Neraki restaurant to close in Huntington

Neraki, one of Long Island’s most dependable seafood restaurants, is closing in Huntington. Owner Alex Moschos said that Sept. 14 would be the restaurant’s last dinner service.

Since it opened in 2011, Neraki has served the highest-quality Greek-style fish in a low-key setting and, most singularly, at an affordable price. Moschos, who described himself not just as an owner but as "an owner-operator," was a constant presence at the restaurant. Twice a week, in the wee hours after dinner service (or, depending on your sleep schedule, before lunch), he would go to the Hunts Point market in the Bronx to buy his own fish.

Not having to pay a general manager or a fish-delivery service were measures he took "to keep the business tight" and translated to healthy profit margins during Neraki’s first eight years. But after COVID, he said, "the business model changed" with customers looking for "extreme" dining concepts. "Either they want extremely high-end or very inexpensive or huge portions or all-in-one food and entertainment. My niche — reasonably priced — just wasn’t working anymore. But, because I was reasonably successful, my rent still went up 3% every year."

Moschos believes that the Huntington dining scene is "seeing a shift. There’s so much competition, the rents are high and we’re seeing towns like Farmingdale, Babylon and even little Oyster Bay taking business away." The Paramount concert and entertainment venue, he said, has been "a blessing and a curse. If they have a good show on a Monday or a Wednesday, it can bring customers in, but on a weekend we are already busy and the show just compounds the parking problems."

In the last two years, he noted, several restaurants in Huntington have closed, including Faz’s Tex Mex, Red, House of India, Osteria da Nino, Noema and, most recently, Finley’s of Green Street.

Moschos had grown up working in restaurants but his career path veered into a more lucrative business. When he opened Neraki in 2011, "it was a passion project, and up until 2019 I was having the greatest time ever. But I’ve lost the passion."