My four-year-old learned his "restaurant voice" at The Four Seasons. He learned manners, good food, and generosity of spirit there. For thirty-odd years my family and friends were comfortable at The Four Seasons; the amiable but professional staff and management quickly earned our affection and respect. We were very sorry the party ended, but so it did, and should have been allowed to.
As for the new place, well, You can never go home....
1
$30 million! Ye Gods. How did they ever expect to earn enough money to justify that?
My mom broke a tooth on a pearl in an oyster. Four Seasons paid for her to have it fixed....
2
My family shared many celebrations at the original Four Seasons, including my dad’s 80th. It was a pre-opera favorite for my parents. who went for the early bird price fixed menu. We always had special meals at that beautiful restaurant, and I have nice memories of our times there. The cotton candy was always fun. Thanks for the memories, Four Seasons!
2
I ate at the new Fours Seasons a handfull of times, lunch and dinner both. Also had drinks there a couple of times, meeting friends after work. I'd also eaten at the old Four Seasons, many times over the years. Have also dined at The Grill and The Pool, which took over the space at the Seagrams Building. I wanted to like the new Four Seasons, but every time I went there it seemed dead, and ossified, even though the food and service were good enough. The whole thing seemed overblown and beside the point to me in today's restaurant world. I said to my dining companion the first time I went there that I thought it would likely close within a year unless they changed course and radically rethought their business model. Turns out I was proved right. I will miss the concept, but not the realization of it in this incarnation.
As a young adult I remember being taken to the original Four Seasons by an older admirer who knew my interest in fine dining. The décor had not yet begun to fade, but the cooking had. Even then dining there felt constrained. I visited occasionally over the years (only once did the table at which I was seated receive cotton candy) and always left thinking "why"? When the new Four Seasons opened, my friends wanted to celebrate so off we went. It was a nice meal, but not memorable. The Four Seasons fell victim to changing tastes that they did not accommodate. We can all be grateful for the owner's early dedication to American food and wines and we can look to the future ... not continue to dine on not especially well prepared crab cake, sole and duck.
1
The corporate model and great food do not mesh. Unless the people counting the beans are the same people cooking the beans, the diner will suffer. Seattle, my home town is a perfect example. The supposed very best restaurants are owned by a handful of corporate groups who commandeered the names of well known chefs. The food is boring, similar, expensive and sometimes not particularly well prepared. The drinks are minuscule, served in tiny glasses and horrifically expensive. The restaurants all look and feel the same. Sigh. I would love a good unique meal.
9
This place always mystified me. I went about a half dozen times to the original over the years, not by my choice, and never had a meal that was better than mediocre....and with all the changes in the restaurant business and in the city it's no surprise version 2.0 didn't make it.
2
A restaurant needs its regulars as the Four Seasons had. A place where they are known and are comfortable. To see and be seen.
Once they closed for two years these regulars I am sure found a new restaurant and thus their new comfort zone.
Once gone, especially for two years it is almost impossible to get them, back.
In addition, the business suite power lunch clientele that ate there, also became older and retired or were entertaining a younger generation of client who did not suite and tie dress and did not fit into the old dress code.
That is why the steak houses in NY last, they are relaxed, serve meat which is comfort food. No strict dress code. Jeans and a Polo Shirt and still run up a two or three hundred dollar lunch tab for two.
Up to the 1950's it was Black Tie, then Suite and Tie. Now its relaxed dress.
In addition they charges prices that they thought people would pay for atmosphere and the outrageous rent. Unfortunately they guessed wrong.
3
I wonder how many different restaurants open and/or close each year in NYC. I suspect it is a large number. In far Western NY, for example in Olean older established restaurants like The Castle, the Hostega and Casey’s have all closed their doors. But ... life goes on.
As the olde cliche says:”You can go home again,...But not To an era that’s long gone.”.....sob,..
6
Sorry, won't miss it really, a dinosaur from a world that is thankfully evolving
2
Good Food,Good Service-Elegant-Beautiful High quality Decor,
So your guests are to be impress of your likes and preferences
Very Confortable Mainly for Ladies -Well That All, More Had the Previous One.the new one ..Well,
maybe -Name-Brand ? Didn’t got the chance to teste the new one, but read the article since opening,
One Thing from photos seems, Wise-Guys-Mid-Trirty,-Attitude,Cold, Lack Of Glamour,Stone floors ,in a way
No time for you so let’s see what’s up.? cause I’m in a hurry,-Hostile ! 30, Millions Hmm, Decorated seems from-Office Builder.
