NORTH JERSEY — After several Jersey diners closed in the last six months, hungry foodies got more bad news last week: a classic 1940s eatery isn’t coming back.
The site of the former Mailbu Diner, which was located in northern Hoboken since 1941, now has signage saying that One Medical — operated by Hackensack Meridian Health — is coming to that spot soon. (See the before and after photos below.)
When the diner closed in late 2021, the family who owned it said they’d reopen it someday as part of a residential development.
The diner offered an array of seafood, meat, and pasta dishes for reasonable prices, as well as omelettes, sandwiches, baked goods — and parking.
At one point, the diner owners said they wanted to build a five-story apartment building with the diner on the ground floor. The site was demolished in 2022 in order to rebuild.
An apartment building called the Constantine opened in 2024, advertising ground-floor retail space. The apartments rented for a starting price of $4,100 per month.
Now the space has an anchor tenant. One Medical is a partnership with Amazon that offers primary, pediatric, and some specialty care with online booking.
Hoboken is left without a diner, although the city has dozens of popular restaurants.
Diner In Bergen County Will Return
But for Jersey diner fans, all is not lost.
The Bendix Diner in Hasbrouck Heights is on track to reopen some time this year.
Restaurateur Peter Meskouris told Patch he was dividing the classic diner, located at the crux of two busy Bergen County roads, into two parts and then restoring it.
“Everything is fine,” he said, giving an update this week. “Restoring the two original carts, which take time. The two new buildings in the back of the diner should be done in a couple of months.”