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Thursday, September 21, 2023
Buka has closed on 1st Avenue
Photo by Steven
A for-rent sign now hangs on the storefront at 137 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street ... marking the official end of Buka in this space.
This was the second outpost for Buka, the Bed-Stuy-based restaurant serving homestyle Nigerian cuisine.
Buka debuted in the East Village last October... unfortunately, we hadn't seen the space open for business here since late June.
6 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Does anyone know whats going on with The Dolly Llama next door? They had awesome waffles and ice cream.
They actually did have food, but you had to insist on it.
There was never anybody inside except for an employee, sometimes sleeping on a table. Room was painted black all over with few lights and about as inviting as a dark version of CB's bathroom.
Food was rather expensive for small portions, when you could get any at all. Sad not to have this kind of food available in the neighborhood, but never figured out what they were up to.
I was looking forward to trying their food but by the time I got around to making it a priority they were always closed. Hope something good comes to this space. Would be great to have another Nigerian restaurant in the neighborhood.
I ate there twice, both times around lunch hours. I thought it was tasty food, but I agree with other criticisms that it was long on price and short on presentation. Too plain for a dinner crowd and not really geared towards lunch quick-serve.
I wanted to try it but it always looked so unwelcoming. I figured I'd give it a couple of weeks after they opened for it to look like an actual restaurant but that never happened. From DrGecko's description, sounds like I didn't miss out on much.
I saw the broker outside. Asking 12k. prices are crazy and smaller operators seem not to understand the numbers they have to do to make it work. Nothing is going to last long at those prices for a space that size.
6 comments:
Does anyone know whats going on with The Dolly Llama next door? They had awesome waffles and ice cream.
Damn, that place was weird.
They actually did have food, but you had to insist on it.
There was never anybody inside except for an employee, sometimes sleeping on a table. Room was painted black all over with few lights and about as inviting as a dark version of CB's bathroom.
Food was rather expensive for small portions, when you could get any at all. Sad not to have this kind of food available in the neighborhood, but never figured out what they were up to.
I was looking forward to trying their food but by the time I got around to making it a priority they were always closed. Hope something good comes to this space. Would be great to have another Nigerian restaurant in the neighborhood.
I ate there twice, both times around lunch hours. I thought it was tasty food, but I agree with other criticisms that it was long on price and short on presentation. Too plain for a dinner crowd and not really geared towards lunch quick-serve.
I wanted to try it but it always looked so unwelcoming. I figured I'd give it a couple of weeks after they opened for it to look like an actual restaurant but that never happened. From DrGecko's description, sounds like I didn't miss out on much.
I saw the broker outside. Asking 12k. prices are crazy and smaller operators seem not to understand the numbers they have to do to make it work. Nothing is going to last long at those prices for a space that size.
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