Well, So Be It , Chance for a New, Glamour Open field;
So..The likes in Golf...No No.not your score from last week,
Your-Today’s Score.
1
Looks as though steel 'n glass is going the way of 'brick 'n mortar' - Four Seasons Grubhub anyone?
should have left it where and how it was.
6
@linh
That was the landlord's mistake. Is greed forced them out. Had he had a shred of integrity and foresight, he'd have left it alone.
7
It's the memories ... you can't recreate a space and maintain the memories. TFS ... can still see the letters in my fathers date book -- his office was on 6th and 52th (Ave of Americas to him). The food was good .. the prices insane -- my dad always had good time. Went occasionally after he died in the 90's ... but it was never my place. Like the Concord -- TFS needed regulars more then what people understand .. they went someplace else for new memories.
Funny -- I like the new restaurant in the old space.
My table was 62 in the Pool Room. Oh, some of the things I have seen during lunch...Back when print was king...sigh...
12
People should learn to cook for themselves.
5
Too bad, Four Seasons, and all the establishments like you. You wouldn't have wanted someone like me to even come near the place. Now you're gone, but I, and my money, are still here.
2
Sic transit gloria ... Power lunch evidently no longer brings enough clients to keep the restaurant operating.
1
“We thought we had an outstanding place with great food, but we just couldn’t attract the clientele”
Yesterday - as I was walking down the west side of Lexington Avenue from 59th Street, at around 1:30 PM - I noticed a very long line of about fifty (mostly) young people snaking up the sidewalk - engrossed in their phones - as they all patiently waited their turn to enter a small store-front establishment --
I'd never seen anything like this on Lexington Ave before - so I stopped to see what the big deal was all about --
The line of people were waiting for their turn to order their lunch at - Chick-fil-A --
!!!
Which begs the question --
Is this Millennial version of the "power lunch" - and do people make mega-million business deals now simply by texting on their phones while standing on the sidewalk as they wait for their chance to order a chicken sandwich... ??
13
@Howard G i work for a large, multinational office in midtown... all our young millenials do not get "power lunches" (except on that rare first week occasion when a boss or upper management take them out ... to show them what they should be working up to, i guess). most of them don't have time to have (nor do they want to waste their money) on expensive, to them, overly stuffy, *slow* restaurants. the ones who have a decent paying job are hard workers... as i find most millenials are... and they are social beings... usually someone runs out to get food for a group, while they wait, they are on their phones *working*. i'm a long time, hard working boomer, and i don't like how the assumptions about millenials being lazy, or sloppy, or careless or uncaring. they aren't. they just realize that slaving away and wasting money gets them no pensions, no medical care and no jobs that are guaranteed. i like them. wish i had learned that lesson before wasting my life toiling in the vinyards of no return.
3
Maybe if they had allowed sneakers, sweatpants, yoga pants and tee shirts in their restaurant for lunch and dinner, they could have made it in this "new world".
4
@P&L
Bite your tongue.
If you want to 'dine' in such attire, go back to McDonnalds.
4
@Paul P. Don't know who you are but i either served you or worked with you at the Four Seasons. You obviously get it and though i am very sad to see it go i am so very glad to see that there are people who understand the 4Cs. Thank you.
1
These compassionate investors should rebrand it ‘’The mating season restaurant’’🔏.
Not big news in the food business (and others), though this asexual predator court case just exposes that most of these assaults never see a day in a court of law...
3
A small loss for the Big Apple, a bougie restaurant for snobs 👏. I think the NY Restaurant scene will survive its deserved departure.
6
What killed the Four Seasons is Global Warming!
4
Sad, next thing you are going to tell me is the Clipper lounge on top of the Pan Am building has closed.
Wait, it did? Darn I am old.
12
A postscript to my earlier comment.
IMHO the days of New York being a great dining venue are over. Back then, you had the Four Seasons, but if you wanted a sophisticated casual meal you could always go around the corner to its cousin the Brasserie (rumored to share the kitchen) and have a low key casual French meal at the counter. Oh, Onion Soup and Salade Nicoise.
