UPPER EAST SIDE—It's not a good time to be a restaurant owner with an eatery full of vermin. A reader emails us with a gross account from Serafina, "i was in Serafina on mad and 79th the other day and towards the end of our meal a mouse or rat ran up and down a wall 5 ft away from us 5 times in about 10 mins. my friend and i hightailed it out of there as did the couple next to us, but most of the incredibly loud and large group that surrounded us at the many tables didn't seem to bother. we told the manager and she just said "well we're doing construction upstairs". we had been talking to the couple next to us about how obnoxious the service and the ladies who lunch crowd is (even worse that day) but that the pizza is actually good in a veritable wasteland of even decent places to eat. ah well." [EaterWire Inbox]
UPPER WESTSIDE—It seems as if the Irish pub that opened in the former Kitchen 82 space is going out of business. A tipster writes, "small sign in the window of tj o'brien's at 82/columbus that the restaurant is for sale...charlie palmer owns it...mr. aureole screws one up." [EaterWire Inbox]
FLATIRON—Warmer weather means longer hours at Shake Shack, which is serving until 8pm tonight. In other Shack news, this status report arrived today: " I am sitting on a bench at Madison Square park and have been since about 11:35pm the shake shack line is currently 157 people. It reaches from the shack to the statue. Just an FYI." [Cutlets, EaterWire Inbox]
