The order is in progress, as is the lease.
Astoria’s Neptune Diner, which has been serving takeout classics on Astoria Blvd. since 1984, is set to become the latest beloved city restaurant to close its doors when it closes permanently Sunday to make way for a new high-rise.
“Everybody is sad,” said Neptune manager Chris Maniatis. “People are coming to say goodbye.”
The Katsihtis family business was unable to renew its lease on the property, which is being sold by its current owner, the Thomas Anagnostopoulos Family Trust. It will be replaced by a large residential complex.
For many long-time clients, Neptune’s demise is deeply personal: the institutions served as a common thread through their lives.
“I started going to Neptune with my family around 1989, when I was 7 years old,” said Dimitrios Fradelakis, a 42-year-old funeral director who grew up nearby and “would walk there to celebrate a special occasion or when my mother didn’t feel like cooking.”
For Fradelakis, Neptune “was a place where many memories were made. I visited Neptune with people who had passed away and with new friends as well. It was a neighborhood staple that many generations frequented and supported.”
George Stavropoulos, a Brooklyn resident and Neptune patron for 37 years, feels the same way.
“I still come here sometimes, but there are only a few seats left,” Stavropoulos, 54, told The Post over a plate of cheese fries on the Neptune’s last Thursday.
“It’s disappointing because Astoria was a destination for me and I went there every weekend, and that’s pretty much stopped now.”
Indeed, even the Neptune, once open 24 hours a day, began closing at midnight due to the pandemic.
“It’s a shame, at this rate, restaurants are going to disappear in Queens,” exclaimed Astoria native and UX designer Joe Anastasio, recalling that “you never had to think too hard about going out to Neptune. It was just a great place to go at any time or occasion.”
The Neptune’s closure follows a string of shutterings of other classic neighborhood restaurants — a trend that has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic — including Odessa in the East Village, Kane’s Diner in Flushing and Shalimar Diner in Rego Park, all of which have closed in recent years.
The Anagnostopouloses purchased the Neptune Diner address for $10.3 million in 2018 and are expected to close on the sale within the next two months, their attorney Nick Tsoromokos confirmed to the Post.
The two other establishments opened by the Katsihtis family — the Neptune II in Brooklyn, open for 12 years, and the Neptune Diner in Bayside, open for four years — will remain in business.
But as nice as the restaurants are, Fradelakis said, the Astoria restaurant captured his heart. “It saddens me that an iconic Astoria establishment is closing after so many years of serving the community. The Neptune Diner will always be my favorite restaurant in New York.”
New York Post
