{"id":272163,"date":"2026-06-19T19:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T19:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/272163\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T19:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T19:06:12","slug":"nyc-hipster-hotspot-restaurant-in-dimes-square-seized-for-not-paying-1-3m-in-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/272163\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC hipster hotspot restaurant in Dimes Square seized for not paying $1.3M in taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This Dimes Square hotspot could use some change.<\/p>\n<p>A popular see-and-be-seen restaurant in the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/09\/real-estate\/the-novogratz-have-their-newest-nyc-project-a-downtown-condo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Manhattan microhub <\/a>was shut down this week for owing more than $1.3 million in taxes, records show.<\/p>\n<p>A bright orange sign was plastered on the door of Kiki\u2019s on Tuesday, announcing it had been seized by the state for failure to pay up \u2014 but the Greek eatery apparently continued to operate across the street.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49489051;display:block\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39729039\" width=\"882\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kikis-greek-restaurant-located-lower-131472906.jpg\" alt=\"Outside view of Kiki's.\" class=\"wp-image-39729039\"  \/>Kiki\u2019s was seized by the state for failure to pay more than $1.2 million in taxes. Billy Tompkins\/ZUMA \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n<p>The owners of the popular Division Street restaurant \u2014 frequented by the likes of Timoth\u00e9e\u00a0Chalamet and other celebrities \u2014 apparently stopped paying his bills as far back as July 2024, records show.<\/p>\n<p>There are 12 separate tax warrants open for Chinatown Greek Food Services, an LLC that includes Kiki\u2019s, totaling $1,064,793.25. <\/p>\n<p>Owners Pavlos Sierros and Kiki Karamintzas also have their own outstanding balances for sales and personal income tax for a combined $317,290.<\/p>\n<p>But a sign reassuring customers that the business was still \u201copen across the street\u201d was plastered on Kiki\u2019s front door next to the orange seizure placard from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.<\/p>\n<p>The Post could not reach Sierros for comment, but staff <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grubstreet.com\/article\/kikis-closed-seized-for-unpaid-taxes.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">told Grub Street <\/a>that Kiki\u2019s simply was \u201copen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The seizure devastated hipsters who flock to the restaurant for its craft cocktails and outdoor seating, prime for being spotted in the trendy hub between the Lower East Side and Chinatown, famous for celebrity sightings.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.66894531;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39729036\" width=\"395\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kikis-greek-restaurant-located-lower-131473482.jpg\" alt=\"A sign outside Kiki's announcing it was seized.\" class=\"wp-image-39729036\"  \/>Kiki\u2019s is continuing to operate at its sister location across the street. Billy Tompkins\/ZUMA \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s reportedly a favorite of actor and Knicks fanatic Chalamet, who dubbed the micro nabe \u201cwhere the cool kids are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The hotspot, which opened in 2015, does not have its own signage; instead, it continues to use the printing shop banner of a Chinese business that preceded it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/14\/lifestyle\/why-are-new-yorkers-standing-in-line-for-hours-just-to-eat-dinner\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lines to eat at Kiki\u2019s can stretch more than an hour,<\/a> with customers willing to wait for the chance to munch on the classic Greek comfort food.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately for the wannabes, sister restaurant Forgtmenot has not been affected by the seizure and is operating on the same block and seemingly serving Kiki\u2019s customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This Dimes Square hotspot could use some change. A popular see-and-be-seen restaurant in the Manhattan microhub was shut&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[358,75,57,9,197,56,63,65,64,821,8982,58],"class_list":["post-272163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-lower-east-side","tag-manhattan","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city-life","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-restaurants","tag-store-closings","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}