Opened January 2015
April 19, 2016 Staff Report
Nonna Gina, the brick oven pizzeria that opened at 43-24 Greenpoint Ave. in January 2015, is likely to close, according to its owner.
The pizzeria is currently owned by Simone Apollonio, who said the pizzeria had a short lease and that the landlord does not want to renew it. He said that he has to be out by the end of May.
The property has just been listed for rent. According to the ad, the landlord is offering prospective tenants a 5-year lease at a monthly rent of $6,500.
Apollonio said that he only learned that the pizzeria had been listed after receiving a call from Sunnyside Post. He said that business had been good and that he is looking to relocate to another spot in Sunnyside.
Nonna Gina has a four star rating on Yelp! and many of the reviews are extremely complimentary.
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109 Comments
pizza was tasty, but my god it was salty
I’ve stopped going to Nonna Gina’s because of quality issues. You can have the greatest pizza one day, and the worst the next. Sometimes the dough on their strombolis is completely raw and often for pizzas the bottom of the pie is char burned into oblivion. Their schtick is truffle oil on all the pizzas but that can only take you so far. Unfortunately I won’t miss it
A sunnysider 1975: too much weed in 75′ at a led zep concert huh? Acid must have been good too because your having flashbacks and are a boarderline dementia person. The pizza there was excellent. They Could have had better prosciutto, capocolo, but landlord was killing them, gotta cut some corners. And Imported italian cold cuts are the best and expensive and you know nothing about authentic italiano/siciliana delicacies. Your probably a fine lad. Bagels huh? I think i got you. Bagel at dave are ok, creamchesse isnt always fresh.. I agree with spanish bars ar best, hottest woman , next to any italian, even better mixed, once had perfect. Mix,her mom was from p.R. dad was from Sicily, what a mix, stunning, supr smoking hot. Bedtime was incredible
SUNNYSIDE OF LIFE-you know nothing: your probably one of the creeps and lowlifes im talking about. You really know nothing,, you are really out of the loop when it comes to rents and leases.dont comment on shit you oviously know nothing. You sound really lost
Nonna’s had potential but was inconsistent. Black, burnt crust or soggy, doughy crust with carelessly strewn toppings. I wanted to like it but you can’t have a good restaurant when your product is a dice roll. Marbella is decent but a little overpriced, Sunnyside is solid for slices. We could definitely use a good bagel spot and less feed-your-family-of-10 chicken joints. I’m baffled by the number of nail salons and 99¢ stores; how do these places stay open? I love Sunnyside but we gotta step it up and find a niche between vacant stores or junk stores and complete gentrified takeover. Keep it cool, convenient and weird. — Now excuse me but I gotta go put some water in Stop The Maddness’s mama’s bowl.
Nonna’s is alright, but the best Pizza is Sunnyside Pizza on Queens Blvd. btw 40th and 41st. Customer service at Nonna’s was flat out awful. Sunnyside has one bagel place on Queens Blvd btw 43rd and 44th streets. ITS IS AWFUL!!!!
There is a serious lack of good bagels in Sunnyside/Woodside.
Open a Latino bar with super hot Latin girls in skimpy outfits. Really flirty, nice hot young woman. Sexy! Love them! Hottest woman on earth.
Actually alot of good points brought up here. Some are off the wall but alot make sense. Short leases are becoming common because landlords know zoning changed and they can developed so why get stuck for a long lease and have to buy your tennant out. Nonna is good but I wouldn’t call it gourmet. Sunnyside pizza uses best of quality but is inconsistent at times because the owners not always there. Maybe he needs to get on his help more. I agree with the post that says you need to own the building now a day or your not making it. The businessman who owns the place in whitestone is spot on. Tomatoes come in a can,i work at restaurant depot and I’ve worked in several restaurants. Nobody uses bushels of tomatoes. It would take too long but I like the spark this whole debate caused. Good advertising for both shops. Btw, nobody mentioned Lenny’s because they suck. Great topic for once sunnyside post???
I agree i ate a whole pie by myself at n.g’s. Sunnyside pizza slices are big. Btw im average height,weight, 5’8″ 175lbs so im not a 300lb monster. Both have good quality but s.s.pizza much better.
They used top notch ingredients, no doubt. The slices are small, no doubt. If you’re looking to feed 4-5 people from there, you’re looking at $50 bucks. At a place like Sunnyside, you could do it for $30; Nonna had some gourmet to it, but it also had some “appetizer size” to it as well. If the 5 year lease thing is true-then they’ll do fine elsewhere. But if their rent goes up from $6500 to $8000-they’re going to charge more or skimp on the quality. And then all the “north siders” will complain about the way it used to be!
I can’t believe what an argument has been sparked by a pizza restaurant closing.
