Saw a family deli turn into a ghost kitchen over 3 years

There's this Italian place near my route in Queens that used to have a line out the door at lunch. Now it's just a counter with delivery drivers picking up bags, no tables or chairs anymore. Has anyone else watched a favorite local spot shift to delivery-only and lose that neighborhood feel?

3 comments

3 Comments

carr.lee1mo ago

your food isnt worth me leaving my house for" - so when's the last time you actually went in person?

jana_hart181mo ago

Has anyone else become the kind of person who orders takeout from places like this and then complains they have no soul? Honestly, I'm part of the problem. I'll order delivery from three different ghost kitchens in one week and then wonder why my favorite diner closed. Tbh it's like we're all contributing to the extinction of the very thing we miss. Ngl I feel like a hypocrite every time I do it.

elizabeths511mo ago

and what exactly is stopping you from just walking into the diner and sitting down? like is it the convenience factor of not having to put on pants or is it something else? i get it, i really do, ghost kitchens are just so easy and the app remembers your order and you don't have to talk to anyone. but think about it, every time you pick that app over the diner, you're basically telling the diner "your food isnt worth me leaving my house for." and then we all get sad when they close. so what's the real reason you're not walking in the door?