A fish restaurant looks like it swam away, as a new jewelry store opens on the Upper West Side.
The Flying Fisherman, on Columbus between 72nd and 73rd Streets, appears to have closed. The signs are down, there’s paper on the windows, we can’t get an answer on the phones, and their publicist has not responded to us. The fish restaurant had a short tenure in the spot, which had previously held A.G. Kitchen. Flying Fisherman opened in September 2018 and its sister take-out spot opened in November. “Another one that got away…” wrote Brian. Thanks to Stefani, Brian, Margalit, Matt, Jordan, Daniel and Laura for the tips.
Diamond Rush Jewelry has opened at 200 West 96th Street, the former home of a MetroPCS store. Thanks to Naomi for the tip.
Send us tips about openings and closings at westsiderag at gmail dot com.
I walked by Flying Fisherman on Saturday 5/18 and it was open and I was saying how I had to go try it. I guess not!
Sad to hear about Flying Fisherman, but looking forward to their next offering. They seem to keep bringing good ideas in there.
Too bad.
We ate there three times.
Food was ok but the setup and service were somewhat awkward. Thought they would improve.
Wish the owners luck.
AG had a good run, too bad they left. Columbus Tavern, too. Fisherman was too expensive for too uninspiring, too much of a step back from what had been. Now it’ll undoubtedly stay empty for a while and ultimately be another overpriced reason to head north or south for meals. Next!
The “Good Enough To Eat” folks are opening another restaurant there within the next couple weeks with a “California vibe and lots of clean food”, whatever that means.
I’m betting on tacos. That’s the uws newest trend
That restaurant location is the kiss of death. Make it a Wendy’s.
Whatever they put in that spot always seems to have mediocre food. AG kitchen and the two places before that. I know one or two were just name and decor changes
You seem to be in the minority there. The food has always been solid. Service? Not so much….
As a pescatarian, too bad about the fish place. I liked the food. But I never got over them painting that gorgeous bar white. Let’s hope the next tenant strips it back to the wood.
Please just bring back City Grill and be done with it!
Yes!
Loved City Grill!
How can anyone be surprised that the Flying Fisherman did not do well!?!?
In order to make a it work in the restaurant industry in a high cost environment like NYC, not only do you need to charge a lot, but you also need to have a restaurant that does a lot of business.
A fish restaurant will not do any breakfast business. It will not do any lunch business, with the exception of Saturday and maybe one other day. And, given its location, price point and food offering, it likely was not doing much business for dinner Mon-Wed and Sundays.
It is hard to make it when you your business is built on 1-2 lunches and 3 dinners.
The restaurants opening on the UWS recently have just been destined to fail. Somehow or other we still don’t have decent diners. They mostly have terrible food, are dirty and gross or are tourist traps like Viand. The one diner type place that recently opened on 72nd street, is doing great. Always fairly full.
Good point! They did recently start offering weekday brunch at Flying Fisherman. Maybe they were trying to pull in a breakfast crowd? Might have been too little too late, though.
You’re assuming they didn’t do well. There are many reasons why they might have changed themes. AG Kitchen did well, and they switched that to FF.
Not sure I understand your comment.
Flying Fisherman was not doing well – so it closed. Makes sense. The concept of selling expensive, highly perishable food and having 4 or 5 meals out of 21 meals a week do well simply did not make for good business.
Very upsetting, I loved their fish.
Restaurant owners must think Upper Westsiders have no taste in food. And apparently they’re right! They’re able to get away with high prices and lousy food until some smart people get wise and after one or two tries, move on to better food in other neighborhoods. It can’t only be because of the high rents! We are unhappy that in order to get decent food at a fair price we must go north, east or south! Sad.
Has little to do with rents, and a lot to do with the new minimum wage for servers. THAT is the major hurdle.
City Grill, AG Kitchen, Columbus Tavern, Flying Fisherman all seemed like they were from the same owner and every couple of years they’d do a new concept and do a Gordon Ramsey type slap dash renovation of new Paint, new Signs and cheap decor.
The food at AG was good but the food at FF was truly some of the worst seafood I ever had. Awful crab cakes etc. I wanted to like it and gave it a few chances but the food just wasn’t good. The rent at that location has to be 35k+ a month so hard to make it with all the other expenses a restaurant has.
I liked FF’s oyster happy hour. I ate there just last weekend. BTW, my credit card charge was to “AG Kitchen,” so FF was really just a new theme rather than a truly new restaurant. For great seafood at about the same price, the Mermaid Inn is my go-to for $1.25 happy hour oysters.
The woman at Flying Fisherman said the restaurant is undergoing reservations and will open next week!
The main door of the (restaurant f/k/a) Flying Fisherman was open this afternoon and I saw some folks in there moving things around. I asked, and one of the guys said that it’s closed for about 10-14 days, but will be reopening as something else.
Flying Fisherman is going through a quick re-make under same ownership. Will re-emerge as an ” ‘American Harvest’ . . . farm to table” style return as early as this (Memorial) weekend per street conversation with that proprietor while he was overseeing addition of exterior plantings at patio roofline.
Good luck on your new incarnation!
I walked by the place at around today and was shocked to see the paper-covered windows. The door was open, and a worker told me it was closing. Then, I could tell two guys talking on the curb were connected to the eatery. so I horned in. One told me the problem was city taxes, the higher minimum wage and the countless delivery services that have come on the scene (think Fresh Direct, Blue Apron). He said it would reopen soon as American Harvest, and we can only hope this is the one incarnation that can make a go of it in that cursed space.
It was fabulous, back when it was an O’Neals…..oops, I’m dating myself!
Having O’Neals back would be great. It was there for a long time and a great Cheers like bar. We need them back on the UWS.
Mr. O’Neal passed away last year, so not sure who would “bring back” PJ O’Neal
https://www.westsiderag.com/2018/11/14/micheal-oneal-restaurateur-who-fed-upper-west-siders-for-decades-has-died
The Boilery on Amsterdam is next. I rarely see anyone in there, can’t see it making it for long. As someone said above, life is tough as a fish restaurant.
Flying fFisherman will be reopening, with a different name and not as a fish restaurant, but more in the eclectic menu style of its predecessor, A.G. kitchens.
I was told it would be open for brunch this Memorial Day Weekend but that remains yet to be seen.
Jeremy Wladis is no pisher when it comes to the NYC restaurant scene. Besides Flying Fisherman he has (or had)others including Good Enough To Eat, Zen Taco and Harlem Taco and Bowl Company.
My guess is the Flying Fisherman concept wasn’t working, but still having the lease Mr. Waldis is trying something else in that space. Less of a hard closing but more like a reshuffle.