Or you could go to anyone of a dozen high end French Restaurants with quiet and spacious surroundings, skilled and attentive tuxedo clad waiters and extraordinary unique cuisine.
But, you could also go to the steam table at the Shamrock, the Stage Deli, the White Horse or a good old diner by the river. Something for every taste and mood.
Now, we increasingly have crowded, noisy rooms with inept wait staff (whoever decided to apply Henry Ford’s assembly line principles to serving food) who serve a crazy concoction of mediocre dishes often designed to pay homage to the Farm to Table cult. Whoever decided a $50 hamburger is a good item at an expensive restaurant unless you’re the 21 Club. And pity the poor patrons who try to shout over the din while sitting in uncomfortable chairs designed to get them to leave as quickly as possible.
Let’s hope that the few traditional restaurant left hang on.
14
Well if all the multimillionaires and billionaires in NYC can't support it what does it say about the reality of the economy everywhere else?
12
@Sparky
One has nothing to do with the other; and snark is hardly needed; God knows the media is saturated with folks wistfully trying to show how much of a clever wordsmith they are.....
1
I did like the old place for its historic nostalgia. We had Christmas parties there and they decorated it like a cheap New Jersey hotel. The bar was always so chic though. I miss that dark wood, expansive New York real estate space thing.
Alas the Four Seasons is as relevant as flying to 52 destinations in one year and calling it a Travel column.
8
I remember going to the original around 25 years ago though I don’t remember much about the food. Unfortunately I do remember the food at the new incarnation, exceedingly average, and I do remember the price tag which was about the priciest I’ve ever had and far higher than places with truly excellent food. Yes the industry has changed we are no longer willing to pay top dollar just because you have to pay back your investors.
20
There is a very simple reason why the new Four Seasons went out of business, the new design and the food were mediocre. The old Four Seasons was in an iconic place with great food; however, the food was mediocre, at best, at the new location. The food could not compare with the quality and service at the new Grill restaurant that took over the old Four Seasons space. We went twice to the new Four Seasons and would not go back there again because the food did not live up to the high prices. In addition, the new design looks like that you’re we’re eating in a cafeteria with bright neon lights over your head. The bar area was small but at least had more of a design to it then the dining room. Between the food and the design of the restaurant it was slated to go out of business. A sad day for a NY institution.
5
When I saw the photo in the Times of the newly reopened Four Seasons I was aghast at the design. I would feel like I was about to be shisk kebobed if I were sitting at one of those tables. Don’t know if this had anything to do with it’s closing, but, I am sorry to see it go.
13
@fish out of Water
Yes! I had the exact same thought: What if that scary sculpture came crashing down?
1
I shan’t miss anything more than I shall miss the Four Seasons’ Cotton Candy!
4
Me too forever--not only the candied violets studded throughout but my (shamefully) belated discovery that there was actually ice cream at the bottom of that airy mountain!
3
@Susan H. Llewellyn - the ones I had never had the candied violets that I remember, but yes, the ice cream was a big surprise! I loved that. We used to tell them that it was someone's birthday just to get it.
That was one of the most wonderful things about the restaurant.
1
Actions have consequences.
3
You'd think with all the one percenters loose in the nation’s big cities that they'd club together to find locations for top notch food and entertainment spots and crowd fund them. (Fictional example: "I can put in ten million if you and the Pickle Ball gang help out, too!")
Lucky restauranteurs only get a few million. The one percent crowd get a thousand times that. The rest of us get to read about both groups unless they do something totally radical in a bad sense. C'mon, one percenters, you'll be helping the other 99 percent of us.
2
$30-$40 appetizers and $50-$60 entrées will keep the riff-raff out and most everyone else it appears.
25
I worked as a host at The Four Seasons from 1988 to 1990. Julian Niccolini's behaviour was outrageous and highly inappropriate (to say the least) way back then and his hideous antics were well known among the staff and management at the time. Mr. Von Bidder is an elegant and restrained man who labored to keep the balance of the restaurant in tact. Perhaps instead of trying to sweep Julian's behaviour under the rug he should have cut ties with him from the start. Maybe the restaurant and more importantly the women who were subjected to all this would have benifitted.
39
No loss. New York's oligarchs and other assorted white collar criminals will have other troughs to feed at.
