It Was Another Bleak Month of New York Restaurant Closings

Three years after New York’s first indoor dining shutdown, restaurants continue to close due to the lasting financial impacts of the pandemic. At least 4,500 food businesses have shuttered since March 2020. Since it’s difficult to track closings in real-time, experts say that number is likely much higher — and could take years to fully assess.

In this weekly column, Eater is documenting the city’s permanent restaurant and bar closures, a list that includes one of Brooklyn’s top Mexican restaurants, a decades-old bar in Manhattan, and a Greek restaurant with deep roots in Tribeca. If a restaurant or bar has closed in your neighborhood, let us know at tips@eater.com.

August 25

East Village: A modern Korean restaurant closed this week after eight years. K’ook, from chef Felicia Park, who worked at Hanjoo on St. Marks Place, has been stripped of its signage at the East Sixth Street storefront, and the restaurant is no longer listed on delivery apps, the website EV Grieve reports. Park opened at this address in 2015. 324 E. Sixth Street, between First and Second avenues

East Village: Raíz Modern Mexican, a restaurant that tried to bring the birria boom to vegans, has closed after a little over a year and a half. A “closed for renovations” sign appeared on the restaurant earlier this month, according to EV Grieve. Now the space is up for rent. Jesus Villafan, an alum of the Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy, and his partner Nick Johnson opened the business in January 2022. Senator Cory Booker was an early fan. 120 First Avenue, between Seventh Street and St. Marks Place

Midtown: Farida, a Central Asian restaurant praised for its charcoal-grilled meats, closed at the start of the month. The restaurant served a “greatest hits of Central Asian cuisine,” Eater’s critic wrote in a three-star review in 2019. He called it “your best chance to get charcoal-grilled meats that taste powerfully of smoke in the heart of Manhattan.” Farida Gabbassova-Ricciardelli, who ran the restaurant with her husband, chef Umitjon Kamolov, opened at this address in 2018. The restaurant has a second location in the Financial District that opened last year; it remains open. 498 Ninth Avenue, near West 38th Street

Midtown East: Sushi Ginza Onodera, a sushi counter known for a 20-course omakase priced at $450 per person, closed over the weekend. Yoko Yamaguchi, the restaurant’s general manager, attributed the closure to the city’s competitive high-end sushi scene. The restaurant was awarded two Michelin stars in 2016, the year it opened, and was downgraded to a one-star rating in 2020. The last day of service was August 19. 461 Fifth Avenue, between East 40th and 41st streets

Nomad: Danny Meyer’s restaurants at the Redbury Hotel closed on August 25. The hotel, a Manhattan landmark, began housing asylum seekers in partnership with New York City on August 4. A spokesperson for Union Square Hospitality Group announced a week later that the restaurants were shutting down. Maialino, a restaurant that once operated out of the Gramercy Park Hotel, reopened at the Redbury last fall. Marta, a pizzeria, opened in 2014 when the hotel was still the Martha Washington. 29 E. 29th Street, near Madison Avenue

Prospect Lefferts Gardens: Little Skips is down to one coffee shop. The Brooklyn coffee company shuttered its original location in Bushwick in 2019 due to a rent increase. The outpost on Nostrand Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens followed this month. “NYC is hard, owning a business is hard but when you add those two things together it is near impossible,” owner Linda Thach wrote on Instagram. The coffee shop opened at this address three years ago. Only the Bushwick location of Little Skips, at 1643 Broadway and Hudson Boulevard, remains. 1038 Nostrand Avenue, near Sterling Street

Rockaway: Whit’s End, the sometimes controversial restaurant that brazenly served gummies on its drink menu among other issues, has closed again, a visit to the restaurant on Thursday confirmed.

Williamsburg: Glizzy’s, a late-night hot dog counter that opened in December, is cooked. The grates have been down at the Metropolitan Avenue storefront in recent weeks and a for lease sign now hangs from the building. Johnny Huyghn, its owner, attributed the closure to low foot traffic. The restaurant’s second location in the East Village is listed as temporarily closed on Google. It opened in June. 390 Metropolitan Avenue, near Havemeyer Street

August 18

Chelsea: A restaurant is already out in Manhattan’s new food hall Olly Olly Market. Pizza Friendly Pizza, an import from Chicago that served Sicilian pizza (not deep dish), is now closed. The stall was one of 11 opening vendors when the food hall debuted last fall. In an early review of the shop, Eater’s critic called its slices “thick and bready” with not enough toppings to justify their price tag. The stall will be replaced by Kinn Thai, according to the food hall’s publicist. 601 W. 26th Street, near 11th Avenue

East Village: The Basque restaurant Huertas closed this week after almost a decade. Chef Jonah Miller announced the closure over social media last month: Its building on First Avenue was purchased by a new owner and the restaurant’s 10-year lease was coming to an end. “I’ve been negotiating with the new landlord, but we haven’t been able to come to a number that works for both sides,” Miller said at the time. In 2014, the restaurant received two stars from the New York Times critic Pete Wells. The last day was August 12. 107 First Avenue, between East Sixth and Seventh streets

Greenwich Village: ChickenHawk, a later arrival in the city’s Nashville hot chicken boom, closed earlier this year, according to its publicist. The counter-service spot opened on Sixth Avenue in December with chefs from different restaurants across the city offering takes on the fried chicken sandwich. The shop lasted four months: Sales never picked up and the business could not afford to keep operating, according to its publicist. 319 Sixth Avenue, at West Third Street

