The Meatball Shop to Close its Lower East Side Flagship this Weekend
For The Meatball Shop, its ten-year anniversary is likely more bitter than sweet.
Indeed, the Lower East Side institution is shutting down the flagship location this weekend. Employees were reportedly informed of the news last week.
We received confirmation that the last day in business is this Saturday (February 8). Apparently the lease on Stanton Street is up and the company is “taking a different direction.” (Probably the rents.)
The imminent closure of 84 Stanton follows other Meatball Shop departures in Westport last month, as well as Washington, DC back in September. Of the Connecticut restaurant, the Westport News quoted something similar – that ownership is “changing its business model.”
The following update is found on the official website:
We’re growing with the times: shifting focus to a fuller, more familial, and more modern Italian experience, with amazing new appetizers and drinks, pasta dishes, items to share and main courses to savor, and a bunch of gluten-free and vegan delights throughout….and even as the brand evolves, the meatballs won’t……we still have the classics! This is only available at our Chelsea Shop, 200 9th Ave for now, but with your support, will roll out to the other locations by Spring 2020
The five other outposts remaining across Manhattan and Brooklyn are not affected.
High school buddies Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow founded The Meatball Shop at 84 Stanton Street in 2010. It became an instant hit, and one of the hardest seats to get in the neighborhood, thanks in part to media exposure on late-night television (and Celebrity Apprentice). A year later, they expanded to the West Village and Williamsburg. With each expansion, though, the restaurant seemed to lose its luster.
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