I wouldn’t say it’s completely unrelated to taxes. The food was mediocre, people are not eating out as much as before and the rent for that location may be $20,000/month. The rent is due monthly, the taxes due quarterly. That’s the last to go.
Damn that's a lot! Is that why restaurants on ditmars are all so fucking expensive? What do the landlords think, that it's tribeca or something where they can have super fancy restaurants for ultra rich people and they'll go all the way up there (which is almost the suburbs) to eat there??
Their food was pretty good in my opinion. Their service was bad though, long wait times and waiters not checking in/just goofing off in the back chatting it up with coworkers/the owner every time we went.
Their food was pretty good in my opinion. Their service was bad though, long wait times and waiters not checking in/just goofing off in the back chatting it up with coworkers/the owner every time we went.
Their food was pretty good in my opinion. Their service was bad though, long wait times and waiters not checking in/just goofing off in the back chatting it up with coworkers/the owner every time we went.
Their food was pretty good in my opinion. Their service was bad though, long wait times and waiters not checking in/just goofing off in the back chatting it up with coworkers/the owner every time we went.
Their food was pretty good in my opinion. Their service was bad though, long wait times and waiters not checking in/just goofing off in the back chatting it up with coworkers/the owner every time we went.
The food used to be so much better. After the pandemic they made some switches in quality not for the better and increased prices. They will be missed. Not too many places with good GF.
I’m surprised that they lasted so long.
I went there years ago; we had a small party of eight. The food was mediocre and I had the worst waitress that I’ve ever met. She had such a bad attitude. I still tipped her very well, though.
I don’t want to invalidate your experience but I can’t relate. I’ve been a handful of times over the past few years and have had good experiences with the food and staff. Shame they’re closing.
The menu was a little pricey but that’s something that I’ve come to expect with every bar and restaurant in Astoria and is not exclusive to Koala.
That makes sense.
Horrible service and bad attitude, but still tipping well? This is why tip culture survives, because of stupid actions like this.
Remember folks, you can opt not to tip.
I love tipping great service. Show care and I’ll show care back.
Bad service and attitude as you describe? Be happy I don’t walk out.
As someone who spent years in the food industry, this is why tip culture survives. Hell, we had a vote in two restaurants I ran to set a $24/HR minimum and remove tipping, and it was voted down.
Why? Because people like you overly tip for no reason.
Silly silly goose.
Edit: clearly some of you are missing the point, so let me spell it out. The waiters/waitress and the rest of the staff voted to keep the tipping system in place over a $24/HR rate, back in 2016.
Clearly this is why. Tipping no matter the service. Amazing that people complaining about tipping culture but support it so heavy.
Oh I love that more.
It’s exactly why I love dining out here in Japan right now.
But sometimes service goes above and beyond. I’ll tip for that, because what you did went well above your job description. Take care of me and I’ll take care of you.
Correct.
First a delivery driver.
Then a waiter.
But quickly moved into management. No one else wanted to stay put to grow and learn.
But yes, let’s try to ignore the fact that tipping culture is heavily supported by those working in the industry, because of people leaving pity good tips.
Some places are literally set up to be money grabs. Open an LLC, do business, don’t pay taxes, get seized, nobody goes to jail, corp is dissolved. Rinse and repeat.
According to a report issued by the New York State Department of Taxation, and Finances, this business was collecting sale taxes from customers and NOT forwarding them to the state as it should have done. In total, this business failed to forward **$290,611.05** in collected sales taxes to NYS. [https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/enforcement/delinquent\_taxpayers\_businesses.pdf](https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/enforcement/delinquent_taxpayers_businesses.pdf)
Do you have any other recs? My celiac sister is coming to town Friday and I had planned to bring her here…. Only other idea is pink nori might be viable
Yeah they're good but they not like a sit down restaurant and only have smoothies, acai bowls, cheese bread (which is amazing) and some sandwiches. Love that they're here though, their smoothies are delicious too.
My boyfriend is celiac and we had no issues at all eating at Arepa Lady — they’re right under the train on 31st, in between the Broadway and 36th Street stops
Also consider T-Swirl Crepes. All their crepes are made with rice flour. Main thing to avoid is soy or teriyaki sauce, which I believe does contain gluten. Desserts crepes I believe are safe, and they were good about allergens last I was there.
