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Big Daddy’s Closes to Transform into a ‘More Sophisticated’ Mediterranean Spot

May 13, 2019 | 12:11 PM
in FOOD, NEWS
27

The tater tots are no more. Big Daddy’s restaurant just closed its doors after a decade at 2545 Broadway on the corner of 91st Street.

The restaurant, which was initially expected to close months ago, plans to reopen after a renovation as a Mediterranean spot. At a recent community board meeting, reps for Big Daddy’s said it will be “more sophisticated” and will serve lunch and dinner as well as have a bar.

The company sent us the following statement:

After 10 years in the UWS Neighborhood, we have closed our Doors. We will re-open as a new Mediterranean concept shortly where we look forward to serving our neighbors again.

Thank you for all the great times throughout the years! But it’s not goodbye, rather, we’ll see you in Gramercy! Our Original Gramercy Location at 239 Park Ave South will remain open, and we hope to see you there for more of your favorite food, drinks, staff and good times! We have also expanded our delivery zones and you can have Big Daddy’s delivered to the Upper East Side and Murray Hill by ordering directly from our website www.bigdaddysnyc.com.

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27 Comments
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Carlos
Carlos
6 years ago

Did this happen today (Monday)? I walked by yesterday and it was packed and I didn’t see any signs referencing this.

They will be missed. This seems like an incredibly bad business decision. The seemed to constantly be pretty crowded plus they do a decent delivery business. There are plenty of Mediterranean restaurants in the neighborhood already.

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J
J
6 years ago

They’d better work on the service. That place had literally the worst service of any restaurant I’ve ever been to in America.

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Rob G.
Rob G.
6 years ago

I’m all for more sophisticated restaurants in the neighborhood (Boooo Popeye’s! Boooo McDonalds!) but I will miss the fun family-oriented atmosphere at Big Daddy’s.

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Dana
Dana
6 years ago

Thank goodness! This restaurant is gross. Living in the space above, I can tell you this restaurant has mice and bugs, the service is a joke and the food is basic. I would NEVER recommend eating anything from this restaurant.
Good bye…..!!!!

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Brendan
Brendan
6 years ago

Visited once in 2016 for New Years Day ice cream sundae’s. All the ice cream was served to us already melted. Server couldnt have been more gracious, “sometimes it just happens”. Had a great experience, unfortunately never made it back.

Would have donated to kick starter to keep this neighborhood jem in business.

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UWSHebrew
UWSHebrew
6 years ago

dull food and an eyesore. about time.

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sam
sam
6 years ago

What a mistake. Not that Big Daddy’s was haute cuisine, and the service was generally lacking, but it was one of the very few “family-friendly” restaurants on the UWS. We loved being able to come as a family with kids and everyone really enjoying the experience. Like we really need another upscale Mediterranean spot on the area?? We need tots and shakes…

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Lord Of The Slice
Lord Of The Slice
6 years ago

10 yrs, I never ate there once.

I win.

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Paul
Paul
6 years ago
Reply to  Lord Of The Slice

You win?
More like “you Live!”

Health food it wasn’t.

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Leon
Leon
6 years ago
Reply to  Lord Of The Slice

Actually, you lose. Because a) though it had its plusses and minuses, some of their items were actually very good, such as their tots and their shakes, and b) I would bet against them succeeding as a Mediterranean restaurant, so we could end up with another empty storefront in a year or two.

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uwsdiner
uwsdiner
6 years ago

Good riddance. Last time I ate there a roach walked onto my table. Nasty place.

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Mark Moore
Mark Moore
6 years ago

Literally anything would be “more sophisticated” than Big Daddy’s.

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Shibboleth
Shibboleth
6 years ago

mother of god

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dannyboy
dannyboy
6 years ago
Reply to  Shibboleth

“A shibboleth is any custom or tradition, usually a choice of phrasing or even a single word, that distinguishes one group of people from another.” Wikipedia

Puts you comment in context.

