By Gus Saltonstall
A pizzeria that served customers on the Upper West Side for more than 35 years appears to have permanently closed.
For the past two days, the gate has been down at Cheesy Pizza at 2640 Broadway, off the corner of West 100th Street.
“Bad news for pizza lovers on the UWS: Cheesy Pizza on the NE corner of 100 St. and Broadway is no more,” local resident Gerry Khermouch wrote to West Side Rag in an email on Monday night. “It was shuttered during the day and when I swung by just now the gate was halfway down and it was clear the staff was clearing the place out. The owner popped out and told me the rent was going to nearly double from $20,000 per month so he’s done after 35 years. He seemed to be choking back tears as he told me this, and he has no plans to reopen somewhere else.”
The phone number has not worked for Cheesy Pizza since Monday, and the online ordering option is disabled.
Elliot Evans and Karen Rubinson also reached out to the Rag on Monday about the pizza spot being closed during its usual hours, writing — “I walked by there this afternoon about 3 p.m. and the gate was partly down and it was dark inside. No sign or anything.
Cheesy Pizza first opened on the Upper West Side corner in 1991.
“When he was 29, Mario moved to the US and traded free labor to work in a pizzeria, learn the trade and follow his true passion of making pizza,” reads the “Our Story” section on Cheesy Pizza’s website. “Within 5 years time, he had his own pizzeria, Cheesy Pizza, which he operated with just himself and his wife working 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Now, Mario works with his brother and a much larger team of people who share the same love and passion for making pizzas as he does.”
West Side Rag also checked the Health Department’s website to confirm the closure had nothing to do with an inspection, which it does not, as the establishment’s most recent inspection in May yielded an A rating.
The metal gate was completely down when the Rag visited the pizza shop on Monday morning, and then again that afternoon.
“As an occasional but longtime patron, I must say it was excellent pizza at good value, perfectly suited to our neighborhood mixing affluent and less affluent patrons,” Khermouch added in his email. “A very sad development.”
The Rag will continue to work to confirm the closure with the pizzeria.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
Cheesy Pizza was a neighborhood staple—especially for late night eats. Everything was great. The sign of the times..how can small business restaurants survive when the rents kill us? We don’t want or need another Wonder.
Rents are going to go up for retail in old residential buildings as landlord costs are going up but residential rents are frozen – owners need to make money somehow. Mamdani and his awful promises and the ignorant voters who don’t understand basic economics are to blame for this. Admittedly, this rent increase seems pretty extreme, but I feel their pain.
In Econ 101 you learn that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Renters want something for free (no increases). Well, now they can’t buy lunch. Hope you’re happy.
I’m not at all convinced that you “understand basic economics” but I’m sure glad you got to throw in a dig at Mayor Mamdani! Did that feel good?
That would be true were it not for the fact that several NEW pizza parlors have opened on the UWS since the pandemic. So it may just be that new pizza parlors are causing older ones to close, both as a result of rising rents, but also as a “natural” matter of competition.
And those new places are more expensive than the ones that closed
Playing as the typical WSR devotee: I am terribly distraught over this news. They made the absolute best pizza on the UWS. And Nando at the counter was the best human being on this planet.
Playing? No body named Henson other than Jim.
Rent doubling is absolutely insane. And how long will that space sit empty now while the landlord gets tax benefits for forcing out a long-time tenant with untenable rent increases?
There is absolutely no tax benefit. If the landlord has a mortgage then any new tenant has to pay approved by the lender! We should be working with banks to get spaces rented. There has to be at least one other person who is a small business that has had to prove provide their financials to a bank.
There are no “tax benefits” for a landlord for having empty space. Please stop posting nonsense.
There is no tax benefit. The only “benefit” is that you don’t have to pay taxes because there’s no income from that space.
A someone who has researched this issue pretty thoroughly, the “tax breaks” that commercial landlords get aren’t even CLOSE to what they would get by renting the space – even at the rent monthly rent they were getting to begin with. So, no, it is NOT about tax breaks – even if it is at least partly about greed.
And the Council STILL refuses to enact commercial rent regulations – after more than 30-40 years of attempts by various Council members to do so.
Please list which “tax benefits” your supposed research shows that landlords receive for empty space.
And no, we don’t need a bunch of bureaucrats determining what a fair commercial rent should be. Rent regulation has been a disaster for the residential market. We don’t need to apply this dysfunctional model to businesses.
There are plenty of other businesses – including pizzerias – that survive and thrive on the UWS. I’m sorry Cheesy Pizza is gone but we don’t need commercial rent regulation to prop up weak businesses.
A business paying $20k a month in rent is not a weak business. Basic math would show that to cover ONLY the rent, they would need about $40k in gross sales.
Now factor in utilities, staff payroll, etc etc.
As a business owner and also a former retail business owner, something needs to be done about the rent. It is pure greed and destroys the fabric of a local community. We don’t need another Chase, Starbucks or Wonder!
We don’t even have real numbers here. And is it “greed” if there’s someone else willing to pay more rent? If the city has raised property taxes on the building above inflation for the last 15 years (which it surely has)?
It is the second pizzeria that abruptly closed recently on the UWS. That said, I rarely have pizza in Manhattan anymore bc it’s just not good. I got fat on Upside Pizza, which delivered to me during Covid. It was unusual pizza–the superior Sicilian–expensive, but fun.
Where…? Just a good, cheesy slice without that sweet tomato sauce taste and the rubbery petrolium plastic cheese product.
Rubbery petrolium plastic cheese? You’ve been going to the wrong places Phoebe.