23
@george eliot
Love how you malign individuals you've never met or spoken with. It appears as if your personal view of others is to be taken as a fact.
2
Who came up with the "Sword of Damocles" lighting fixtures hanging over the diners' heads? I'd be uneasy there too, though power luncher I am emphatically not.
9
@Hypatia
Designer could use some feng shui lessons.
1
Such a shame. So many celebrations and good times at The Four Seasons over the years. Dirty looks from the waiters when my daughter got “iced” on her birthday. Smiles from them when presenting the birthday cake. A million laughs.
The end of another New York institution.
So very sad!
1
@LJB What a shame that the public would no longer support the business of a sexual assaulter, his partner and investors who chose to look the other way? You'll get over the loss, with Mr. Niccolini's victims?
4
@Winnie
Dear God.
Separate your so called indignation from the fact that many, many folks are now out of work.
As for Mr. Niccolini's *alleged* antics, please provide a link as to where it shows he was convicted of any crime.....
1
This is how the world ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper.
5
30 million to renovate a space to build a restaurant? Seriously?
18
So sad! End of an era! Now I can’t say, to myself .... at the senior lunch when someone asks the volunteer server: “Do you have any Grey Poupon?” ..... “This isn’t the Four Seasons.” Actually the Four Seasons wouldn’t have ANY mustard blends.
@TWY Nonsense! I worked as a waiter there from 1999 until the closing in 2016. We had grey poupon and other mustards available. Anything a regular customer requested was in stock at all times. Class act!
4
@PMatteson
Good to know!
1
Sounds like the location change killed the clientele more than anything. The Four Seasons was in a transitional period between world class restaurant and historic restaurant. Aby Rosen pulled the plug. Who would visit Fraunces Tavern at a new location? The restaurant is still in business for reasons beyond food.
Add to that a few scandals involving management and investors looking for a profit margin. It's not hard to see how things would go south. Personally, I don't know enough Niccolini to make a determination one way or the other. However, I would suggest he wasn't the determinate factor in the Four Season's demise.
Investors put the restaurant on a collision course with bankruptcy in 2016. In many ways, the new location was almost a bribe to get an unwanted tenet to vacate the property peacefully. The same way you'd float an obnoxious drunk's tab just to get him or her out of the dining area. They are disturbing the other patrons.
4
Indeed it was! But some readers with long restaurant memories may disagree about a parallel with the Russian Tea Room. For us, that restaurant's fate was sealed the moment Faith Stewart-Gordon sold it to Warner LeRoy--an expectation that was not "disappointed," though we inevitably were. We might have been able to overlook (figuratively speaking) such excrescences as the purportedly "Fabergé-inspired" glass bear upstairs had (e.g.) the once-classic pelmeni still been good, had the bartender not proved unable to make a Katinka--a cocktail he hadn't heard of--and had the so-called blini not been unthawed hockey pucks!
One thing does apply across the board, however. To quote Lionel Bart's 1960s Cockney musical: "Fings ain't wot they used ter be"!
8
@ Susan H. Llewellyn NYC
Your becrying the Russian Tea Room brings to mind that there is absolutely no authentic Russian restaurant that serves the more refined productions of the Russian cuisine.
1
My friend and I had just graduated from boarding school in 1984, and her parents were visiting from overseas. My dad chose this very renowned establishment to celebrate. The food was fabulous, and the experience very memorable. A funny story about the evening: My dad, knowing how steep the final bill would be for our large party, was the only one with the menu which listed the prices. Leading up to the dinner, I had insisted to my friend that my dad would be taking all of us out to celebrate. She said, "No, you don't know my dad. HE will take care of it." To make a long story short, her dad, not knowing the check's amount, was very persistent in his argument to pay. My parents were embarrassed, to say the least, but in all fairness, they did look after and host my friend for the years that her parents were so far away, and that was the reason her dad felt so strongly. His reaction when he got the check was very smooth, but from what I later heard, he lay down in the parking lot after he returned to his hotel in the suburbs, and let out the Tarzan call.
47
Among those credited with the restaurant's success but oddly not mentioned here is George Lang, who set up many of the principles (and the standards of their execution) that made it a great American restaurant. He combined a 5-star talent for shmoozing with an uncompromising skill at navigating the demands of fine dining. He somehow missed nothing, but had fun at the same time, and so did the rest of us. . . anothe thing missing too often these days.
