Tribeca Grill, Robert De Niro’s famous restaurant in New York City, shuts down after 35 years of serving celebrities like Christopher Walken, Keira Knightley, and Katie Holmes

Robert De Niro’s famous restaurant, Tribeca Grill, in New York City, closed its doors after 35 years. The restaurant had welcomed celebrities like Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez, and Paul McCartney.

Established in 1990, Tribeca Grill is situated on Greenwich Street in the vibrant Tribeca neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. The restaurant was a joint venture between De Niro, 81, and renowned restaurateur Drew Nieporent, 69.

Notable personalities who were part of the restaurant’s inception included Sean Penn, Bill Murray, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Ed Harris, and Christopher Walken.

Other famous faces who ate at the grill during it’s three and a half decades, include Naomi Campbell, Billy Crystal, Mick Jagger, and Paul McCartney.

Even Nelson Mandela attended a dinner there when he was in the area to be honoured by the UN.

It was De Niro who approached seasoned restauranteur Nieporent – who already had one dining spot in Tribeca – to ask if he wanted to open another one.

De Niro lived just a few blocks away from Nieporent’s three-star eatery called Montrachet.

He explained how the actor would come in, and sit ‘with his back to the room’, at the furthest table.

According to Nieporent, the Raging Bull star was then, and remains now, ‘a man of very few words’.

Nieporent told the Times that after the actor asked him about opening a place together, the two of them – accompanied by De Niro’s then girlfriend model Toukie Smith – went to look at the building the Taxi Driver star was thinking of buying.

He was planning to install the restaurant on the ground floor, taking up a massive 7,000sq ft.

Meanwhile, the eatery would also have the basement, as well as a private dining room upstairs, next to a small cinema.

The other space was to be taken up by film industry people, with the Weinstein brothers buying a floor and Steven Spielberg still ‘in the building’, according to Nieporent.

When the grill opened, the Tribeca area – an old commercial district full of warehouses and industrial buildings – was still undergoing gentrification, a process which started in the 1960s, when artists started to move there due to the lower living costs.

It has now become one of the most expensive places in the city, with rent reportedly costing a median $8,295 per month (according to RentEasy). 

After De Niro snapped up the building, he and Nieporent bought the bar from restaurant Maxwell’s Plum – which had itself been NY’s hottest eatery during its heyday in the 1960s and 70s.

Following a few private parties, the grill was opened up to the public in 1990.

Nieporent told the Times that some ‘rougher’ characters turned up to the eatery in the early days, assuming the food would be Italian.  

‘De Niro wannabes,’ he explained, adding that ‘the Tribeca Grill was like an American restaurant, which was, believe it or not, a little unusual in 1990’.

During the first year, they hosted a party for Nelson Mandela, who would then return in 2005.

Throughout its 35-year run, the restaurant was loved by staff, some of whom worked there for decades, with their children then taking up employment there too.

But despite its popularity, Tribeca Grill was badly affected by Covid, with Nieporent saying they ‘got [their] a** kicked during’ the pandemic. After that, it never fully recovered.

In addition, he explained, the dining scene in New York has changed, expanding to Brooklyn and Queens.  

‘There are so many restaurants,’ the restauranteur said, explaining that to survive for three decades, you have to ‘change somewhat generationally’. 

He added that while they still have the custom of the parents, that reach hasn’t expanded to include their children.

The final Saturday night saw the restaurant packed, according to the Times, which reported that former staff as well as diners came to visit during its final days.

According to the restaurant’s managing partner, Marty Shapiro, one server (who is now a teacher) had flown to NY from Seattle.

Shapiro, who has been with Tribeca Grill since it opened in 1990, explained what an institution it had been for some people.

He said: ‘So many people had their first date here, got married here, celebrated kids’ birthdays.’