Williamsburg: Bar Beau, a restaurant hiding in the shadow of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, closed this week after five years on Withers Street. Owner Claire Chan, also behind the West Village cafe the Elk, tells Greenpointers that she’s opening a new business, a bar, in the space. The restaurant was known for its cocktails and small plates made with Japanese ingredients, like udon noodles with miso garlic butter and shishito peppers with Kewpie mayonnaise. It’s last day was August 12. 61 Withers Street, near Lorimer Street

August 11

Flatiron: The 40/40 Club, a small chain of clubs and bars owned by the American rapper Jay-Z, has closed its original location. The venue called it quits at the end of July and plans to reopen at a new address next year, according to Andrea Thomas, a spokesperson for the company. At its height, the club had locations in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. After the closure, only two remain: a bar at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta and a restaurant at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. 6 W. 25th Street, near Broadway

Greenpoint: Grand Republic Cocktail Club closed this week without notice: Its website and social media accounts were deleted, and Greenpointers now reports that Johnny Swet, its owner, has sold the space. Grand Republic opened at this address in 2017. The stretch of Greenpoint Avenue has changed a lot over the years, as newer restaurants and bars move in, like Panzón, Lingo, and El Pingüino. 19 Greenpoint Avenue, near West Street

Hell’s Kitchen: Serving sizeable cuts of meat cooked on the plancha, South American restaurants are home to some of the city’s most affordable steaks: One of them, K Rico American Steakhouse, recently closed after eight years. Owners Tommy Greco and Christian Tanno announced the news on the restaurant’s OpenTable page: “Due to the current environment we unfortunately have to close our doors.” 772 Ninth Avenue, between 51st and 52nd streets

Midtown East: Mifune, the Japanese French restaurant attached to Sushi Amane, a Michelin-starred sushi counter, from the same owners, has closed. The team replaced it with a new Japanese restaurant, called Wano, at the start of the month, says Ayana Mazon, its general manager. The opening menu lists a range of hand rolls and fried seafood dishes, including scallop tempura, soft shell crab, and a $130 omakase. When Mifune opened in the space in 2017, Eater called the fine dining restaurant “opulent” and “ultra-luxe”: its eight-course menu, priced at $120 per person, was filled with ingredients like caviar, foie gras, truffle, and wagyu beef. 245 E. 44th Street, between Second and Third avenues

Williamsburg: The party’s over at Ethyl’s in Brooklyn. The ’70s-themed dance bar, which opened on the Upper East Side in 2016, opened this second location in Brooklyn, where go-go dancers walked the length of the counter on weekends. The Instagram account connected to the Brooklyn location has since been deleted, and the space is now listed on RIPCO, a real estate broker in New York City. Owners Charlie Sub and Gerard Renny closed the bar for renovations last August. When it reopened, it had a new menu and a back room designed to host dance parties and live performances. The bar’s original location on the Upper East Side is still open. 312 Grand Street, near Havemeyer Street

Upper East Side: Bonjour Crepes, a small chain of crepe and wine shops in Manhattan, closed its Upper East Side location las. month after a decade. “We are humbled and grateful for the opportunity we had to serve you,” a letter posted to the front of the shop says. Owner Parvez Eliaas is opening another French restaurant, called Bonjour Mixeur, in the neighborhood soon, according to the website Upper East Site. It will serve crepes, croissants, and quiches. 1442 Lexington Avenue, at the corner of East 94th Street

Upper East Side: The Meatball Shop, a fast-casual restaurant chain that opened a decade ago, is down to a single location in New York City. The brand shut down its Upper East Side outpost this week without notice after a decade in the neighborhood, Upper East Site reports. At its height, the chain had restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn and sold its sauces in grocery stores. Its only remaining storefront is located at 798 Ninth Avenue, and West 53rd Street, in Hell’s Kitchen. 1462 Second Avenue, between East 76 and 77th streets

August 4

Bay Ridge: Coszcal de Allende, one of the city’s essential Mexican restaurants, is leaving its longtime home. The restaurant announced in January that it would be closing “soon” over issues with its landlord. The gates came down on July 30. Earlier this week, however, the restaurant’s owners said they planned to reopen in a nearby storefront, at 7506 Third Avenue, near 75th Street. 6824 Third Avenue, near Bay Ridge Avenue

East Village: A Manhattan bar, that’s been open for more than two decades, is moving to Brooklyn. Keybar closed at the end of July after its landlord tried to raise its rent, the website EV Grieve reports. Later this month, it’s reopening at a new storefront in Bushwick, at 143 Troutman Street, near Central Avenue, with more space. Its last day in the East Village was July 31. 432 E. 13th Street, between Avenue A and First Avenue

East Village: Local 92, an Italian restaurant with two locations in the city, has closed in the East Village after a decade. Earlier this week, EV Grieve reported that the restaurant had gone dark; a worker at its Mulberry Street location, in Nolita, confirmed on Friday that it will not be reopening. In 2021, three former employees at the restaurant accused its owner, Marcello Assante, of refusing to pay employees overtime and ignoring coronavirus health requirements that had been put in place by city and state officials at the time. Assante denied the accusations. 92 Second Avenue, between Fifth and Sixth streets

Tribeca: Marathi Greek Bistro, a restaurant that rebranded itself after its longtime owner died during the pandemic, has closed, according to Tribeca Citizen. Business partners Andreas “Andy” Koutsoudakis and Peter Panayioutou opened the restaurant under the name Tribeca’s Kitchen in 2014, after running the neighborhood’s Gee Whiz Diner together for years. The restaurateurs died within days of one another in March 2020 as a result of the pandemic, and Koutsoudakis’s son Andreas Koutsoudakis took over the business. He rebranded it as Marathi. Koutsoudakis announced the closure in a letter: “We want you to know that we fought tirelessly to keep the restaurant open, but it is simply no longer possible.” The last day was July 30. 200 Church Street, at Duane Street