Donny I dont work at sunnyside pizza, but im in the business. They have a great product. You just show how little you know about pizza. Every pizzeria in ny uses sauce out of a can. That’s how it’s sold. Its fresh tomatoes in a can, you idiot. What do you think they buy the tomatoes fresh, boil them ,let them cool, peel them, drain them? You would produce 2 pies a day like that. As far as the owner, you couldnt work for a better person, husband and wife. Every ingredient in the store is fresh except the presliced pepperoni. But then again how would you know since you know so little. Some customers are just impossible to deal with. How do you know this customer doesn’t come in every day just to break chops. As far as sesame seeds tell them don’t put them on your pie and we won’t. Its done to give it a italian bread taste, again your probably not a paisano . They produce a top quality product and i buy off them if im in the area since my place is in whitestone
Fresh tomatoes in a can? That’s an oxymoron.
Well said, sir. However-the hair thing is real; I LOVE their pizza but you can’t not return calls or stop answering the phone for the whole night when something like that happens. As for how a business is run, it seems like everyone’s an expert, right? On this thread alone, we got real estate experts who believe that there is a landlord that won’t lock in a client for 10 years and hands out 5 year leases. And pizza experts, people experts, etc.
Cooper realty is being unreasonable!!!
This place is not closing because of the landlord its closing because they can’t run a business. Plain and simple. Look how filthy dirty it was inside at the walls and in the kitchen.
When the place opened the owner didn’t even know what kind of register to use. They had one delivery guy for the whole place and it was always over an hour.
The pizza was average at best. Too much sat out at room temp way too long.
And for you saying sunnyside pizza is so good seriously? Talk about sauce out of a can? And who the hell puts sesame seeds on pizza? Yeah they’re terrific.ok. The bald owner is such a sarcastic jerkoff and talks to his staff like assholes.
He was doing that to a customer a couple days ago too. Telling them take it easy on me I’m busy and under so much pressure. Who gives a shit.
North side, south side it’s all the same area. Stop with the insults already.
You opened your mouth first doc. Next time stfu and mind your business. Dont like the truth huh? Truth hurts, like jack Nicholson said,
YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You scare me!
Another keyboard tough guy.
Doc I was only in there once, with your wife,she wanted me. I cant help im hot. But she’s one of the lowlife that hang there,ask anyone, i mean everyone knows her and has spent many 3 a.m. meetings with her.
I agree with previous post, South side does suck. Low class people, dirty. Go somewhere else, landlord is charging too much. North side is so much nicer. However you need to find a busy spot where you can buy the building. Anywhere you go the landlord will kill you with sky-high rents It’s worth the investment. I also agree with get rid of that greenpoint lounge, creepy dirty lowlife in there.
If you stay out then there won’t be a “creepy dirty lowlife in there”
Congratulations on your victory in the primaries, “Stop the madness”!
Lets build a wall between the north and south sides. The south side will pay for it! This way we can keep you safe from the “low class people” who are too “dirty.” I pray to the (capital L) Lord that you get the pizza place of your dreams up on the north side.
Re: Greenpoint Lounge-there’s “lowlife” in there-how would you know? If it were on QB, it’d be a hipster haven-cheap drinks, killer juke, pool table and smoking in the back yard. It’s got boozy charm and peopled almost by half with Irish immigrants & the other half-characters galore. I drink in that pub-construction workers, reporters, chefs, lawyers, mechanics, bus drivers, Teamsters etc. all frequent that pub; as it is we’re safe on the “south side” from judgmental pricks like yourself. Verily I say to thee-go pay 9 bucks a glass for your micro stout on the boulevard and stay out of my bar, jackass!
you are most likely a abuser of narcotics. i will ptay for you. amen.
There’s an empty pizza restaurant on 47th Avenue between 39th Place and 39th Street. How about that?
Too far down. No one really goes to that area.
Maybe they aren’t really closing. Could be a misunderstanding. As I recall, they don’t a speak a the English a so good.
that a lie, the partners are having a disagreement. the current business has a 10 year lease with no increases
I spoke to the owner adn they are opening a spot in Manhattan, so they can’t be doing too badly.
load of bs
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Best pizza in Sunnyside, hands down. Certainly tops the lists in NYC!
I hope this is a joke. Forget top, this place would be lucky to be considered average in NYC.
The pizza is awesome but the business was managed poorly. Total chaos. Landlord greed? Maybe. But mismanagement is also likely.
And make sure to get a 10 year lease!!!
Definitely move to 43rd Ave or Skillman. We all love your pizza. You’ll do better business up here and there are some vacant storefronts including some big corner spots on Skillman.
That whole block of 44th street is dirty, even in front of the real estate office further down. I would think it would be in their interest to clean it up a little. Trash all over the sidewalks.
True, that stretch between the pizzeria and Cooper Realty looks like a dump.
