Where does Great Neck go now for whipped feta and hummus with duck chorizo, or for a Sicilian slice on a football Sunday? This year closed two of the area's longest-running restaurants within about three months of each other. Lola had been open since 2009, and Francesca's Pizzeria & Restaurant near the LIRR station had been open since 1991. The reasons given for leaving had little to do with the food. And nearly every new name arriving is from someone who already runs a dining room people fill.
Two goodbyes mentioned the rent
Lola closed this summer after 17 years. Chef-partner Lenny Messina told Newsday that the deciding factor was the restaurant's sister farm in Ferndale, upstate.
"Yes, it's getting harder to run a restaurant here. Yes, our rent went up. But the main reason is that there's an opportunity to really expand what we are doing upstate, and I want to devote my energies there."
Messina also told Newsday that his core kitchen staff had all been offered jobs at the upstate operation, Hudson Valley Farms. Lola grew out of Michael Ginor's Tel Aviv, which opened in Great Neck in 2008, and it earned 3½ stars from Newsday along with spots on the paper's Top 100 and Top 50 lists.
Francesca's went with much less warning. The Long Island Press reported that it closed suddenly on Sept. 13, with a note on its website thanking customers and citing "business circumstances." Even village officials were caught off guard. "We were shocked too," said Great Neck Plaza Village Clerk-Treasurer Anna Quinones. The same report said T-swirl Crepe planned to close its Middle Neck Road location on Sept. 30. Its manager said the lease was ending and the higher rent was more than the owner could afford.
Lola's partner named rising rent as a factor, and T-swirl's manager named it as the cause. Neither said the restaurant had run out of customers.
Mangia Bene on Middle Neck Road went through a change of its own and stayed open. The Long Island Press reported that co-owner Adam Almaghribi sold his stake after 23 years and that the restaurant continues under Jack Idnani, with the handoff on Sept. 17. In his farewell post, Almaghribi wrote, "For 23 years it was more than a business; it was part of your lives, and you were part of mine."
The corner that keeps changing hands
The clearest test of whether Great Neck still supports a full-service restaurant is the building at 607 Northern Boulevard, on the corner of Middle Neck Road. It held one tenant for 44 years, has had two concepts since, and a third is planned.
| Years | Tenant | What it was |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 to Feb. 2023 | Seven Seas Diner | Late-night diner |
| Dec. 2023 to 2024 | Paros Grille | Upscale Greek seafood, open less than a year |
| April 2025 to Nov. 2025 | Americana Eatery & Bar | All-day family restaurant |
| Next | Novah | Levantine, from the Pashalis family |
Each new tenant tried a different answer. Jimmy and Peter Tsolis, who owned Seven Seas, remodeled the space as a Greek fish restaurant. Americana's chef, Gregory Zapantis, then described his concept to Newsday as "not a diner, not a Greek restaurant, not fine dining, not the neighborhood place on the corner."
Now the Pashalis family has the building. They run about two dozen Mediterranean restaurants, including Anassa Taverna in Manhattan and Astoria and Dear Margo on the Upper East Side. In Newsday's report on the takeover, Dean Pashalis, who grew up in Douglaston Manor, said: "Great Neck is a strong neighborhood. And we are doing a full cosmetic change, raising the ceiling by 2 feet. You're not even going to recognize it." Novah's menu is planned to follow Dear Margo's Levantine focus, with chef Efraim Naon overseeing both kitchens. His résumé includes Taboon, Motek and Barbounia. In July, the family said it hoped to open by November.
That is the first full-service bet on the corner from a group that already runs restaurants in multiple locations.
Lola's kind of cooking is turning up at other addresses
Newsday made the connection itself when it reported on Novah. With Lola closing, it wrote, "Great Neck certainly has an opening for elevated Levantine cooking."
Another newcomer comes from a team Great Neck already knows. Roni and David Zaken own Paprika, the Israeli restaurant in Great Neck Village, and opened Elisha at 25 Cutter Mill Road in the former Noir atrium space in Great Neck Plaza. Newsday's review describes an order-at-the-counter shawarma shop. The chicken shawarma is made from leg and dark meat. The beef spit uses thinly sliced Argentinian rib-eye held together with ground lamb fat. Paprika's hummus with green zhoug is on the menu too. You can have your shawarma wrapped in laffa, tucked into pita or served as a plate, and the dish Newsday says to order is the chicken schnitzel sandwich on a mini challah loaf. Newsday listed the hours as 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, closed Friday and Saturday.
So the cooking Lola was known for is coming back in two forms. Elisha offers a casual counter version on Cutter Mill Road. Novah is planned as a full dining room at the Seven Seas corner. Both come from people with a track record, one in Great Neck and the other in Manhattan.
Middle Neck Road has another name on the way. In August, the Long Island Press reported that owner Eli Mordehay had proposed Sautéed Asian Cuisine, a fine-glatt-kosher restaurant, for 505 Middle Neck Road, the former Cho-Sen Village site. At the time, the village asked for updated sign renderings before giving formal approval.
What the village can do about rents
Great Neck Plaza has no authority over commercial rents. Mayor Ted Rosen has said so directly. The village is working through other channels, according to the Long Island Press:
- A Business Improvement District for downtown
- Merchant seminars planned with Hofstra University
- A storefront improvement program funded by a Nassau County Community Development Block Grant. It has already helped six businesses with signs, lighting and awnings and is working with six more.
- Possibly a voluntary meeting of commercial landlords to talk through ways to work with tenants. No decision on that had been made.
Rosen also responded to residents' complaints about parking. He said enforcement is meant to keep spaces turning over, and that the downtown has two garages and three municipal lots. "There is parking available," he said, adding that shoppers may sometimes have to walk a block or two.
As of the Sept. 18 report, no one had filed a new permit application with the village for the Francesca's space or the T-swirl space. Francesca's windows near the station carried "For Rent" signs. Those two storefronts and the Seven Seas corner are the openings to watch this winter.
The lease pressure that T-swirl and Lola described shapes every retail and mixed-use property on these blocks. Rents, renewals and how long a space sits empty feed into what a building is worth. If you own property in Great Neck and want to understand how the changes along Middle Neck Road and Northern Boulevard affect it, Pat Gaglio is glad to walk through it with you. Schedule a free consultation.
