A well-known restaurant in New York has filed for bankruptcy because it was ripped off of $45,000 and can’t pay its bills.
The New York City restaurant Gotham Restaurants was recently in the news for being ripped off of $45,000. They have now filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The restaurant in Greenwich Village was already closed, and Managing Partner Bret Csencsitz said it was because the business had been scammed.
But the story isn’t over yet.
According to court papers, the restaurant, which used to be one of New York’s most famous fine dining spots, had a lot more problems than just being ripped off by con artists pretending to work for a payroll processing company.
There were more than $1 million in debts for the restaurant, with nearly $500,000 in state taxes being the biggest chunk.
The papers show that the restaurant only thinks its assets are worth $50,000.
Csencsitz told everyone that he had been scammed because he didn’t want other operators to fall for the same trick.
He told Restaurant Business and many other news outlets that someone pretending to be from Paychex, the company that handles payments, told Csencsitz to wire $45,000 to the company to cover the restaurant’s most recent pay period.
A normal thing for the managing partner to happen was to not get an email confirming the transfer of funds. This made him understand something was wrong.
For now, Csencsitz said he had to close the business because of the loss.
It’s still closed, but people who visit its website are told to check out the restaurant’s bar, which is called Billy’s Bar.
When it first opened in 1984, Gotham was called Gotham Grill & Bar.
It quickly became famous for its food, thanks to cook Albert Portale, who stayed in the kitchen until he left in 2019.
But after Portale left, the restaurant never got as much attention from critics.
He now has his own business about a half mile away.
When people call Gotham, they are told by a recording that the restaurant will be closed through July for “improvements.” Lunch and dinner service will resume in August.
It’s still not clear if that plan will change after the company filed for bankruptcy again.
