Harlem Bespoke: Manna's Soul Food buffet used to be all over Harlem but now there might just be one left. We walked by the address at Lenox between 134th and 135th Street several times this year to find that the front gates are always down . There are no signs announcing the status and the Yelp page still has everything listed as open for business. A location 125th Street closed about a couple of years ago and now that only leaves the one on 8th Avenue and 126th Street as the only one still standing if the Lenox location does not open doors again. Manna's has been around since 1984 and is probably the first soul food buffet to open in the city but more competition has since arrived on the local dining scene. More on Manna's in our past post:
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HarlemBespoke.com 2020
There was an electrical fire in the building just before Halloween which caused the closure. Took almost a month for ConEd to restore power to that block of businesses. The shoe store next door was running on a gas-powered generator trying to stay open. The rest of the businesses just gave up until ConEd ran new power from the street. You can see the new concrete they poured in your picture. Have not seen any demolition or any activity since. I have to wonder if they gave up due to the impending Lenox Terrace project, or maybe just waiting on insurance to rebuild. Here's an article talking about it. https://afrogistmedia.com/mannas-soul-food-restaurant-on-lenox-was-on-fire/
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