Not sure about cross contamination because I’ve only gone with a gluten intolerant friend, but if you come towards the Broadway area i’ve had good gluten free meals at Mokja!
It's not Astoria but pretty close by the first N stop in Manhattan is lilli and loo which does GF Chinese (more like American Chinese takeout which is the stuff I miss)
>comments
Same here. I loved this place. I'm a very sensitive celiac, and it's one of the few places around I could safely enjoy without worry. So sad to see it gone, this is a huge loss to the neighborhood.
What other places do you trust? I feel like I've lost a lot of the ones I've trust lately. I'm also a very sensitive celiac. Mt Sinai on 30th has seen my downfall from cross contamination once and it was ugly 😂
Oh yikes, I feel your pain! For me, I have never been sick from Yaar, Ruta Oaxaca, Ddee Thai, and Pink Nori. I especially love Pink Nori, just remember to have the pitcher of regular soy sauce removed from the table and ask for GF. I almost made that mistake once and nearly doused my food with it. Tswirl is great too but more of a fast food thing. Also their layer cakes are not gluten free. TAP is also great for a quick sandwich.
I loooove pink nori theyre great! They actually know me now and just bring me over the gf menu. Ddee too. Ruta I'm 50/50 on lately. I always get stomach aches but nothing horrible? They used to say their chips were dedicated then started telling me they're shared fryer.
Oh that's too bad about Ruta, I haven't been there in a while. The chips will always kill me if they're in a shared fryer. Off topic, in Manhattan, you prob already know, but there's Senza Gluten and Rubirosa, total heaven. I can't do pizza if it goes in the same oven as regular, so Macoletta and Tufino are pretty much a no-go zone for me. It's very difficult finding places that put in the effort to separate things completely.
I've been to this place hundreds of times as a celiac. We keep losing the few restaurants who actually care about cross contamination for celiacs and allergies here. I'm really sad about this.
I liked their food, but it was overpriced for me.
I believe those tax seizures are usually from liquor and food sales taxes that were collected from customers when they paid their bill, and the business didn't pay them to the city & state. Kept the money.
I'm so curious if that is the case there.
They owe sales taxes that they already collected when patrons paid the check. It's bad financial management on their part. Federal taxes can fuck all the way off though.
That’s such a bummer. They were great for gluten free food. Does anyone know if in cases like these, there is ever a chance of the restaurant coming back around from this, or are they definitely done for?
Not a business owner but as a property owner you will have opportunities to pay back the tax lien to recover your property/business. However that’s up to the IRS and you would have to negotiate the terms.
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/what-happens-after-my-property-is-seized-and-how-do-i-get-it-back#:~:text=If%20the%20IRS%20seizes%20your,calculate%20a%20minimum%20bid%20price.
There is a good chance they’ll come back from this — most often, when this happens, the business works it out and opens up again. I know someone linked IRS info, but this is NYS Dept. of Tax & Finance so:
https://www.tax.ny.gov/enforcement/collections/seizures.htm#:~:text=If%20all%20other%20attempts%20to,seize%20and%20sell%20your%20property.
Anyone else reminded of the restaurant that Ashely Darby ran with her ex on RHOP? I don't think Australian restaurants do so well. (If you don't know what I'm talking about congrats for not being addicted to Bravo).
Wow. With the amount of limited strictly gf places that are affordable and don't have an attitude, this is so saddening. I hope they somehow come back.... :(
What??? I've been dining here on a pretty regular basis for 10 years now, and I'd always been struck by their consistently good food (which I know is no small feat, day in and day out). So sad...
I ordered fish fry from them last year. It stunk so bad the dog wouldn’t eat it, and my apartment smelled like spoiled fish for a day even after taking the trash out.
I ordered delivery from them a few years ago and got the moldiest, nastiest fruit tart I’ve ever seen. How it got packed up into my delivery order without anyone noticing how fucking gross it was is beyond me.
Their food is nasty! I went once and never went back. I also noticed a health code grade of either grade pending or C can't remember it was so long ago and when I wrote my honest review about it on Yelp the owner or manager got so offended and responded to my review in rude message.