20
This is a real tragedy.
For me personally, the original Four Seasons was something very special. I went to the Grill Room often for business meals. No, I wasn’t one of the seen and be seen glitterati. I was just a C Suite executive trying to have a quiet business lunch in a civilized place and get something done. I always found Mr. Nicolini an outstanding host. I even had a retirement dinner there and true to form it was excellent.
And it was so well complemented by the Pool Room, a place for special occasions. In the late 80’s, I was part of a small team that pulled off what was then the largest industrial merger ever. Where did we celebrate, the Pool Room of course.
But more importantly, it is a tragedy for New York. Places like the Four Seasons are part of the fabric of the City’s history and that should not be debased by the whims of the real estate industry. New York will and should evolve as each new generation puts its mark on it. But as that happens it is important that the best of the past like the Four Seasons be respected.
I’m sorry I won’t get a chance to sample the new Four Seasons. I bet it would have been great, but truth is the old one should still be there in the Seagrams Building.
18
Oddly glossed over by this article is The Grill Room, the restaurant that replaced the Four Seasons at its fabled location. It arguably is the better restaurant with better cuisine, a vastly better cocktail program, friendlier staffing.. and no longer are there months long waits to get a reservation. For anyone mourning the loss of the Four Seasons, I implore you to go to The Grill Room.
I had been to the Four Seasons many times. And was sad to see it "go". However, The Grill Room is about 90% the same experience. The 10% difference is that it's far better.
The author of this article should consider revisiting the topic adding the juxtaposition of The Grill Room. There's something to it, I say. Is it the magic of the location? Of the location's aesthetic perhaps? Or did the people involved in The Grill Room simply know how to do their job better than those involved in the Four Seasons rebirth? Or perhaps with The Me Too movement, Julian Niccolini's actions had a greater impact than the people trying to bring back The Four Seasons were able to conceive of...or willing to admit to publically.
9
They couldn't make a go of it in the new space ? After a $30 million 'investment' to build out ? I don't understand (why investors would sink that much into a alone restaurant). $5 million would sound high to me, let alone $30 million.
Now, if Rothko had never returned his fee and refused to put up his murals (now at the Tate London), I wonder how long they would have lasted at the Seagram before being sold for tens and tens of millions.
7
@George Smiley
Any start up restaurant can easily spend 5 million to get the equipment, leases, pay staff, and rents just to open.
Clearly you're not in the business of running a restaurant if you think something on the scale of the Four Seasons could be done with such a small sum.
2
The Four Seasons was actually doomed when it left the Seagram's Building. The new location was never going to make it. Imagine the Russian Tea Room not being next to Carnegie Hall. It just wouldn't be the same.
30
So sad. My Dad's favorite restaurant in the late 50's to 60s became my favorite in the 70s through 2000s. A first taste of foie gras left my mouth singing. Delicious duck. The most gracious service ever. All I have left are the cookbooks - and an ash tray that was a gift from a regular server. What I cook from the book never tastes as delicious as enjoying it in the pool room surrounded by those magnificent metal curtains.
16
I was afraid of this. The real magic of the Four Seasons was its incredible location and dining rooms.
Checking off a bucket list item I finally got there in the fall of 2015 - just in time as it turned out. We could not have been treated more graciously or had a better lunch poolside. Of all my NYC dining experiences, this one was the tops.
Very sad to see it all disappear. It was one of the holdouts of an adult world that is quickly disappearing in this ghastly time of trump.
39
My memory of the Four Seasons is from 1988 when I was in the City for a trial stemming from the market crash of 1987's Black Monday.
I was living in New Orleans at the time and made dinner reservations months in advance for 10:00 p.m. on a Friday night because I wanted to catch Les Mis on Broadway first.
After the show I couldn't get a cab so I hoofed it at a fast pace all the way to the restaurant getting there right before 10:00.
I presented myself to the maitre d who curtly told me that they weren't accepting any more guests that evening, and was sublimely unconcerned about reneging on my reservation made months in advance.
What was particularly galling was that I had declined an invitation from a nice couple who were in adjoining seats at Les Mis to join them for dinner after the show, explaining I wanted to honor my dinner reservation.
