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Upper East Siders have been taking to social media to call out an unusual dining space at a long-standing neighborhood restaurant, and East Side Feed can now confirm the rumors.
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In what feels like an episode of Seinfeld, Caffe Buon Gusto, located at 236 East 77th (between Second and Third avenues), is seating patrons in a next-door apartment during some of their busier hours.
Speculation began in March when TikTok user @nicoletroy22 posted a video revealing the abnormal setup, which a staff members tells us has been open since late last year. The video brings the viewer past the restaurant’s kitchen, through a hallway and into an apartment with a ‘1’ decal on its door. Inside, guests can be seen seated at tables complete with tablecloths, silverware, and menus.
(According to Streeteasy, Apt 1 was most recently listed for $2,700 in 2019.)
While Troy didn’t specifically name the restaurant, commenters were quick to identify the once NYT recommended Italian spot, with one person who’d experienced the space claiming they “thought [they were] getting kidnapped.”
East Side Feed visited the restaurant this week and can confirm the TikTok video’s accuracy.
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When asked about the apartment and how its use as a dining space came about, a staff member told us the building’s management company–Taormina Holding Corporation, which owns a handful of buildings on the Upper East Side–”knows we’re busy and wants to help.”
The staff member added that the space, which is open on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, can sit up to 30 people and has been open for the last six months or so.
“There used to be a garden but it closed so they now have this,” said the staffer.
When asked how customers react to the space, one waitress indicated that feedback has been mixed, with the surprise being an unpleasant one for at least some folks. “They say, ‘I came to be in a restaurant, not sit in an apartment,’” the waitress told us. Earlier this week, a Reddit user who dined in the apartment claimed there was even a closet filled with clothes.
This aside, a few diners have shared positive feedback. “Super weird but I actually kind of liked it, it felt nice being away from the usual noise of the place,” one Redditor wrote. An OpenTable reviewer was aligned on the weirdnesses of it all, but also added that the service was attentive and food was excellent.
Outside of the apartment setup, Caffe Buon Gusto, which also has locations in Brooklyn and Hoboken, has been the subject of several other social media posts, with a number of Upper East Siders claiming the restaurant has gone ‘down-hill’ while highlighting its current ‘C’ health grade.
This aside, the majority of their recent reviews are positive.
We’ve reached out to Caffe Buon Gusto and Taormina Holding Company for further comment and will update this post if they reply.
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