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Iconic Manhattan dinner spot, famed for its Broadway star customers, closes its doors after 50 years

The restaurant was a staple among the Broadway community

Café Un Deux Trois shut its doors for good on Sunday
Café Un Deux Trois shut its doors for good on Sunday (Isabel Keane, The Independent)

An iconic Manhattan restaurant revered by Broadway stars and locals has held its final curtain call.

The beloved Café Un Deux Trois, in the heart of Manhattan’s theater district, shut its doors for good Sunday evening after serving the New York City theater community for nearly half a century.

“After 48 unforgettable years, Café Un Deux Trois is closing its doors – and with it, we say goodbye to an era defined by extraordinary leadership,” the restaurant wrote on Facebook Saturday.

The legendary spot, located near Times Square at 123 West 44th Street, has been serving celebrities and the greater New York theater community since 1977. However, the restaurant’s original partners say the business had changed since the pandemic – and they were ready for a change, too.

“I’m happy the way it’s ending because a lot of people are here,” Georges Guenancia, one of the three partners, told PIX 11 News. “We did a good job. We had a big clientele.”

The restaurant had been serving customers for 48 years
The restaurant had been serving customers for 48 years (Isabel Keane, The Independent)

The eatery served big Broadway names and countless celebrities over the years, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Groff, Robert Downey Jr., Nathan Lane, Cynthia Nixon, Alan Cumming and many more, per the New York Post.

Many of the restaurant’s loyal customers also returned Sunday for one final meal.

Celebrities who dined at Café Un Deux Trois included Nathan Lane, Robert Downey Jr. and Sarah Jessica Parker
Celebrities who dined at Café Un Deux Trois included Nathan Lane, Robert Downey Jr. and Sarah Jessica Parker (Isabel Keane, The Independent)

“It feels like a piece of Paris,” Michael Riedel, theater columnist for the New York Post and Vanity Fair, told the TV station. “It feels like the Left Bank, with Maurice Chevalier sitting in one booth, Louis Jourdan in another.”

Another customer, Janna McInerney, told PIX 11 she remembered gathering at the restaurant with friends while pregnant with her son, Christopher.

“I remember walking in here very pregnant with Christopher, so that was 1984, meeting friends at the bar and having dinner,” she told PIX11. “And we are back here, closing it down. It’s a tragedy.”

Christopher, now 41, agreed, saying, “I brought my daughter here after her first Broadway show, and she was six.”

“It ends there, but three generations, that’s pretty good,” he added.

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