Technical problems with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's online special liquor order system are causing delays for restaurants and bars trying to place their weekly orders of wine and spirits.

The system had a noticeable slowdown beginning last week, and has sometimes stopped completely.

One wholesaler sent out an urgent e-mail to clients yesterday saying wine and spirits vendors have been unable to obtain purchase orders so they could ship out their products.

"If you have placed an order from Jun [sic] 3rd or 4th it will not be able to get to your stores this week," the e-mail said.

"That's going to mess things up big time," said Michael Passalacqua, owner of Angelo's restaurant in Washington, Pa.

PLCB spokesman Nick Hays said PLCB and state information technology staffs are working together "to determine the cause of the problem and to restore full service as soon as possible."

In the meantime, he said, vendors can place orders by phone or at their local Wine & Spirits store. He said the stores were able to process 80 percent of the special liquor orders that came in yesterday and will complete the remaining orders today.