is looking to restore the perceived character of the eatery named after his great-grandmother. 

“I know people have made comments,” he said. “My wife and I had to stop taking paychecks from Alodia’s. This is our passion, our pride and my great-grandmother’s name. Never in a million years would we take from people, ever.”

“What I’m upset about is people painted a picture of me that I wasn’t supposed to be,” he added.

The owner further said he intends to take legal action to protect the restaurant’s name “due to the damages we have incurred and [Spires’] clear intent to destroy my businesses.”

Huneau — who started Alodia's restaurants in Irmo and Lexington in 2008 and 2018, respectively — shared a letter from former general manager Jessica Amick. The letter, which Amick confirmed to the Chronicle she wrote, states that Spires and other former employees did in fact receive payment on or before June 27.

With the letter, Amick includes a handwritten receipt detailing payments made to seven employees, including Spires, totaling more than $3,000. The ledger notes that she was reimbursed.

Amick writes that one check Spires attempted to deposit June 21 wasn’t accepted by her bank, at which point Spires brought the check back and was given cash from the restaurant by Amick.

The former general manager also writes that the remainder of checks people brought that were rejected by their banks were paid using her personal money, which the restaurant reimbursed.

Amick states she was never asked by Huneau to pay any employees from her own pocket.

“I did so out of compassion for my employees and with full confidence that I would be reimbursed,” she writes, adding that on June 22, she called Huneau about the checks not being accepted by the employees’ banks.

“He informed me he would do his best to fix the situation; however, he was all but bedridden due to vertigo he had been having for about a week,” Amick writes. “He was unable to drive and hardly capable of reading but would do all he could to fix the situation in his current state.”

Huneau said his health did impact the situation.

“For almost two weeks, I was sick in bed with vertigo caused by acute labyrinthitis, which caused issues with payroll,” he said.

The owner said he is “under attack” and has one restaurant that is without a staff and another staff at his Irmo location who feel fear, along with some of their family members, from the public scrutiny.

Adam Eskridge, another former employee of Alodia’s in Lexington, said in a Facebook comment about being blindsided by being out of work after a year and a half at the restaurant that he was called “a government bottom feeder for wanting to get paid.”

Addressing allegations that he called employees names, Huneau referred to being illegally recorded in a conversation with his general manager.

“I was complimenting the GM about her work ethic and how her generation was under attack with the attempt to turn them into government bottom feeders,” he said.

As to the people on social media keying on such accusations, he said, “These online people are evil. Why are they attacking me?”

When Huneau first spoke to the Chronicle about the closure, he broke down crying. He later said he had lost a restaurant, although he hopes the closure will be temporary.

“Jessica’s letter shows that everyone including Zoe was paid or reimbursed,” he said. 

“This is defamatory and libelous,” he added, referring to comments about the issue on social media.

According to Town of Lexington Communications Manager Laurin Barnes, Alodia’s business license expired April 30 and has not been renewed. 

There have also been three complaints made to the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, about the restaurant, according to Communications Director Lesia Kudelka.