A fire inside a Somerville restaurant forced the evacuation of several nearby businesses.

The fire started around 2 p.m. Tuesday near Main Street and North Bridge Street. It is believed that the fire started inside the basement of the King Tut Egyptian restaurant.

The fire caused the area to fill up with smoke.

"All of a sudden we smelled a lot of smoke coming from the other side of town and hitting us heavy, like burning, and at that point, we saw that it was getting more and more,” said Lorenzo DeLuca, of Café Picasso. “So, we start walking towards that way. As soon as we approach the area where the fire is, we saw a lot of people scattered and getting nervous and jumping from one side to the other.”

A portion of Main Street was closed for a time while crews worked on putting out the fire. It was not clear how the fire started, or if anyone was hurt.