Mighty Quinn’s Barbecue Closes UES Location

The Mighty Quinn’s barbecue chain has closed its Upper East Side outpost—located on Second Avenue between E. 77th and 78th streets—after 10 years in operation. They had said earlier this year that it was a possibility since their 10-year lease was expiring this year.

”The time has come for us to say goodbye. Our lease has come to an end,” a sign posted on the now-shuttered store reads. “We want to extend our deepest thanks, to you—our loyal guests, neighbors, and friends—who made this restaurant feel like home. Your support, your stories, and your love for great BBQ have meant everything to us.”

The sign added that there are still three surviving Manhattan locations, “where the meats are plentiful and the welcome is always warm.” They can be found at 75 Greenwich Ave. in Greenwich Village, 1407 Broadway in Times Square, and the Battery Park City branch at 225 Liberty St.

Mighty Quinn’s was founded in 2011 by Hugh Magnum, Micha Magrid, and Christos Gourmos. They soon opened stores in Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium, and have since opened a branch in Dubai, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

“We cook our barbeque the old school way with plenty of wood and time, adding just the right amount of salt and spice to let that lovely marriage of process and product evolve into something transcendent,” their website notes.

The first Mighty Quinn’s, which was located around Second Avenue and East 6th Street in the East Village, closed in the spring of 2023. “We rolled a 6,000-pound smoker through our new dining room and parked it next to our cutting board, where it remains today,” the founders wrote on Facebook at the time. “We all knew the adventure was going to be a wild ride and we feel blessed to have been able to serve so many from this restaurant.”

Redditors on r/uppereastside, ever the salient restaurant critics, started a long discussion about the Upper East Side closing; opinions seemed to align neatly with an article in East Side Feed that described the Upper East Side restaurant as having “mixed reviews.”

“Mighty Quinn’s use [sic] to be so good, I had it a few months ago and it was awful, the food quality tanked pretty hard. Kinda wild because the restaurants around it generate a lot of business, sad to see it go but it was time,” user Muffin_Cool wrote.

User ChrisFromLongIsland was more complimentary. “Bbq is going to be a tough business with beef prices skyrocketing. They had a great brisket sandwich,” he wrote.

ChesterHiggenbothum, a Redditor who pointed out that he lives right around the corner from the restaurant, gave perhaps the most thoughtful and well-rounded review: “They had good food, but it was pretty expensive. They used to have a rice bowl with protein and three sides. Then they reduced it to two sides. They used to have huge jugs of iced tea as well.

“I think they just never found their footing and never learned who they needed to be. But they had great burnt ends and I’ll miss them,” he added. “RIP BBQ.”