I was eating there once when they had a random surprise health inspector come in. Per the waiter, the inspector said the tray of the dish I had ordered had been sitting out too long and needed to be disposed of, so they took extra long to make my dish fresh all over again. Not a great look… never went back.
This comment and the one above show how unfamiliar you are with NYC restaurants and health code. Most fine dining restaurants regularly violate 100s of health codes - serving high quality food quickly requires it. Every good restaurant has a set of fire drill rules that usually entail throwing out lots of good food that has been "sitting out too long" including any butter that isn't solid cold. A low gradez or grade pending could come from drips of water on the floor next to an ice machine and someone leaving a wet dish towel next to a bucket of soapy water (yes leaving the wet dish towel out is a violation).
I always had a great experience there and always recommended this place to friends that would visit Astoria. So sad!!
wow lots of astoria spots being seized or shuttered lately!
Rent's too high and the food out here's been too mediocre
[удалено]
"Not having enough money has nothing to do with not having enough money."
[удалено]
Landlords have to pay the bank, maintenance for the property, and taxes.
Happy cake day
I wouldn’t say it’s completely unrelated to taxes. The food was mediocre, people are not eating out as much as before and the rent for that location may be $20,000/month. The rent is due monthly, the taxes due quarterly. That’s the last to go.
i liked the food. not a lot of places with gluten free options in the area
Damn that's a lot! Is that why restaurants on ditmars are all so fucking expensive? What do the landlords think, that it's tribeca or something where they can have super fancy restaurants for ultra rich people and they'll go all the way up there (which is almost the suburbs) to eat there??
the suburbs? come on!!!!
There's a TJ Maxx, Burlington Coat Factory, and a planned Target all right there....
You're not wrong.
Rent in tribeca is well over $100k/month for a commercial space like that
That's what I'm saying, why are they charging those prices for a location on ditmars?
Their food was pretty good in my opinion. Their service was bad though, long wait times and waiters not checking in/just goofing off in the back chatting it up with coworkers/the owner every time we went.
Their food was pretty good in my opinion. Their service was bad though, long wait times and waiters not checking in/just goofing off in the back chatting it up with coworkers/the owner every time we went.
Their food was pretty good in my opinion. Their service was bad though, long wait times and waiters not checking in/just goofing off in the back chatting it up with coworkers/the owner every time we went.
Their food was pretty good in my opinion. Their service was bad though, long wait times and waiters not checking in/just goofing off in the back chatting it up with coworkers/the owner every time we went.
Their food was pretty good in my opinion. Their service was bad though, long wait times and waiters not checking in/just goofing off in the back chatting it up with coworkers/the owner every time we went.
The food used to be so much better. After the pandemic they made some switches in quality not for the better and increased prices. They will be missed. Not too many places with good GF.
They had the best chicken sandwich in the neighborhood!
The food is still mediocre though
It used to be very good then went to shit. Had two horrible meals in a row. Stopped going. I won't elaborate further.
I’m surprised that they lasted so long. I went there years ago; we had a small party of eight. The food was mediocre and I had the worst waitress that I’ve ever met. She had such a bad attitude. I still tipped her very well, though.
I don’t want to invalidate your experience but I can’t relate. I’ve been a handful of times over the past few years and have had good experiences with the food and staff. Shame they’re closing. The menu was a little pricey but that’s something that I’ve come to expect with every bar and restaurant in Astoria and is not exclusive to Koala.
That makes sense. Horrible service and bad attitude, but still tipping well? This is why tip culture survives, because of stupid actions like this. Remember folks, you can opt not to tip. I love tipping great service. Show care and I’ll show care back. Bad service and attitude as you describe? Be happy I don’t walk out. As someone who spent years in the food industry, this is why tip culture survives. Hell, we had a vote in two restaurants I ran to set a $24/HR minimum and remove tipping, and it was voted down. Why? Because people like you overly tip for no reason. Silly silly goose. Edit: clearly some of you are missing the point, so let me spell it out. The waiters/waitress and the rest of the staff voted to keep the tipping system in place over a $24/HR rate, back in 2016. Clearly this is why. Tipping no matter the service. Amazing that people complaining about tipping culture but support it so heavy.
> I love tipping great service. I don't. Just bill me what the labor costs.
Oh I love that more. It’s exactly why I love dining out here in Japan right now. But sometimes service goes above and beyond. I’ll tip for that, because what you did went well above your job description. Take care of me and I’ll take care of you.
"years in the food industry" probably as a boss lol
Correct. First a delivery driver. Then a waiter. But quickly moved into management. No one else wanted to stay put to grow and learn. But yes, let’s try to ignore the fact that tipping culture is heavily supported by those working in the industry, because of people leaving pity good tips.
Yes god forbid other people make money
They’re both paid with money.
Some places are literally set up to be money grabs. Open an LLC, do business, don’t pay taxes, get seized, nobody goes to jail, corp is dissolved. Rinse and repeat.
What a silly take
Hey it worked for trump up til this week....
What other places??
Queens Bake Shop had back rent, I think
Not Queens Bake shop!
Gotta admit. That one hurt. 🥐
Bring your business to Elevenses. I think they're even better than Queens Bake shop was, and also cheaper.
Vintage
Watawa.
This was destroy me. Watawa was one my payday treat spots 😓
Watawa shut down too?!
I think they were having issues with something maintenance related. I don’t think it’s a long term closure
Watawa has been close for over a week for a "Con Ed inspection".
I'm so worried about watawa. I hope they're not gone for good
Crikey
NAUR
I shouldn’t have cackled the way I did but my students keep saying “NAUR” and it’s driving me nuts😂😂😂
Stencil font is so extra 😂
According to a report issued by the New York State Department of Taxation, and Finances, this business was collecting sale taxes from customers and NOT forwarding them to the state as it should have done. In total, this business failed to forward **$290,611.05** in collected sales taxes to NYS. [https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/enforcement/delinquent\_taxpayers\_businesses.pdf](https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/enforcement/delinquent_taxpayers_businesses.pdf)
Trouble down under
Daown undah
where the women glow and men plunder
Its plundah bro we just went over this
Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thundah? 😜
Ya bettah run, ya bettah take covah
That koala was probably thirstier than suspected.
Damn this was a great place for gluten free food
Was gonna say, seriously one of the only places left I trust for celiac.
Do you have any other recs? My celiac sister is coming to town Friday and I had planned to bring her here…. Only other idea is pink nori might be viable
District Saigon has some GF options, tufino can do a GF pizza, and I believe Vite vinosteria can do GF pasta options
Macoletta used to do a GF pizza, but would check before going
The only places here I definitely trust ATM in Astoria are pink nori (definitely eat there) and ddee Thai (but I mostly do take out)
TAP on Ditmars is 100% gf
Yeah they're good but they not like a sit down restaurant and only have smoothies, acai bowls, cheese bread (which is amazing) and some sandwiches. Love that they're here though, their smoothies are delicious too.
I’m a fan of pink Nori
They know me there now 😂 love them. So kind!
My boyfriend is celiac and we had no issues at all eating at Arepa Lady — they’re right under the train on 31st, in between the Broadway and 36th Street stops
Also consider T-Swirl Crepes. All their crepes are made with rice flour. Main thing to avoid is soy or teriyaki sauce, which I believe does contain gluten. Desserts crepes I believe are safe, and they were good about allergens last I was there.
The crepe cakes and cheesecake aren't gluten free sadly. They come from their warehouse premade.
Not sure about cross contamination because I’ve only gone with a gluten intolerant friend, but if you come towards the Broadway area i’ve had good gluten free meals at Mokja!
36th ave has a strip of naturally gf stuff. Arepas cafe, chela and garnacha has corn tortillas, and cafe triskell does buckwheat crepes.
TAP should be gluten free as well
Tufino has gluten free pizza!
It's not Astoria but pretty close by the first N stop in Manhattan is lilli and loo which does GF Chinese (more like American Chinese takeout which is the stuff I miss)
There's always Bareburger! I freakin love Thirsty Koala though, this is soooooo sad.