In the ensuing years I never again tried to see if the storied eatery would deign to allow me to dine there.
85
I’m saddened by the death of another old timer being forced into new surroundings and unable to survive the change! We had the privilege of attending a special function there. It was an unforgettable moment in time. From one old timer to another, you served us well dear friend. I, for one, will miss the the fact that you existed!
12
Not to be a stickler, but the fact that they existed will always be right here with us.
5
I am more sad in spirit that the California Pizza Restaurant closed on 30th street & Park a neighborhoods meeting place akin to a golf courses "19th hole". One of the staff said that the rent went up from 40 thousand dollars a month to 100 thousand dollars a month seemingly even chain restaurants cannot afford to stay
here in our city.
35
Almost a half century ago, in my early twenties, I ate at the Four Seasons and, though obviously not very sophisticated, we were served by a professional and respectful staff. (Unlike the service at a couple of pretentious and overpriced NYC steak houses.)
To their credit, they gave it a valiant effort but the result (being downgraded followed by an unfortunate, expensive, and early demise) is a perfect example of the wisdom of Jerry Seinfeld's belief in the importance of opting to leave on a high note.
18
September 20, 1968. Twenty-one years old. Shared taxi uptown with a friend who suggested that since I had time to kill, I join him and a friend from Pittsburgh for a drink at the Four Seasons. Met Charlie and began a thirty-three-year relationship. I will miss returning to the place.
29
That the Four Seasons is closing is truly sad news. When I was on expense account I took clients there as often as I could for lunch and treated my children to dinner there once in a while. So its closing is sad because it was such a wonderful place.
But it is sad also that it means that an era is passing and the fading of fine dining and elegance says much about the increasing crassness of our country. Good manners will always in style, but are less frequently exhibited I am afraid.
44
@david g sutliff There’s no shortage of fine dining and service in Manhattan.
5
@david g sutliff
This is not only happening in restaurants. Most Country Clubs have closed their formal dinning rooms. How did we get here? Our kids would rather look at their phone than have a formal dinner. SAD
7
@david g sutliff
So sad and so true. We are crass and crude these days, from our attire to our language to our attitudes and conduct. And much of our society revels in that and defends it. We keep pushing everything down to the lowest common denominator. I get that not everyone wants the formal, starchy service that used to be the norm, but must we strive to make it all self-serve, low quality across the board?
Travel abroad and you will almost always be able to spot the Americans, slovenly, loud, inconsiderate ala "it's all about me". Not universal perhaps, but widespread enough to be a truism.
14
After a mediocre dinner, I agree with this decision. The ambiance was peculiar and the staff was sub-par. One waiter dropped my glass of wine on the floor just as he went to serve it. A sad slip in quality, all the way around.
9
@Barbara in NYC
I think you have a future as a theater critic. Give it a go!!!
Three words for the Four Season's success before moving: Location, location. location.
22
Fewer people than used to regularly sit down to a full, formally served lunch and dinner than they used to in downtown Manhattan. Many upscale restaurants were recently reduced to a packed bar/lounge area. Their originally much larger sit down table space if not empty was occupied by parties asking for a menu once ordering wine later leaving without ever having ordered a meal. More self service and takeouts do well downtown today than do the formal full meal seating restaurants.
5
My wife and I had a few dinners all covered as gifts or events from her company. I recall being seated off the pool and watching many famous people from all industries having a good time there. In one case a severely drunk Ted Turner stumbled in with an equally drunk woman friend. Our dinners were always excellent including desert. The service was fawning in a good way and we always felt at home. The space itself was the initial draw - a towering room with a pool in the center and off to the east side of the room up a few steps was another space mainly for private parties or an overflow area on busy nights which there were many. The Four Seasons had an amazing run, far longer than any restaurants in town would ever experience and deservedly so.
38
@Other
Just a note, The Palm is still open.
5
Sorry to see the Four Seasons close. I only dined there once, when I was a HS senior in 1965. I was in NYC for a national finals debate tournament, and our coach arranged for us to have dinner courtesy of a wealth relative. It was a memorable evening, where we dined in the Pool Room. My best memory of the evening was when one of the waiters brought out a plate of raw steaks to show one of my teammates, and as he reached for one of them, the waiter graciously moved the plate away and said, “No no, monsieur, we must cook it first.” Our wealthy patron sent a message that he and his wife would miss the dinner, as they were going to a UN reception. But they would cover the bill. We were all rubes to put it charitably, but we were all treated graciously and respectfully by the staff.
