Broadway Restaurant has been closed since the fire. Photo by Hannah Reale from the week after the fire.
Broadway Restaurant was badly damaged in a fire on New Year’s Day, but the owner is now working on getting the old-school diner on Broadway between 101st and 102nd Street back in shape to reopen.
No injuries were reported, but the fire tore though the restaurant’s interior. “We had a lot of damage after the fire, and we are working on it,” wrote owner Tony Arsenis, in an email to West Side Rag. “We’re optimistic about reopening and thank all of our loyal customers.”
Asked if there is anything the community can do to help the business, Arsenis wrote “Just their support. Like I said there was a lot of damage and nothing is definite but we are working on it and are optimistic to reopen.”
Earlier this week, Arsenis’ niece Christy Kolokouris wrote to us, saying “he said that they started doing work on the restaurant and will hopefully reopen in a couple of weeks.”
Broadway Restaurant opened in 1970, and has retained its charm. Readers lamented the closure, with one calling it his “favorite throwback diner.”
So happy to see this. I’ll be there the day they reopen!
Walked by and saw the right-side shutter open on my way to Kim’s Fish Market. Mr Kim is a reminder of the varied shop owners that we had. Still miss Mr Joon, who, with his elderly father was very welcoming; even had a sign posted that offered refunds on any fish.
Please reopen Broadway Diner! We need more diners in this area. Hope you open soon.
Please, please, please, whatever you do, don’t replace the exterior sign in favor of something new and shiny and ordinary. The existing one is absolutely fabulous.
From Tony, To Tony:
I hope you’re still walking and furthermore I hope to see you walking home from your diner again and again
soon. Good luck!
Good luck! Please reopen soon. This is the kind of business the west side needs more of.
Used to be a lot of interesting work on those gates, seems like the 24th precinct is still at it. Officer Toro still at it with the spray paint?
Or maybe the owners of the diner didn’t want gang banging tags on their own private property. You could always invite them to come and graffiti up your door though – I’m sure your neighbors would approve!
Miss you. Will definitely come to dine week days and to brunch on week-ends.
We need more Greek and Mediterranean food around here.
Best wishes, and see you soon.
Best Diner in Manhattan! Best owner in Angelo. Best waiter in the Pope. Please open soon!
I hope they reopen soon and
Happy St Patrick’s everyone!
Wow, this is great news! When I was little we used to call this place “big windows”, and we would go very often for breakfast on the weekends. So glad its days are not over.
So it was you I saw in the window (when I was on my way uptown to Tom’s)!