Pearl Oyster Bar Closes After 25 Years In Greenwich Village

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — The popular Pearl Oyster Bar closed at the end of October after 25 years in Greenwich Village.

Owner Rebecca Charles announced in an Instagram post at the beginning of last month that the bar at 18 Cornelia St. would be shuttering.

"The pandemic certainly brought new and previously unheard of challenges, but this has been coming for a while," Charles wrote on the restaurant's Instagram. "Sadly, we can no longer keep up with the rising cost of doing business."

The restaurant served up Charles' take on New England seafood, a tribute to her family's history that included a menu of oysters, clams, shrimp cocktail, clam chowder, mussels, salmon, scallops, and types of fish.

The Greenwich Village eatery was particularly well known for its lobster and bouillabaisse.

"It is with profound sadness that I break the news that Pearl Oyster Bar is closing," Charles wrote in the shuttering post. "The fact is, independent restaurants, with the current dynamics, are getting to be a thing of the past. "

The owner did give thanks to its landlords, "who did everything they could to keep us in place the last terrible couple of years, they give landlords a good name."

Comments came pouring in for the loss of the neighborhood institution.

"Like a second home to us," one person wrote. "My kids grew up on your lobster rolls and fried oysters."

"This breaks my heart," another person wrote.

Pearl Oyster Bar's last day was Oct. 29.

You can read more about the now-shuttered restaurant on its still running website.