73
Mr. Alex von Bidder and team got very close to breakout with the New Four Seasons and deserve acclaim for their noble effort. Alex is a classy gentleman and he is welcome at my family dinner table anytime in Anguilla. My guess is that Alex is welcome at tens of thousands of homes around the world because of his charm and goodwill. Our reservation for the 4th of July week was canceled by the Newspaper today, sadly.
20
@terry brady At $30 million I think even I could make a reasonable go at it.
14
@terry brady What about the man he chose to stay with as a partner, even after numerous reports of sexual assaults? Aren't we judged by the company we keep, and the actions we choose to accept in them? Would his partner be invited to your dinner table too? Hope you don't have daughters.
3
"That's hard to measure" may not have been the most appropriate response in view of the nature of the allegation.
25
@Sedat Nemli. Not appropriate? Maybe. Very accurate though.
1
@Sedat Nemli
I'd remind you that it was just that: Alleged. Mr Niccolini was not convicted, not even arrested for the *alleged* behavior.
We live in a nation of Laws, sir. Not one run by innuendo and smears.
3
@Paul P. i very much fear we *are* currently living in a culture of smears, innuendo and gossip. law is ignored, and certainly not considered or respected by those who make and break restaurants, fashionable spots, and careers.
I remember the Four Seasons being frequently mentioned by my mom as an example of the decadence of the rich (late 1960's). Something like, "Can you believe how much it costs to eat at the Four Seasons? Come the revolution..." Truth be told, my mom had socialist leanings.
I never ate there. In fact, our family hardly ever ate out. My mom cooked. We ate.
My mom eventually ate there, just once, to see what it was like, for the experience. She said the food was good and there were a lot of waiters fussing over her. But once was enough.
I'm kind of sad to see the Four Seasons closing due to nostalgia for a place I never was, except vicariously.
35
@XY Your reminiscence of your mother reminds me of this: our theater group once performed a reading of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" in 1973. After each refrain of 'revolution', some audience member called out, asking, "What revolution?" I was surprised by this response; now I understand it.
9
Is one year really enough time? What exactly were the economics to cause such a fast close? Curious....
23
@wagsli Actually (& unfortunately), half of all NYC restaurants close less than a year after opening. It seems even its history couldn't spare the Four Seasons from this statistic.
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@wagsli According to the article, the restaurant's investors had already spent 30M to open the new location. My assumption that the revenues in the first were not even close to paying the overhead, yet alone repay the investors initial 30M. If that is already the case, the investors would have to kick in additional, substantial funds to supporting it until it did break even at the very least. Throwing in the towel now, means they recognize their investment in the new Four Seasons is a loss.
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@Other I understand from many sources that the restaurant business is a very low margin one. It would take a lot of shrimp cocktails to pay back $30 million. Looks like the investors decided the write-down was worth more than the wait.
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This trend is happening across the country. One of San Francisco's most famous high end restaurants, Jardiniere, just shut down last month. Jardiniere was a lot like the Four Seasons, but not nearly as expensive. I formerly lived in NYC and dined at the Four Seasons a couple of times over the years, and I could not believe the prices there. And, believe me, the quality of the food, service and presentation at the Four Seasons did not live up to those prices. The strength of that iconic restaurant was all about its reputation (and landmark design and location in the modernist temple the Seagram's Building), and a certain community that remained loyal to it over the years. Problem is, that community -- heavily represented in the media sector -- has been decimated in the past twenty or so years. And the Four Seasons regulars who kept the place alive are aging and not able or willing to eat out regularly (to be blunt, they are dying off). Today's business world cannot and will not support a restaurant like the Four Seasons. It had its time and those days are gone forever.
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It was to no small degree a media-based power lunch spot. Google and Facebook have destroyed the print world and without those expense accounts to support it, the 4 Seasons was never going to last in this new world.
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Sorry to see it go - it was pretty outrageously pricey, but it definitely was a tasty, and the room was a nostalgic trip back to the era of the Wolf of Wall Street/70s-80s power lunch. Probably not enough people who want that on a regular basis rather than for the occasional novelty/kitsch factor.
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