Side Street Dive stopped taking reservations earlier this week, and the reason is a big one for fans of Patchogue's singing waitstaff: Side Street Live, the immersive dinner show that turned the restaurant into a local sensation, is packing up and heading to Smithtown. The restaurant itself isn't closing, but it's trading show tunes for shower invitations as it pivots into a private event space.
A Sold-Out Show Finds a New Stage
According to Newsday, the move was announced earlier this week on Instagram, and Side Street Live is set to relaunch at Bull Smith's Tavern, located at 155 W. Main St. in Smithtown, starting Nov. 5. Side Street Dive, meanwhile, is shifting its focus toward private events and will become a venue for showers, weddings, birthdays and corporate outings, with Newsday describing it as Suffolk County's premier event space. The restaurant is not closing and will continue to operate, just without the singing servers, confetti and bubble guns that made it famous.
Both the restaurant and its new home belong to the same owner. Max Feinberg owns Side Street Dive along with Bull Smith's Tavern and Borelli's Tap Room in Long Beach, per Newsday's reporting. Side Street Live is billed as a Long Island singing dining experience inspired by New York City's Ellen's Stardust Diner, and it got its start at Side Street Dive in Patchogue during the summer, after the restaurant opened that spring in the former Burgerology space.
From Saturday Brunch to a Full-Blown Spectacle
Side Street Live began modestly with Saturday morning brunches before expanding to include dinners, Newsday reports. By late summer, the experience had grown into something bigger, hosting ticketed themed shows including a Rocky Horror Picture Show experience at the Patchogue eatery. The lineup also includes Summer Nights, a Grease!-themed dinner-and-film show in which guests eat while watching the film as staff sing along live.
The show built its reputation on volume as much as spectacle. Feinberg told the Long Island Press, “We are sold out or selling out on most days,” and the outlet reported that interactive performances ran four days a week. Feinberg also told the Press he planned to make the restaurant available for rent so people could host private events with the help of his singing servers — a vision that now appears to be playing out as Side Street Dive formally becomes that event space.
A Packed Menu and a Discrepancy in the Casting Call
The brunch menu that helped launch the concept featured bacon, egg and cheese, French toast sticks, confetti pancakes, banana strawberry pancakes and chocolate chip delight pancakes, while the broader menu rounded out with lunch and dinner specials, according to Newsday's earlier reporting. The experience also featured an exclusive cocktail menu with eight drinks inspired by Broadway songs and shows.
Casting for those 22 singing servers drew a serious crowd, though accounts of just how big differ. The Long Island Press quoted Feinberg saying, “We auditioned over 200 people [and] picked a cast of 22,” while Newsday reported that Feinberg's team auditioned almost 200 performers before landing on the same 22 singing servers. Either way, the selectivity helps explain why the show built such a loyal, sold-out following in just a few months.
Side Street Dive's August-era schedule had brunch running every Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. and dinner every Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m., per Newsday, though that lineup applied to the show's run in Patchogue rather than its new home. As Side Street Live resets the stage in Smithtown next week, Side Street Dive turns the page toward hosting the private celebrations Feinberg had been eyeing all along.
