Frank's Steaks closes in Rockville Centre

After 23 years in the business, Frank’s Steaks of Rockville Centre has closed. In August, the restaurant posted on its website that it was "temporarily closed while addressing building issues" but now it is officially shuttered.

Managing partner John Casper said that on Friday the Village of Rockville Centre Building Department padlocked the premises and escorted him and other employees out. A planned auction for the restaurant’s fixtures and equipment is on hold.

At issue are repairs required by the building department, who must sign off on them and who is responsible for them — the restaurant, which leases the space, or the landlord Ray Montemurro, who owns it. The two parties have been in court for more than a year, Montemurro said.

The restaurant debuted in 2002, a satellite of the Frank’s Steaks that opened in Jericho in 1988 (and closed last year). But whereas the original anchored a modest strip mall, the Rockville Centre location took over a grand, gabled-roofed, three-story structure on Lincoln Avenue that, from 1972 to 1995, had been the Lincoln Inn. After a brief stint as Jessica’s, the property reverted to the Lincoln Inn and then, from 2000 to 2002, became Monte’s Steak House at the Lincoln Inn.

Frank’s RVC, as it was commonly known, was launched by the Jericho team of Richard Gerzof and Nicholas Drossos but, in 2015, Casper and Chris Meyer, a longtime employee, bought into the business. After Drossos died in 2021, Casper became a majority owner. Meyer stepped down as general manager last year.