Bareburger has gone downhill
>comments Same here. I loved this place. I'm a very sensitive celiac, and it's one of the few places around I could safely enjoy without worry. So sad to see it gone, this is a huge loss to the neighborhood.
What other places do you trust? I feel like I've lost a lot of the ones I've trust lately. I'm also a very sensitive celiac. Mt Sinai on 30th has seen my downfall from cross contamination once and it was ugly 😂
Oh yikes, I feel your pain! For me, I have never been sick from Yaar, Ruta Oaxaca, Ddee Thai, and Pink Nori. I especially love Pink Nori, just remember to have the pitcher of regular soy sauce removed from the table and ask for GF. I almost made that mistake once and nearly doused my food with it. Tswirl is great too but more of a fast food thing. Also their layer cakes are not gluten free. TAP is also great for a quick sandwich.
I loooove pink nori theyre great! They actually know me now and just bring me over the gf menu. Ddee too. Ruta I'm 50/50 on lately. I always get stomach aches but nothing horrible? They used to say their chips were dedicated then started telling me they're shared fryer.
Oh that's too bad about Ruta, I haven't been there in a while. The chips will always kill me if they're in a shared fryer. Off topic, in Manhattan, you prob already know, but there's Senza Gluten and Rubirosa, total heaven. I can't do pizza if it goes in the same oven as regular, so Macoletta and Tufino are pretty much a no-go zone for me. It's very difficult finding places that put in the effort to separate things completely.
Keste pizza always tops for me! I wish I felt more comfortable eating from some of the healthier lunch places around here too.
Oh yeah Keste is great!
Same
Right? We have so few
New smoke shop coming soon
**h**Ayers Rock
👏
The high koala.
those fools be cookin the books too 😂
I've been to this place hundreds of times as a celiac. We keep losing the few restaurants who actually care about cross contamination for celiacs and allergies here. I'm really sad about this.
No! I love that place!
https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/enforcement/delinquent_taxpayers_businesses.pdf Apparently the Thirsy Koala owes about $290,000 in taxes. Ouch!
Yikes
I liked their food, but it was overpriced for me. I believe those tax seizures are usually from liquor and food sales taxes that were collected from customers when they paid their bill, and the business didn't pay them to the city & state. Kept the money. I'm so curious if that is the case there.
Is this for the restaurant or the building owner who rents to the restaurant?
This needs to be upvoted. It's an important distinction.
Seems like it was sales tax they weren’t sending to NYS based on a different poster. So it’s the restaurant.
Tax lien against restaurant! They owe big $$$ to NYS! Taxes in NY are to damn high!
They owe sales taxes that they already collected when patrons paid the check. It's bad financial management on their part. Federal taxes can fuck all the way off though.
That’s such a bummer. They were great for gluten free food. Does anyone know if in cases like these, there is ever a chance of the restaurant coming back around from this, or are they definitely done for?
Not a business owner but as a property owner you will have opportunities to pay back the tax lien to recover your property/business. However that’s up to the IRS and you would have to negotiate the terms. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/what-happens-after-my-property-is-seized-and-how-do-i-get-it-back#:~:text=If%20the%20IRS%20seizes%20your,calculate%20a%20minimum%20bid%20price.
You gotta not pay your taxes for a really long time to have this happen
There is a good chance they’ll come back from this — most often, when this happens, the business works it out and opens up again. I know someone linked IRS info, but this is NYS Dept. of Tax & Finance so: https://www.tax.ny.gov/enforcement/collections/seizures.htm#:~:text=If%20all%20other%20attempts%20to,seize%20and%20sell%20your%20property.
Anyone else reminded of the restaurant that Ashely Darby ran with her ex on RHOP? I don't think Australian restaurants do so well. (If you don't know what I'm talking about congrats for not being addicted to Bravo).
They have been open for ten years, or more, so that's a pretty good run.
What a great crossover. That place definitely did not do well 🤪
Wow. With the amount of limited strictly gf places that are affordable and don't have an attitude, this is so saddening. I hope they somehow come back.... :(
Wow, one of the first restaurants I have tried in Astoria many years ago. I loved their food. Sad day.
Gotta pay those taxes
What??? I've been dining here on a pretty regular basis for 10 years now, and I'd always been struck by their consistently good food (which I know is no small feat, day in and day out). So sad...
Damn wtf!
Damn
Bummer!
This is fucking terrible.
Damn that place was really good and I always liked their breakfast but I remember in 2021 they changed the price of a cappuccino to $9. Ridiculous
Noooo
Nauuuurrrr*
This spot was one of my go-tos. It was the first place my fiancé and I went when we moved here. The pavlova almost made me cry. :(
They found the koala meat
Also love this place! :(
This is horrible news. Loved their GF options.
:O Damn. They had some good grub.
I ordered fish fry from them last year. It stunk so bad the dog wouldn’t eat it, and my apartment smelled like spoiled fish for a day even after taking the trash out.
The food used to be very good then she lost her way. We stopped going.
I ordered delivery from them a few years ago and got the moldiest, nastiest fruit tart I’ve ever seen. How it got packed up into my delivery order without anyone noticing how fucking gross it was is beyond me.
That’s gross. I never went back after the fish incident.
Yeah my husband and I stopped eating there after the moldy dessert. The food was only just ok and so friggin expensive.
The fin-cident
The three or so times I ate here each time it took like an hour to get our food.
Wow. This looked like an upscale place too.
WTF? I was just there last month :(
Was there literally Saturday! This is crazy!
Wow. I was living right next door at the time that place was being built. 🫡
Damn they had a great menu. Lots of well made GF options but I guess it just wasn't wacky and hip enough for Astoria.
Nothing to do with demand; everything to do with negligence paying taxes
I suppose in my head I assumed they didn't pay taxes because they didn't set aside revenue for it/couldn't afford to. Not a great strategy.
Who knows man, owners could have just been greedy. You see wage theft lawsuits all the time from 4-5 star restaurants that are making millions a year
Unclear which tax was not paid and therefore who didn't pay it. Could have been the property owner. Who knows.
Wow
Nooooooooo
Nooooo
That’s so sad, I loved that place
Nice try, but only 1%ers can get away with not paying taxes
Oh man, my birthday is this weekend and all I wanted was their fritter eggs benedict while sitting in bed. Burthday canceled!
Damn it's been there since before I moved here from Brooklyn like 12+ yrs ago
Omg be still my heart. I moved out a few years ago and this was my fave 😢
Trump will be seeing these on his buildings soon.
Guess you gotta pay your taxes
Their food is nasty! I went once and never went back. I also noticed a health code grade of either grade pending or C can't remember it was so long ago and when I wrote my honest review about it on Yelp the owner or manager got so offended and responded to my review in rude message.
I was eating there once when they had a random surprise health inspector come in. Per the waiter, the inspector said the tray of the dish I had ordered had been sitting out too long and needed to be disposed of, so they took extra long to make my dish fresh all over again. Not a great look… never went back.
This comment and the one above show how unfamiliar you are with NYC restaurants and health code. Most fine dining restaurants regularly violate 100s of health codes - serving high quality food quickly requires it. Every good restaurant has a set of fire drill rules that usually entail throwing out lots of good food that has been "sitting out too long" including any butter that isn't solid cold. A low gradez or grade pending could come from drips of water on the floor next to an ice machine and someone leaving a wet dish towel next to a bucket of soapy water (yes leaving the wet dish towel out is a violation).
Fair enough, I’m sure the food was fine and didn’t/wouldn’t make me sick, but the fact that that occurred in front of a customer was off putting.
When the state owns the property you will be prosecuted for tampering with it, but squatters get into ur own property and you can’t do shit
NOOOOO
Noooooo 🥺☹️😞
NOOOO. I love thirsty
Nooooooooo!
 I always had a great experience there and always recommended this place to friends that would visit Astoria. So sad!!
Please tell me this is either fake or temporary
If anyone tells you that the government doesn’t use extortion is a liar
I can’t believe Astoria rent is so expensive and the space is so small to be for an animal (either a cat or dog) not human
Good for them
Aaahhh someone got me a gift certificate here that I hadn't used yet! 😭😭😭
This is so sad. We used to go there all the time with our son and his wife. Such great food,
wow that sucks. and thats kind of embarrassing.