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Julie Varney was watching the news when she learned that the restaurant where she had her first date with her now-husband was set to close. She told her husband she wanted to visit Spaghetti Warehouse one last time and take a picture at the same table.

“I was shocked, and I was sad,” Varney said. “Our boys were actually sitting there when we found out, we started reminiscing about all the memories that the boys had forgotten.”

After 36 years of service, chain restaurant Spaghetti Warehouse announced the closure of its Syracuse location. On Dec. 31, the doors of Syracuse’s Spaghetti Warehouse closed after serving one final meal.

The first Spaghetti Warehouse opened in 1972 in a warehouse district in Dallas, Texas. Nearly two decades later, the Syracuse location was opened in a historic warehouse that once housed a self-playing piano manufacturer, general manager Jay Corless said. At the corner of West Division Street and North Clinton Street, chicken riggies, vintage posters and a full-sized trolley became staples of one of Syracuse’s most recognizable restaurants.

For decades, Spaghetti Warehouse was where people celebrated wedding rehearsals, first dates, tournament wins and fraternity banquets. However, the restaurant faced controversy for the quality of its Italian-American dishes on Google Reviews and Yelp. The restaurant’s closing has generated mixed reactions from patrons and locals.

While Spaghetti Warehouse faced poor food reviews, many locals will miss it for past memories. For Julie Varney, she will miss the place where she had her first date with her now-husband.. Eli Schwartz | Asst. Photo Editor

Molly Jane counts Spaghetti Warehouse among her favorite restaurants in the Syracuse area. She grew up going to the restaurant with her parents, often choosing to sit at a table she said looked like a bed frame or the restaurant’s full-size trolley installed in the dining area while eating her favorite Italian wedding soup.

Over the years, those visits gave her a nostalgic love for Spaghetti Warehouse; she even chose it as the site of her wedding reception.

“I was still in my wedding dress and I didn’t wear my veil at that point,” Jane said. “It was a perfect way to end the night, to go to Spaghetti Warehouse.”

Two months before the closure was announced, Jane said she noticed staffing issues, but hoped Spaghetti Warehouse stayed open; it stands out against the many other Italian-American restaurants in Syracuse, she said.

While Jane became attached to Spaghetti Warehouse for her long-lasting family tradition, Varney started frequenting the restaurant after her first date at 23.

Varney had never visited Spaghetti Warehouse before, so seeing the old woodwork, stained glass, lighted signs and nostalgic posters made Spaghetti Warehouse appear “fancy” and “classy.”

The successful date prompted Varney to share Spaghetti Warehouse with her family, celebrating anniversaries, birthdays and other special occasions at the restaurant.

“You’d go there, and it was still very nostalgic. It had that very comforting staple feel that you loved going there,” she said.

As with Jane and Varney’s long-standing traditions at Spaghetti Warehouse, nostalgia runs deep for Corless. In his 15 years working at Spaghetti Warehouse, Corless said he enjoyed listening to customers play the piano, an artifact kept from the warehouse after the piano factory closed down.

Corless’ history as a longtime employee stretches back to his early adulthood. He started as a dishwasher at 18 and eventually became the restaurant’s general manager, a position he held until its final day.

Early in his time, he said he met a prep cook who worked there for 30 years before dying from cancer.

“Everybody called her ‘mom,’ and she was probably the most memorable person who ever worked there,” Corless said. “She’d come in with stories about how she was walking to work and saw a homeless man on the street without shoes, so she walked him to the store and bought him shoes, and she ended up being late because of it.”

Located at the corner of West Division Street and North Clinton Street, Spaghetti Warehouse faced poor reviews on Google Reviews. Its fettuccine Alfredo was a controversial dish for many. Eli Schwartz | Asst. Photo Editor

While Spaghetti Warehouse holds adoration, some of the former restaurant’s Google Reviews reflect differently. Spaghetti Warehouse holds a mediocre rating of 3.9 stars from over 2,000 reviews, far exceeding the average business, which typically receives around 223. Many of these reviews recount experiences of uncleanliness and poor service, with some users even claiming to have found mold in their dishes. Though others recount nostalgic meals there.

In 2024, Syracuse University alum and local Abigail Greenfield visited Spaghetti Warehouse for a formal with her fraternity Phi Sigma Pi. She said she and some friends felt sick after eating the fettuccine Alfredo, the same dish Varney had loved years earlier on her first date.

“When I was a kid, it was a much more talked-about place, and then, by the time I was in college, like, when we said, ‘Oh, we’re doing formal at Spaghetti Warehouse,’ I was like, damn, I haven’t thought about that place in years,” Greenfield said.

Growing up in Syracuse, Greenfield said she often heard people “rave” about Spaghetti Warehouse, and she remembers playing in the arcade game area near the entrance and going to storytelling and puppet events at the restaurant.

“If Chuck E. Cheese was in a warehouse, this would be it,” Greenfield said.

As engagement advisor for the same fraternity, SU senior Shawn Sutherland was responsible for planning events, which last semester included a banquet at Spaghetti Warehouse. Sutherland said during the planning process, Spaghetti Warehouse was “easy to reach,” “close” and affordable.

“They were really enthusiastic to help host the event,” he said. “They were really on top of making sure the event went through and making sure everything was okay.”

Syracuse local Molly Jane hosted her wedding reception at Spaghetti Warehouse. Jane previously visited the restaurant, often sitting in the iconic full-size trolley. Eli Schwartz | Asst. Photo Editor

Now, the restaurant’s closure represents one fewer location option for fraternities like Phi Sigma Pi to host affordable events, he said.

In 2020, the Arlington and San Antonio Spaghetti Warehouse locations were forced to close after several decades of service, shortly following the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Dec. 13, Spaghetti Warehouse released a closing statement thanking friends and family for “letting them be part” of their lives.

On Facebook groups like Where Syracuse Eats and Growing Up in Galleville/Liverpool NY, users reacted to the closure announcement with a mix of emotions. Some said they expected the closure, while others recalled how the restaurant reminded them of summer trips to Green Lakes State Park with their families or how visiting Spaghetti Warehouse after a long time felt like “traveling back to their childhood.”

“The decision to close was not easy, but in today’s challenging economy, continuing to serve the quality food you love at the prices you expect has become impossible,” the statement read. “With heavy hearts, we’ve chosen to close—but not before giving guests the opportunity to join us for a final meal, last toast, or one more memory.”

Spaghetti Warehouse was especially memorable for Sutherland because of its decorations and atmosphere, which reminded him of the old sitcoms and TV shows he watched as a child, he said. When he found out about the closure, Sutherland said he felt surprised.

“The memories of that banquet are definitely going to stick with me for a while, so it was kind of bittersweet,” Sutherland said. “I was like, ‘Wow, we were really the last people who got to do this.’”

Published on January 15, 2026 at 12:32 am
Contact Isabel: iamelend@syr.edu