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Palace Diner's closing surprises Seaford

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Those looking to go to a certain local eatery these past few weeks were greeted by a sign announcing its temporary closure. The Seaford Palace Diner on Merrick Road seemed to have shut its doors out of the blue as most residents and Seaford officials were not even aware of it until after it happened. “I was shocked,” said Ken Jacobson, past president of the Seaford Chamber of Commerce. “You don’t know what’s behind all of this.”

On its Facebook page, the diner made a post to alert its many fans. It read, “To all of our customers, we are closed due to a legal matter and are trying to resolve this matter. We apologize for the inconvenience and are looking forward to opening as soon as possible.” This post stuck out on its page which also includes various Yelp reviews and customer comments, yet no one seemed to address the closure.

According to a memo posted on the door from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, the diner was seized because of violations of the tax law.

“I will definitely miss it,” said Alex Galliano, 20, of Seaford. “I used to go there for breakfast with my family.”

Other residents shared their favorite moments spent at the diner. Sean Brennan, 19, of Seaford, says the diner is where Seaford High School’s stage crew used to always meet to celebrate the school’s drama productions. It’s also where he asked a friend who was working at the diner to prom. “I asked when I visited if my order of food came with her going to prom with me,” he said, “and then I pulled a rose from under my coat and gave it to her.”

The Seaford Palace Diner was sold to its current owner, George Tsiropolous, in January of 2014. He bought it with his business partner, Manny, who left a few months ago due to reasons unrelated to the diner’s closing. At that point, it wasn’t certain that the restaurant would close, but conditions weren’t perfect either, says a former staff member.

“The close was sudden, though not entirely unexpected,” said Amanda Duncklee, 18, who worked at the diner for the past year until leaving Jan. 2 to go back to school.

Duncklee went on to discuss how business had been slowing down throughout the course of the past year. At points, there were even talks of it going out of business, she said. Despite this, the diner’s announcement of its closure was still quite abrupt. “I never got a call that the place was closing,” Duncklee said. After talking to a close friend, she found out neither of them were aware of what was going on. “As far as we know, none of the employees knew either.”

The Seaford Palace Diner might not be gone forever though, as Duncklee discussed hearing of Tsiropolous’ desire to reopen the restaurant he put so much care and time into.