Nick & Toni's Cafe Will Close After 2 Decades on Upper West Side

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — An Upper West Side favorite for wood oven pizza, Mediterranean dishes and Italian staples such as homemade pasta will serve its last meal on Saturday, Jan. 7. Nick & Toni's Cafe, which opened on 100 W. 67th St. near Columbus Avenue in 1994, announced it will be permanently closing in a letter to its customers.

The letter read:

To our Neighbors, Loyal Customers and Friends,
It is with great regret that we will be closing the restaurant at the end of service on January 7, 2017. Being part of this community for 20 years has been a tremendously rewarding experience for us. We have fostered great relationships with many of you in our neighborhood. The challenges of running a restaurant in the city are great and continue to only get more challenging.
That being said we want to thank you for the many years of patronage.
We leave here with many fond memories and a proud sense of what we accomplished.
With gratitude,
Nick & Toni's Cafe Family

It appears that not even neighborhood staples that have been in business for two decades and can attract celebrity clientele are immune to the rising costs of running a restaurant in New York City.

"The cost of doing business in the city no longer allows us to operate our business,'' managing partner Mark Smith told Eater. "I'm proud of what we accomplished but our lease was up and we tried to negotiate, but the economics have become untenable."

Photo by Google Maps street view