Photos by Stacie Joy
The Roost remains closed this spring at 222 Avenue B between 13th Street and 14th Street.
A sign for patrons points to a temporary closure for a renovation and promises that "something special is coming."
A few readers asked if we knew what the plans are here ... we do not!
The Roost's Yelp page points to a July 1 reopening.
The venue — a cafe in the front and a speakeasy-style bar in the back — recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.
Updated
Thanks to the reader comment... we missed this from the March CB3-SLA committee meeting.
Andrew Loscaizo, who owns Salumeria Rosi, an Italian restaurant, deli, salami and cheese shop on the Upper West Side, is leasing the space. He plans to open an outpost here. You can read his application for the business here.
At the March community board 3 SLA meeting, someone spoke on behalf of Salumeria Rossi, applying for that address. It was unclear whether they’d be sharing the space or taking over the space. Will be super bummed if we lose the Roost!
ReplyDeleteThanks, anon... I missed that application from March. Will update this post.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry that The Roost may be gone for good. I enjoyed going there for coffee and for the fresh baquettes.
ReplyDeleteThe level of retail closings on the LES is troubling.
ReplyDeleteSalumeria Rossi is great but too expensive for Ave B
ReplyDeleteSuch a strange situation over at The Roost and I really don't know what is the root cause of it. By all measures, this should've been a constantly bumping space, with great coffee / cafe vibes in the front (+ middle) and a neighborhood vibey bar space in the back. But there always seemed to be some kind of a management (or lack thereof) situation, where someone who was much more active and hungry was needed to keep driving and retaining business.
ReplyDeleteGetting rid of the tables in the front was a weird move since they created a welcoming energy to people passing by. But beyond that, it felt like they never could figure out exactly what they wanted that back bar to be: A beer bar? Kind of an outdated concept these days and heavy indexing on a few breweries. A cocktail bar? Not really the quality/excellence there to wring out the $18+ per cocktail needed for margins. A divey neighborhood bar? Way too expensive. Someone with some strong vision needed to .run that space and be allowed to manage it as they saw fit (not to mention Mona's next door).
As a result, The Roost fell into this weird in-between space and since it didn't seem to know what it was, customers didn't either.
I really like roost. The owner is a local as well and is there often but also has an outpost in NJ now to manage. The middle space is furnished comfortably but it’s hard to really hangout and enjoy because everyone always has their laptops (I say this as a daytime patron) and feels really uncomfortable if you are the lone party that wants to chat with a couple of friends. I always wondered if they paid a premium, like a day rate to stay with their laptops? Otherwise I would have been happy to bring more people by. (The front is more of a waiting space for to go orders than a place to stay and eat/drink.)
ReplyDelete