Shaping up the former Simone

The exterior of the former Simone Martini Bar on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place looks pretty much as it did after closing for good after 15 years at the end of November.

As previously reported, the owners of The Wayland on Avenue C and East Ninth Street are taking over the space… and on Saturday they provided a snapshot of the work going on inside…



No opening date just yet for Good Night Sonny, which will feature a tavern/seafood style menu…

Updated 6:10 p.m.

Wayland partner Robert Ceraso shared more about the name of the new venture — Good Night Sonny.

"It’s named after my maternal grandfather. Our family owned a bar on the corner of Mulberry and Hester for 40 years or so. He sold it in the 1960s. Even though he hadn’t been a bartender in 50 years, my grandfather still always kept our late hours. The name is my grandmother saying good night to him when she would go up to bed. We wanted to honor our elders as well as all the woman in our lives who put up with our crazy lifestyle and schedule."

Simone Martini Bar has closed

The 15-year-old Simone Martini Bar closed for good following service Saturday night.

The space here on First Avenue at St. Mark's Place will yield to a new venture from the proprietors of The Wayland on Avenue C. According to paperwork (PDF) on file ahead of last month's CB3-SLA committee meeting, ownership is planning for an establishment with a "tavern/seafood-style menu."

As previously noted, the change here officially brings an end to Yaffa Cafe, Simone's sister restaurant that closed nearby at 97 St. Mark's Place earlier in the fall. After the closure, some items from Yaffa were added to Simone's menu.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Team behind The Wayland eyeing Simone Martini Bar space

Team behind The Wayland eyeing Simone Martini Bar space

[Image via Google]

It looks as if a change of ownership is coming to the northeast corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place — current home of Simone Martini Bar.

According to paperwork (PDF) on file at the CB3 website ahead of this month's SLA licensing meeting, Jason Mendenhall and Robert Ceraso, the proprietors of the Wayland, are the applicants for the space.

The application shows that the pair are planning for a "tavern/seafood-style menu" available during all open hours, which are listed as 2 p.m. to 4 a.m. Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. They also plan on a sidewalk cafe, which Simone had.

The Wayland, which specializes in cocktails and craft beers, opened on East Ninth Street and Avenue C in January 2012. (They expanded the space with new food options early last year.)

The change here will also officially bring an end to Yaffa Cafe, Simone's sister restaurant that closed nearby at 97 St. Mark's Place earlier in the fall. After the closure, some items from Yaffa were added to Simone's menu.

New Simone GM offers an apology

Back on April 9, we relayed a story from a reader about an unpleasant experience at Simone on First Avenue at St. Mark's Place.... Basically, the reader and a friend were ready to enjoy a quiet meal early one weekday night ... the music got louder... staff wouldn't turn down the music... when the diners cancelled their order, a Simone staffer called the cops... and the reader was charged twice on the credit card for a meal he or she never received...

So!

Yesterday, I received the following not from Simone:

Hi Ms Grieve,
I'm getting in touch with you in regards to the awful experience you had at Simone Martini Bar & Cafe. I am the new General Manager there and, upon taking the position, the owner and I took the time to check Simone's reviews. We had no knowledge whatsoever of this incident before we read about it and we where shocked and appalled. The situation was handled extremely poorly and we would love to redeem ourselves. We understand that you probably have no desire to ever step in Simone again but we would really like to make the effort to make things up to you in some way.

I appreciate the note (though, as I responded to the GM, this incident didn't happen to me) ... and this is all in keeping with bars/restaurants trying much harder to be better neighbors... (Read more on that theory here.)

Anyway, I passed this note along to the reader, who is still dealing with the credit card investigation... the reader also appreciated hearing from the GM... then later sent a pointed response discussing customer service... and that bars/restaurants "are not a place for staff to hang out and play the music of their choice."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: Cops called after a sandwich order is cancelled

[Image via New York]

Reader mailbag: Cops called after a sandwich order is cancelled

The following is an e-mail from an EV Grieve reader...from an outing at Simone at First Avenue and St. Mark's...

"I had a very unpleasant incident at Simone earlier today when I went with a friend for a snack. When we went there it was a nice quiet place and we placed our order. Soon after our soup came the lights went down and the (what they called) music got very loud. When we were unable to get them to keep the volume down we went to leave, did not want to pay for a cancelled sandwich order (that we did not take with us).

They called the police. Long story short, I called to cancel my credit card charge and I was advised that TWO charges (in the same amount but NOT in the amount of my receipt) had been billed to my card."

I responded, they called the cops? Were you still there?

"We were there when the cops came. How could we leave? The cops were not any help. Even though we did not take the sandwich with us they said we had to call the [Better Business Bureau] and take [Simone] to Small Claims Court."

[Image via New York]