Tavern on the Green - Its all over

[princeofpork]

In 2 days TOTG will serve its last meal. Just three years ago, it was plating more than 700,000 meals annually, bringing in more than $38 million.

Love it or hate it, it was part of NYC for 75 years. Hopefully the new place will have better food and more understated decor.

[a1234]

Ate there once years ago. All I remember are the high prices and the snotty waiter, Good riddance.

[dinerfan]

The Leroy family is not known for understatement or subtlety. The father of the owner (Mervyn Leroy) tarted up the Russian Tea Room in the 60s and put together Maxwell's Plum, a monument to decorational excess.
Interesting family, however. The matriarch of the clan was Doris Warner Vidor ( Sam Warner's daughter) and was a serial bride, to Warner Leroy, Billy Rose and King Vidor.
A very interesting family, if not the most responsive and understated restaurateurs.

[heWho]

I ate there for the first time this year (father-in-law booked a reservation without asking first). The food was laughably bad, the service was even worse, but I was still glad to have gone. It was like stepping into a time machine... nothing had chance in decades. It was like going to Disney World. I'd never complain about the food at Disney, you're just along for the ride.

[nativeNYer]

Nicely stated, pofp.

[shaogo]

The food, indeed, wasn't very good in the late '80s. It did get a bit better, but not much.

They seemed to do best when giving a catered affair. And I've attended some memorable affairs there.

I've read all about the guy who runs the boat house and his plans for the place. For me, however, it just won't have the charm of the old place. I think that those who will be able to buy the decorations and fixtures at auction have a unique opportunity on their hands.

I shudder to think what the new operator's going to do to the place. We can only hope it will be done tastefully.

[uwsister]

I went to a wedding there once and found the food to be pretty mediocre (hors d'oeuvres weren't bad, but entrees were downright terrible.) Either way not a big loss for NYC culinary scene.

[ellenost]

I thought they had already closed. Hopefully whatever comes in next will be better.

[MandalayVA]

TOTG is (was?) a tourist trap. I ate there once in the late eighties and to this day can remember how bad the food was. But get someone on their first trip to NYC and TOTG is high on their list of places to go. But yes, the end of an era.

[smokeandapancake]

place creeps me out to be completely honest.