Warner LeRoy walked into Tavern on the Green one day in 1974 and fell in love. He vowed to transform the restaurant into a place for celebrations of all kinds, and for all kinds of people. “It will feel like you’re sitting inside a wedding cake,” he declared. Two years later, in 1976, Warner’s Tavern opened; since that day, New Yorkers and visitors from all over the world have come to dine beneath the sparkling chandeliers and dance under the lanterns in the garden.

Over five hundred employees, some of whom have been at the restaurant since day one, work together to serve the more than half a million guests who visit us each year. Many New Yorkers would not think of celebrating a birthday, a graduation, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mothers Day or Easter anywhere but at Tavern on the Green. Each Valentine’s Day, more than twenty bachelors come to dinner with engagement rings in their pockets. Brides tell us on their wedding day that they have dreamed of getting married at Tavern on the Green since they were little girls. Tavern hosts over 20,000 New York City Marathon runners on the eve of the race, and the restaurant is recognized as the finish line of the world’s most famous marathon.

Tavern’s lease with the City of New York Department of Parks and Recreation expires on December 31st, 2009. The LeRoy family, who have devoted their lives to the excellence of the restaurant, feel they have earned the honor of maintaining the lease. They are dedicated not only to carrying forward the legacy of Warner, who died in 2001, but to preserving and enhancing Tavern, a treasured landmark. Under the LeRoys’ expert care, Tavern will flourish as a restaurant known to combine up-to-date and eco-friendly methods, while paying tribute to a celebrated history.

They are proud of the support expressed by hundreds of New Yorkers and visitors who salute Tavern as one of the essential elements of New York, as acclaimed as The Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty.