AceShowbiz - Disgraced celebrity chef Mario Batali has been hit with criminal charges for allegedly groping a woman at a Boston, Massachusetts restaurant in 2017.

The restaurateur's career and reputation was left in tatters in late 2017 after he was hit with a string of sexual misconduct claims from a number of women.

He subsequently confessed to "making mistakes" in a letter to fans addressing the accusations, and now Batali is facing prosecution for indecent assault and battery relating to one incident in which he is claimed to have inappropriately touched and kissed a woman.

Batali is expected to be arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on Friday, May 24, according to TheWrap.

His representative has yet to comment on the counts.

The news emerges more than four months after New York prosecutors dropped criminal investigations into two sexual assault allegations involving Batali due to a lack of evidence.