Another iconic New York City restaurant is closing its doors.
The Neptune Diner in Astoria, Queens served its last plates of eggs and pancakes on Sunday, ending a decades-long run for the business. The current version of the diner opened in the early 1980s, but the building — with its red-tiled roof and stone facade — dates to the 1960s.
The family business was unable to renew the lease for the building, which will be converted into a new residential complex.
Customers flocked to the greasy spoon for a final bite of food, many even ordering a second meal to go.
“It’s really sad. Diners are such a mainstay in New York City,” said Brendan O’Brien, 36, as he cherished his final moments in one of Neptune’s clam-shaped booths. “So many of the diners in Astoria are gone now, and it’s like, is there a diner nearby that you can go to?”
O’Brien is right. Dining has been declining across the five boroughs for years. The trend has only accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic, when indoor dining forced stalwarts like Chelsea’s Good Stuff Diner to permanently close their doors.
According to a 2016 New York Times report, the number of restaurant visitors in the city had halved in the previous 20 years.
Like many other eateries in the city, Neptune was open 24/7 until the pandemic. Since 2020, its hours have been limited to 7 a.m. to midnight.
Sabrina Karpe, an Astoria resident who visited Neptune Diner for the first – and last time – on Sunday, lamented that just a few decades ago, there was “a diner every few blocks.”
“The city is losing something that I think really defined what the city was,” Karpe said. “If you think about Seinfeld, where were they hanging out? They were hanging out in a diner. That’s like a quintessential New York television show.”
But for Tina and George Graham, a married couple who have lived in the neighborhood for 22 years, the loss of the Neptune Diner is personal. Tina said she took blind dates to the restaurant before she met her husband.
“I came in the morning and then I came back in the afternoon for another date,” she said.
“For me,” George said with a grin. “This is our landmark.”
Neptune Diner has two other locations in Bayside, Queens and Crown Heights, Brooklyn that will remain open.