“I rarely have pizza in Manhattan anymore bc it’s just not good:? I mean, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but that’s a bizarre statement.
It’s slightly bizarre to comment that there’s no good pizza on the upper west side when an upper west side pizzeria was recently named the best pizza in the world (personally, I think it’s good, but I also think there are several other excellent upper west side pizzerias that are as good).
I’ll try that one from the list.
I think it’s also slightly bizarre that whenever a place closes, people say it was the best.
That said, I’m sad for them. If they mean it. Not that convenience isn’t a thing. Just saying…
Will second the earlier Comments mention about their late night hours being a strong suit! Will be missed!
Darn shame! The pizza was very good especially when the slice was from a pie just out of the oven and the place was clean. The landlord would have been better off working out a deal with the existing tenant instead of rolling the dice with a search for a new tenant. After all, Cheesy did pay rent through the Covid Pandemic. I wish the owners the best of luck in their next venture.
Francesco’s and now Cheesy. Two pizza parlor closings in a single week. But then, there have also been new pizza parlors opening on the UWS since the pandemic. And many are quite good. So yes, we lose some, but we also gain some.
I suspect something got lost in translation with the cost of rent. The average commercial rent in the neighborhood is roughly $150 per square foot annually. $20,000/month would already be well above average; double that would put that corner at Times Square prices!
Agreed. Then again, if we take the remark at face value he hasn’t had a rent increase in decades, which is atypical or indicative of a very generoua long term lease signed decades ago.
So I must repeat the caution I have every time a business closes and claims some massive rent increase: this usually isn’t the whole story or even an accurate take on what’s happening.
I agree. I have a feeling he meant the rent doubled from the earlier time he rented.
The worst part is it will now sit empty on that corner and every empty storefront brings more and more problems. Really hope the Upper Broadway Business Improvement District comes about soon and lucky that Shaun Abreu fully supports it so from 93rd to 110th, things will be looking up, God willing.
Sad that they are closing down, but their pizza was NOT good.
Couldn’t agree more
Thanks for your honesty. I once made a comment on Yelp about a pizza store on the Upper East Side. (I’m too loyal to call out in shame an UWS pizza store). The owner wrote back bc I hurt his feelings (made him angry.) Maybe he should have appreciated my honest review. But whatever.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked past them on my way to Sal and Carmine’s.
Without doubt.
This was someone’s family business, and wasn’t hurting anyone. Was there any need for this comment?
No business is beyond criticism. If that bothers you then you’re on the wrong website.
It was funny. Mean, but funny.
Sage comment.
This is so heartbreaking. Love Cheesy Pizza 🙁
I used to love this place so much. The staff was always so sweet. Thanks for all the amazing food and memories!!
Damn I use to get pizza there now the only other best pizza in that area is Sal and Carmines pizza they make amazing pizza there.
I was a kid in 1991 and we had just moved to the UWS. They had such freaking good pizza!!
I used to grab slices from there back in the early ’90s when I played for the Brooklyn Lyric Opera (we rehearsed and performed at Ansche Chesed a half-a-block away). It wasn’t very good pizza but it was cheap and quick and the slices satisfied the old gut-worm at breaks and in between acts. Sorry to see them closing after such a good, long run.
Infuriating that this space will sit empty because a landlord got greedy
nooooooo!! : ( that’s our family’s favorite pizza place, it and the staff will really be missed. I freakin hate these landlords
This is why commercial rent control is necessary.
He’s a lovely man. & the pizza was good. One of the few shops with many seating options, & as has been said, diverse clientele, like the IWS used to have much more of.
What does diversity of clientele have to do with anything? What am I missing?
I know that the city is ever changing, but when do we say enough is enough with these insane rents? People spend their lives building a business to have to close because a landlord has determined the space is worth twice the current rent.
$20k a month is wild enough for a spot that not that long ago was probably around $9k a month.
Hopefully another pizza or pasta place will move in there.
The UWS on Broadway, north of W72nd, is turning into the valley of the empty storefronts.
It’s so barren up in the 80’s and bway. For years, the space on 86&bway/WEA where the supermarket was is vacant. On the same corner- empty for years. I recall when this area was thriving with wonderful cozy places and many great clothing and unique shops. William’s chickens!Bakeries,Edgar’s. Just so dead now. It is sad.
I had a memorable experience at Cheesy Pizza some summers ago, when a couple of friends who lived nearby took me and my family there for lunch. As I was eating a slice, I ineptly spilled cheese and oil down a wide swath of my nice, clean white linen shirt. The sweet ladies behind the counter insisted I take it off right then and there and they would put things to right. With my daughter assisting, they took in the back room and scrubbed it clean in the sink back there and returned it. I put it back on wet but it soon dried out in the warm summer air and I was able to continue my tour of upper Broadway in a freshly washed shirt. Thanks for all those years of tasty pizza and clean laundry!
I’ll just add my 2cents worth with a different store example. We had a Chinese restaurant at 94th and Columbus, and a wonderful Health Food store next door. Landlord wanted more money. Stores closed. More than two years now (maybe longer) and no new store. Gossip WAS the landlord wants to convert spaces for a larger two level store. Bottom line: Sadly, here is NO independent Chinese restaurant or Health Food Store on Columbus Avenue, now from 86th street to 100th Street.
The entire neighborhood takes a noticeable nose-dive once you go north of 86th. There’s a much larger problem at hand here.
A terrible loss: my first meal upon moving to UWS was Cheesy Pizza