Restaurants on Amsterdam Avenue have had a rough week to start 2014.
French Coast, a French Mediterranean restaurant on 83rd street and Amsterdam that replaced Cafe Deux Margots, closed within the last few days. It appears to have been open for about a year and a half, serving a savory menu of meat and fish. Thanks to Ira for the photo.
Gastropub Slightly Oliver on 85th and Amsterdam also closed in the past few days after being open since 2011. Slightly Oliver served lots of drinks and hearty menu with crispy duck tongue salad among other items. A sign on the door thanked patrons and said they were sad to close on New Year’s, usually “such a joyous occasion…We are grateful for the time we had an enjoyed every minute serving you.” Thanks to David and Shari for the tips.
Things also look bleak for Social House, the restaurant on Amsterdam between 81st and 82nd that replaced Amsterdam Diner just a few months ago. The restaurant is up for sale, according to this listing from Walker Malloy. The rent is $13,500 per month, which the broker says is below market for the area, and there are nine years left on the lease. Photo via Walker Malloy.
Slightly Oliver was essentially the standing room for Jacob’s Pickles anyway. Even still, the food was good up until a few months ago. After the menu change, it was only a matter of time.
Slightly Oliver had great drinks. I’ll miss the Tomato Basil.
I couldn’t agree more. We went there one afternoon when Jacob’s was an 1+ wait. Amazingly, despite lines around the corner for every other brunch spot as well, Oliver’s was empty.
My husband made an interesting point: The British aren’t exactly known for their fine cuisine. Oliver’s lacked the quality or kitschiness needed these days.
My husband made an interesting point: The British aren’t exactly known for their fine cuisine. Oliver’s lacked the quality or kitschiness needed these days
your husband has no idea of what he is talking about quite frankly its embarrassing to type that i mean REALLY ??????
if the only places that can survive here are fast food chains then i guess ur right ur daft
Ah, crap. Liked Slightly Oliver.
Question: are these and many other the mom and pop restaurants some commentators claim no longer exist on the UWS? and if so, where is the support for these businesses?
By mom and pop stores, I think they mean quaint little tchotchkes shoppes, as in “tchotchkes ‘r us”.
Good Enough To Eat is a “mom and pop” which had to move–albeit and thankfully only a couple blocks away–because of a landlord dispute.
I suppose you could call these places mom and pops, but I’ve never been drawn to them because they seem more “concept” than comfortable places to have meals in.
Seems the East side of Amsterdam between 85th and 83rd, especially, is a minefield for restaurant start-ups.
Most “mom and pop” restaurants that look like mom and pops are really owned by management companies.Unless they have been here for decades (and their days may be numbered) it’s illusion these days.
who do you think these “management companies” are? General Motors? Some dark night evil empire?
They are successful mom and pops that have grown to own a few to several restaurants. Of course, they are now corporations. – you want to be sued personally by a drunk customer? This is the world we live in. Stop looking back with rose colored glasses, it was not that great back then and it is not so bad now!
Live for today and the future.
Walker Malloy is one of the reasons why the smaller shops have been forced to shutter. They are so greedy.
lived here for 7years i’m from the UK rents are clearly too high noone can manage to make a living food good or bad you need to be a genius to make it work once the ones that are left get rent reviews then u realize the true value of what leases are worth freds hilife etc landlords have some silly ideal of what the stuff is economically worth look as ben bensons midtown guy raised it 100pct and its been empty for 2 years was an iconic steakhouse its all so sad once the regulators drive the banks out of the county it will destroy the city sad but wait and watch Wall Street ran this place sorry to say that
Do they no longer use periods to end sentences in the UK? We do, here. Planting a string of unpunctuated words, stream-of-consciousness style, and leaving it for the reader to decipher your meaning is counter-productive if you want readers to take your point. If you don’t, then why take up the space at all?
And just how many electrons are you conserving by abbreviating the word “your” with the cypher “ur”? I thought that was a place in the Chaldees, anyway.
If you want to make a point, please write English. Don’t make your readers twist and strain to figure out whatever it is you’re trying to convey.