Randazzo's Clam Bar, a Sheepshead Bay Landmark. Photo © Charles Denson. All Rights Reserved
Last week, the buzz in Coney Island was that the folks from Randazzo’s Clam Bar, a landmark in Sheepshead Bay, were seen eyeing Cha Cha’s location on the Boardwalk. Coincidentally, “randazzosclambk” joined twitter and began following ATZ. The twitter page proclaims: “Randazzo’s is king of clams and lobster, shrimp and calamari, too!!! But it is most certainly all about grandma Helen Randazzo’s HOT or MEDIUM sauce!!!” Our appetite was piqued.
ATZ phoned Randazzo’s to ask if the rumor was true that they have plans to open a restaurant on the Coney Island Boardwalk. “It’s a possibility. We’re trying to,” said Joey Randazzo, son of Paul Randazzo, who is the star of the “Art of Opening a Clam” video on the New York Times website. Their family-owned and operated restaurant began in 1908 and is a perennial “Best” among New York City seafood restaurants. “We’re still trying to work out negotiations,” Joey Randazzo told ATZ. “There’s a committee that evaluates you. You have to be approved.”
Hmmm, well, we approve of their menu and their South Brooklyn cred. Randazzo’s has the potential to be a destination restaurant in Coney Island. We wish them the best of luck negotiating with Valerio Ferrari’s Vision for the Boardwalk Committee. As Ruby’s fan Bogframe writes on the Coney Island Message Board, “every time Valerio Ferrari says ‘vision,’ something valuable dies.” Last year at this time, Ferrari, CEO of Zamperla USA and Luna Park, told ATZ that the evicted Boardwalk Mom & Pops “didn’t have the vision that we have for the Boardwalk.” An investment of $1.4 million was being made by Sodexo in a new restaurant at the corner of Surf and 10th Street, formerly occupied by Gregory & Paul’s. He said that a Boardwalk restaurant/bar hoping to get a lease renewal would have had to make a million dollar investment as well.
ATZ asked Joey Randazzo if they were contemplating a $1 million investment at Cha Cha’s location. He said it could be half a million or a million, they’re not sure yet. As for the “randazzosclambk” twitter account, it stopped tweeting almost as soon as it started and Joey Randazzo says it’s not theirs.
The opportunity for Randazzo’s and others who are eyeing the Boardwalk opened up after a Miami restaurateur pulled out of a $5 million dollar deal to open four upscale eateries on the Boardwalk between Stillwell Avenue and West 12th Street. Unlike Ruby’s Bar and Paul’s Daughter, Cha Cha’s was not offered a new lease by Zamperla USA, which has a ten-year deal to develop the City-owned Boardwalk property purchased from Thor Equities in 2009.
Cha Cha’s last call was on Sunday and some of their restaurant equipment, furnishings and memorabilia was auctioned on Tuesday. Club owner John “Cha Cha” Ciarcia, an actor in The Sopranos who also owns a restaurant in Little Italy, has been looking at other locations in Coney Island, including Surf Avenue and the Bowery. As the saying goes in Coney Island, once you’ve got sand in your shoes, you can’t get it out.
UPDATE December 12, 2011…Tom’s Restaurant, a popular family-owned Prospect Heights eatery founded in 1936, edged out Randazzo’s for the space formerly occupied by Cha Cha’s and Nathan’s. Tom’s of Coney Island expects to open in April 2012. For a sneak peek at the Boardwalk line-up for 2012, see “Coney Island 2012: What’s New on the Boardwalk” (ATZ, Nov. 15, 2011).
Related posts on ATZ…
August 29, 2012: Coney Island Has a New Lighthouse: It’s a Beach Bar
August 14, 2012: Opening Soon? Zipline, Tom’s Coney Island, Place to Beach Bar
June 23, 2012: Opening Today: Coney Island Grimaldi’s Pizzeria
October 20, 2011: Reversal of Fortune on the Coney Island Boardwalk
Amusing the Zillion 
Randazzo’s is one of the best Italian restaurants in Brooklyn or in all of NY period. This is absolutely fantastic news if it comes true! Again fantastic reporting Tricia. You are doing a fabulous job of breaking really important Coney news. Go Coney Year Round! I love it!
Fingers crossed for Randazzo’s. The photo at top is spectacular & looks right up Coney’s alley, as it were. I think I’ll be making linguini w clam sauce tonight,
If this comes to pass it would a giant leap foward for Coney. As a tried & true seafood restaurant/clambar it would shine on the Boardwalk. I wish the Randazzo family all the luck in negtiations with the Boardwalk Committee. Cross your fingers and hope that a real Brooklyn family can show Zamperla/Ferrari how a business can be run
If Randazzo’s does open on the boardwalk, I hope they bring along that fabulous lobster sign ! Great report Tricia!
Although I will always be a Randazzo’s patron, I do have to say that the quality and portion size of their dishes has gone down pretty significantly. And their prices have gone in the opposite direction.. Up Up Up.. — Still, though,can’t say the idea of throwing back a beer and some mussels on the beach isn’t an exciting one. Hope it goes thru..
This makes a lot of sense. The Miamification of the boardwalk would have been a disaster. The Miami contingent knew it and pulled out. The failure of Coney’s Cones and the Cyclone Cafe proved it. Now maybe CAI/Zamperla will start listening to the locals who, after the tourist leave after the seasons will be the ones pouring dollars into their coffers. Randazzo’s is a good start, and if they get the Atlantis building, it makes even more sense.
What I see happening is this. Randazzo’s gets Atlantis, Nathan’s moves either into the space Gyro Corner had or takes a more central location where the souvenir shop was. I think the corner location is a better bet, being that it’s right next to Deno’s. As long as CAI/Zamperla can come to some sort of compromise with Ruby’s and Paul’s Daughter that allows them to retain their character, and at the same time, upgrade their image, I think we’ll have a more authentically Coney Island Boardwalk than what we could have had had Ferrari’s “vision” had gone through as planned. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
As for what Monster said about a year-round boardwalk? Not going to happen. I’d put money on it.
[…] Amusing the Zillion recently reported that Sheepshead Bay-institution Randazzo is contemplating open… But it’s not without obstacles. ATZ states that “Ferrari, CEO of Zamperla USA and Luna Park, told them ‘a Boardwalk restaurant/bar hoping to get a lease renewal would have had to make a million dollar investment.’” […]