Donohue's To Close Friday After 76 Years On The Upper East Side

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — On Friday night, the lights will go out at Donohue's Steak House for the last time.

For owner Maureen Donohue-Peters, whose family has operated the beloved Upper East Side institution for three generations, the final closing isn't a moment of regret. It's a moment of gratitude.

"I felt like 50 pounds was lifted off my shoulders when I made the decision," Donohue-Peters told Patch ahead of the restaurant's final day. "It's time."

Still, that doesn't make saying goodbye any easier.

For 76 years, Donohue's, on Lexington Avenue near East 64th Street, has been more than a neighborhood restaurant.

It has been a place where first dates turned into marriages, where generations of families gathered, and where strangers became friends over cocktails and conversation.

"[Customers] are coming back and speaking about their experiences at Donohue's, how much it touched them," Donohue said. "It was so much more than a restaurant. It was a meeting place."

Donohue's has been the unofficial neighborhood clubhouse since it opened in 1950. Part of its enduring charm is that it's an effectively unchanged relic of old New York, with its martinis, French onion soup, shiny black booths, patinaed bar, wood-paneled walls, and the gold-lettered announcement on the front window, reading "DINING ROOM IN REAR."

However, what sets the place apart is the conviviality between the staff and longtime patrons, some of whom have been gathering at the restaurant for more than 60 years.

As news of the closure spread, longtime patrons began sharing stories about loved ones who had died, Donohue-Peters said. Others talked about birthdays, anniversaries and ordinary evenings that became cherished memories.

"Everyone felt like it was their second family," Donohue-Peters said.

For Donohue-Peters, the restaurant is the last extension of one of the most important people in her life — her father, Michael Donohue.

"My father was my best friend, my mentor, my go-to," she said.

Donohue, she said, taught her lessons that shaped both her life and the restaurant.

"He taught me never to judge anyone," Donohue-Peters said. "You've got to listen to them until you've walked in their shoes."

Every morning, Donohue-Peters greets the photograph of her father hanging above the register, and each night she has a drink with him before she locks up. That ritual may become the hardest thing to leave behind, she said.

"When I walk into the restaurant every morning, his picture hangs over the register," she said. "That's what I'll miss."

Once Donohue's closes on Friday night, Donohue-Peters plans to relocate to the Hamptons, where she already operates another business. She's also opening a second location out East in the near future, she told Patch.

On Friday, she'll be making drinks behind the bar — something she's done for 47 years — for one last night until the final customer leaves.

Then, she'll have one last toast with her father.

"If I could speak to everybody who's walked in the door over the years, all I can say is thank you, Donohue-Peters said. "You are the people who made me what I am today."

Donohue's is located at 845 Lexington Ave.

Know of a business opening or closing in Manhattan? Email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.

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