Staten Island Chinese Restaurant Closes After 40 Years; New Location Planned

deleciousfood | July 14, 2024 | Asian Food | No Comments

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Through winter, spring, summer and fall, Green Garden Restaurant thrived in West Brighton for four decades. Earlier this week, however, the Chinese restaurant closed for good and posted a sign for a new business that will take over the storefront at 752 Forest Ave.

The restaurant has kept its takeout format after the pandemic. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

Attempts to contact the new and old owners were unsuccessful within the time frame, but a sign indicates that the address will soon be called XinHui.

As part of the management transition, the brand also offers: “In addition to Green Garden’s best-selling items, we will serve new authentic Chinese dishes and appetizers.”

The soft opening of XinHui will take place on July 20, 2024.

He added: “We invite everyone to come and taste it.”

The name XinHui is a nod to a district of the same name in southern China.

Green Garden, Staten Island Nostalgia — A little nostalgia for the Green Garden, courtesy of the late Advance photographer Frank J. Johns. He photographed the dining room in 2000, when it had a new look. (Staten Island Advance file photo)Sylvester

Congratulations and controversies

Locals will fondly remember Green Garden for its melt-in-the-mouth dumplings and its version of General Tao’s chicken served on a bed of broccoli. In the early 2000s, the restaurant instituted a “no splitting rule.” The rule proved controversial with some diners.

The most recent Yelp reviews include a few 2021 downsides, including a delivery driver who stayed too long, to make a long story short. Other than that, “the food was good,” one Yelper said.

When it first opened about 40 years ago, Green Garden offered a vegetarian menu, a novelty for a Staten Island restaurant in the 1990s. Otherwise, it was a relatively low-profile restaurant in the borough’s increasingly competitive Chinese food market, but it continued to hold its own thanks to its hyper-local fan base and the area’s medical workers.

Green Garden started as a sit-down restaurant, eventually serving beer and wine. During the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March 2020, it became one of the first Chinese restaurants to voluntarily close its doors in a panic. When it reopened in the fall, amid New York City’s harshest stay-at-home orders, it returned with a takeout-only format.

The restaurant was hit by a car through its facade in early 2022. There were no injuries in the incident, although the business was severely damaged by the impact.

The Green Garden reopened a few months later and remained operational until last July.

Pamela Silvestri is the food editor for Advance/Silive.com. You can contact her at: silvestri@siadvance.com.