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Jimmy
Jimmy
6 years ago

I’m sorry to see it go also.Good pancakes and a few other things but great for meeting with a group of people not too many places like that around anymore.We certainly don’t need another Mediterranean restaurant.
Another One Bites the Dust

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Stuart
Stuart
6 years ago

We will miss Big Daddy’s. My son chose it for the celebration of his graduation from elementary school, and everyone (including my 90 yr old mom) enjoyed it, and no one got sick. Any restaurant that offers a free entree and shake (with the purchase of an additional entree and shake) within a week on either side of your birthday is a treasure.

Granted, it is not haute cuisine, and it doesn’t pretend to be. It’s not for everyone, but if you have kids, or want to act like a kid, it will be a big loss for our neighborhood.

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Molly
Molly
6 years ago

Good riddance!

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Sean
Sean
6 years ago

The current restaurant looks like it belongs in Times Square. Another example of everything that is wrong with neighborhood restaurants on the UWS. And Lincoln Center area restaurants are not to be included in any discussion. The UWS begins on W72.

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Accura Si !
Accura Si !
6 years ago
Reply to  Sean

Re: “The UWS begins on W72.”

BRRRPPPPP!!! WRONGGGGGG!!!!

From Wikipedia (citing Columbia U’s Prof. Kenneth Jackson, foremost authority on NYC):

“The Upper West Side,… is a neighborhood … bounded by Central Park and the Hudson River, AND WEST 59TH Street and West 110th Street.

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Sean
Sean
6 years ago
Reply to  Accura Si !

Once upon a time this was true.

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UWSHebrew
UWSHebrew
6 years ago
Reply to  Sean

agreed on every point you made

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Zanarkand
Zanarkand
6 years ago

Hopefully they work on their service more than their food. The service was absolutely horrendous for any eating establishment. I would love to have kept taking my two young kids there after school but I wouldn’t know if we’d be there for two hours just to have a burger and shakes. The service was like this whether it was busy or not. It’s horrible to sit in a restaurant looking around at no one else at anyyl table and still waiting 15 min for a soda and 30 mins for a burger. Or even 10-15 mins for someone to even take an order.

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Larry k
Larry k
6 years ago

“More” sophisticated?? A clean Sabretts cart is more sophisticated!! And a different cuisine won’t get rid of roaches. Yuch.

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geoff
geoff
6 years ago

When someone writes that industrial “food is good” and refers to tater tots and milkshakes, I am reminded that outfits like YELP carry reviews of MacDonalds joints. Further, when such a place is referred to as a family restaurant, I get indigestion, gratis.

Here’s a quick read on The Guradian website (https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/apr/24/food.foodanddrink) that declares on average each person living in the United States drinks some form of soda, quantified into in a 34ml can for reference, 500 TIMES PER YEAR!!

I guess such undiscerning taste is what permits the acceptance of a multi ingredient industrial milkshake: : milkfat and nonfat milk, sugar, sweet whey, high-fructose corn syrup, guar gum, monoglycerides and diglycerides, cellulose gum, sodium phosphate, carrageenan, citric acid, E129 and artificial strawberry flavour which contains too many ingredients to list.

Industrial ice cream is totally unlike the real thing (which is always available in Fairway, by the way). As for tater tots, read this breakdown of what they are here (https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/fattening-tater-tots-9683.html).

How are our children to learn this stuff when their parents feed them such crap? I see it as bad parenting.

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David
David
6 years ago
Reply to  geoff

And to which restaurants do you take your children ?

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Phil Holtberg
Phil Holtberg
6 years ago

They should turn this spot into an Olive Garden!

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Andrew
Andrew
6 years ago

Adieu avec tristesse Mac&Cheese Mondays! Large bread crumb topped casserole portions marked down to $7 each first day of the week. And Milk Shake Happy Hour over afternoons, four bucks a pop.

0
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