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Italian Restaurant that Served Astoria Diners for 8 Years to Close

Gastroteca Astoria (Google Maps)

March 13, 2020 By Allie Griffin

An Italian American restaurant that has fed Astoria diners for eight years will close its doors.

Gastroteca Astoria, at 33-02 34th Ave., is closing after a lengthy dispute with the City’s Department of Consumer Affairs over sidewalk seating, according to a statement released by the restaurant on Instagram.

“We have decided not to renew our lease at Gastroteca after a lengthy and very costly fight with the city over our lost sidewalk cafe,” the statement reads. “The NYC DCA should be ashamed of themselves.”

The owners will continue to run their other two restaurants, Best Pizza Shop and Astoria Provisions.

“Our 8 year run on the corner of 34th Ave and 33rd street has come to a end. We’ve had a blast serving Astoria and look forward to continuing to do so for many years to come at bestpizzashop and at astoriaprovisions.”

The announcement on Instagram received nearly 80 comments from Astoria residents sad to see the restaurant close.

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9 Comments

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Josh

Not sure where the “8 years” from this article and other sources are coming from. The original restaurant, Locale, opened in 2007 or so- you can see it in GoogleMaps from that year. After some management changes, it became Gastroteca in maybe 2014 or 2015.

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Eloise

So sad…you van’t fight City Hall. After 8vyears of serving the public in this way the city officials decide it is inappropriate!

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Tax paying citizen

Consumer affairs is a racketeering agency that exists only to extort fines from hardworking businesses. It should be ground zero for Corona virus.

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ASensibleMan

Shut down by stupid legal restrictions. “The law is a ass — a idiot.” — Charles Dickens

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selena

often wondered how the hell there is block after block on busy 30th avenue w/this bs-literally blocking pedestrian flow ,same for the arab cafes on steinway st, and THIS location on 34th avenue presents a problem ? did the owner refuse to kiss their arses and grease their palms or what ?

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Mary Anne Mercer

Overpriced, lousy service and shitty food. And now they’re blaming the city for going bust. Good riddance.

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young_man!

Too bad. I had some very nice meals there. I guess the dept of consumer affairs would rather have an empty storefront in our community.

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