Mezzaluna Is Closing After 42 Years. A Neighbor Is Helping Its Staff

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — As the beloved Lenox Hill eatery Mezzaluna prepares for its last call on Sunday after 42 years, a neighboring business owner has started a fundraiser for the restaurant's longtime employees.

The fundraiser will benefit Mezzaluna's many longtime employees, who have been making the restaurant at 1295 3rd Ave. near East 74th Street feel like home for generations of East Siders.

"Mezzaluna's staff supported their families by working long hours and feeding this community well," the fundraiser, started by Upper East Side business Jennifer Miller Jewelry, reads.

Mezzaluna's hearty, unchanging menu includes Italian classics like penne alla vodka, margherita pizza, contadina salad, and affogato.

"Now they are facing the sudden loss of steady work, with the holiday season approaching," the fundraiser reads.

Jennifer Miller Jewelry is located a few blocks away, on Lexington Avenue near East 71st Street.

The rumor that Mezzaluna would be closing was first started on TikTok in March and sent shockwaves throughout the East Side.

"It's a really special place to a lot of people that grew up here, and it's super sad that they are closing, and hopefully it's not true, but I don't know. I think it's real this time," Upper East Sider Sophie Gerber said in a video about the rumor.

Not long after the video dropped, a petition was started to urge the restaurant to stay open. The petition gained more than 2,000 signatures since launching.

The petition bought its regulars a little more time at their favorite restaurant, Mezzaluna's maitre d told Patch, but it wasn't going to last.

"After months of uncertainty, the restaurant is closing its doors, and the workers who spent years serving the Upper East Side now need to find new jobs," the fundraiser reads.

See the GoFundMe here.

Know of a business opening or closing in Manhattan? Email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.