What? Landlord greed forcing out another business? Lies! Lies I say! (insert eye rolling here).
Great place, hope they find a place even closer to where I live.
Simone- the landlord may have done you a favour by not renewing your lease. You need to be in a high visible location as you certainely have the best Pizza in the sunnyside location & your current location does not give you that exposure. Good luck with whereever you relocate to
Great we lose a great pizza place but we’re getting Korean chicken by 47st. What a bad trade
The guy in sunnyside pizza is bald, he looks like Mr. Magoo, how could there be hair
There’s more than one person that works there.
The guy in sunnyside pizza is bald, he looks like Mr. Maroon, how could there be hair
Chest hair
Kramden tell your wife to shave
Hopefully that dump the greenpoint lounge closes next and takes its losers with it. Disgusting. Too bad for ginas. Really good pizza. Lou is partly right, sunnyside pizza is the next best. Location at 41st & 47ave is not right, not a good spot, Skillman 50 & 51 no good either. They belong in a good area where they can flourish. I agree southside sucks for Nonna, they deserve better. $6500 for that little store,crazy.
They would need to sell cocaine to compete. I pray for our elderly cocaine dealers and my little crappy pizza Sunnyside.
Whoa there, Mr. High Horse! No need to sideswipe the finest dive bar in the neighborhood whilst paying tribute to overpriced pizza that often doesn’t have enough sauce on it. Just say “thank you” Grandma Gina, and sorry for your lease, I mean loss! Come to a “good area” -which I’m sure will be cheaper, too, right?
The spot where Meat Boutique used to be next to Subway and Gaslight on Queens Blvd has been vacant for awhile now. Try opening up there!
The landlord probably want’s a king’s ransom for the rent.
Yeah probably that’s why it’s been sitting unoccupied. Greedy bastards.
You have no idea who they are and what they’ve been through. You can’t assume someone is a greedy bastard due to their building having a vacant retail space.
I know them personally
No, they want market rent. I know the owners. I tried to put an Astoria based business in there but it didn’t pan out
The owners are very kind, older people
I’m sure they are nice, but market rent means it RENTS. If it stays empty, then they are asking for above market rent. Market rents are set by the buyer, not the seller.
Nonna move to a neighborhood that gets your concept. Your product is excellent but the southside of QB isn’t right for you and you will never reach the success you rightly deserve. Its a taco neighborhood. Go triple your business in a neighborhood that gets it. Good luck wherever you do go. Southside sucks
40th street to 48th Street: Oasis, Marabella, Sunnyside Pizza, Lenny’s, La Bella. Even New York Eats and Foxy’s makes pies. So did Dazies and so does Sidetracks. Yeah, it’s a taco neighborhood. Who are these monkeys who live on the other side of the train tracks who hate the “South side”? I love it here- so please do us all a favor, stay where you are and continue to hate; we’ll just carry on as we always have, not even giving you a second thought!
We will REALLY miss Nonna Gina’s…. love their pizza.
These people who will miss it are probably from fly over states. Sunnyside Pizza on Queens Blvd is the only place to get a real New York slice
Marabella
agreed! two fifty a slice and worth it! papa johns always make my stomach upset. god only knows what they use.
Last Sunnyside Pizza pie I had had hairs in it. Called to complain, they never responded.
!!! Yes-I hate to say it because I have supported their shop regularly since it opened but around 2 weeks ago, I found hair in it and called them almost 20 times that night-they never picked up the phone; I would not even have posted here about it until two things happened-one-they never called me back to give me a refund even though I left a message and two- I read about it here.
Agreed, they overprice and really dont appreciate customers
Nope: lifelong New Yorker. Sunnyside Pizza is pretty good buy NG was special.
Italy isn’t a fly over state stronzo di merda. Italians like that pizza because it’s the same as in Italy.
What about Marabella??
meanwhile mi nueva rancho next door survives with no one ever in there.
the next hotspot is 47th avenue around 41st, they should relocate there. Spina florist, cooldown juice and some new pet food place. Nonna Gina check it out!
Mi Nuevo Rancho is actually REALLY good. There’s people in there.
MI Nuevo does a seriously brisk delivery business-the portions are big, the food is super fresh and better prices than De Mole-it’s not BETTER than De Mole-just a little more of a home cooking vibe; DeMole portions are pricier and petite, but really good. Mi Nuevo is worth looking into.
Hope they stay in the neighborhood. The pizza is top quality. What a dumb landlord. That spot better not become some hipster bs.
Hipster bs? Are you kidding me? We should be so lucky in this desert of nail salons, 99 cent stores, and Central American chicken stores that is presently Sunnyside .
What he said. ^^^
Karen with a Y is begging for the status quo? Typical “Old Time” Sunnyside resident.
Go screw yourself Mike and South. ‘Karen with a Y’ is a native astoria resident who got priced out of that neighborhood by hipster bs that ruin the character of the neighborhood and raise prices to the point where longtime residents are forced out. I’m guessing you are one of these hipsters. Go back to Ohio or Wisconsin where you can get your stupid craft beers and ironic cupcakes. You won’t have to mix with any Central American immigrants either. By the way, the chicken stores are South American, not Central.
Agreed Keryn – There are an awful lot of sleeve tattoos rolling up in the neighborhood. Lets not ruin the neighborhood. Hop on your fixey and get your artisanal cheeses in the neighborhoods they already destroyed.
i couldnt agree more with karen(y)…and i worked that oven until the end with my friend and co chef simon appolonio….i was new to sunnyside and having previously weathered hoboken and bushwick ,sunnyide was an immense pleasure from old time locals to south american and irish immigrants….i would do another pizzeria with simon in a heartbeat. find a location and email me .
Dave Oland
daveoland@gmail.com
Take your poor attitude back to Astoria.
I walk a mile from 39th Avenue for the terrific food and excellent service — hope they relocate in the hood — very special place
MOVE INTO THE CLOSED PIZZA PLACE ON SKILLMAN AVENUE BETWEEN 50th & 51 STREETS
unfortunately, I’ve heard there are horrible, unfixable, structural issues in the basement there — that’s why Uncle Jimmy’s didn’t end up moving in.
That’s not why. It’s because the landlord is going to sell air rights over the block. So kiss all that stuff gbye
Heard the same thing: all the stores on that block will be kicked out! Disgusting.
does that include the Kettle and the fresh n save (key foods)? i don’t know what we’d do without the supermarket.
Yes the Kettle is closing along with the supermarket next door.
why would you start a business with a small lease? get at least 10 years when you move! great pizza.
Overpriced with soggy dough. It was decent but had its issues.
Landlord is probably looking for some rich corporate franchise to take the space. Greedy bastards.
I feel like crying. When I moved to Sunnyside from Astoria, the only thing I missed was the pizza. Then Nonna Gina’s came along and made everything right. Please, please, please reopen soon! I need my ortolana pie! Either side of QB in the 40s would work nicely.
I miss the bagels from Astoria–at least up on Ditmars near 31st. There were two good places up there, but here in Sunnyside, I haven’t find anything nearly as good. Astoria Bagels on Ditmars and 29th (?) was great. I even grew to like the “Brooklyn” Bagel shop on Ditmars and 34th(?), but having moved to Sunnyside recently, I now realize how spoiled I was. Unless I’m missing a good place, the bagels in Sunnyside suck.
Somebody please open a real bagel shop!
I kinda like Dave’s on QB.
Dave’s is a solid bagel place. I used to live on 29th ST and Ditmars-across from the Astoria Bagel Shop-that place was gold. Dave’s is very good-not Astoria Bagel, but if you need to get one-Dave’s is your spot. For most other bakery needs, La Marjolaine on Skillman and 52nd.
Yeah, sorry, Dave’s is the pick of the litter, but they’re not that good.
Please–a good bagel joint on Skillman, someone. Big opportunity there…
I’ve been trying to bring Brooklyn bagel and coffee to Sunnyside. Will keep working on it
I’d much rather see an independent place open up, but Brooklyn would get my bagel money if there was no other option.
I’ve actually contacted Brooklyn Bagel too! I’d love to have one here.
Greedy landlords.
Nonna you are great. Please locate to the north side of Queens Blvd!!!
Some good vacate corner locations on Skillman Avenue….
Yes! 43rd Ave. has some spots, too. We need you over here.
Please come to Skillman!!!
I never got into it, or the way they treated each other (lots of yelling in the kitchen), I hate watching businesses close but sometimes they close for a reason.
This pizza is soooo good. Super fresh, high quality ingredients. Please stay in Sunnyside! Can you do gelato too? Like the real stuff in Italy? I love Nonna Gina pizza!
Oh no! I love this pizza! This seems like a case of a greedy landlord. I wonder how much the original rent was when the owner set up shop….
WTF? Why wouldn’t they want to renew the lease??
The landlord can get a lot more money with a new lease.
Best pizza in the area! I hope he stays close by.
i”m so angry! Great pizza. Why do these things happen? This neighborhood is being driven into the ground.
I feel your pain. They happen because the NY Real Estate Market is controlled by people that consider “Population Density” to be the profitable way to go. Never mind that there isn’t enough infrastructure to support the envisioned population density. A place that tries to provide a quality product to the existing community at fair prices just “Can’t afford the rent”. If the owners of the property were part of the real estate vultures that have made the industry an embarrassment to the community they serve, sucking the lifeblood out of it.
No! Not OK!