{"id":313883,"date":"2026-08-04T23:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T23:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/313883\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T23:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T23:54:12","slug":"nycs-theater-district-provides-ideal-home-for-new-diner-24-featuring-singing-waitstaff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/313883\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC’s Theater District provides ideal home for new Diner 24 featuring singing waitstaff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Diner 24 is getting an encore of sorts, opening new digs in New York City\u2019s Theater District <\/a>where customers will be serenaded by singing waiters while chowing down on classic eats, Side Dish has learned.<\/p>\n

The new two-story space is slated to open late next month at 1674 Broadway, a landmarked building run by the Emmes Group.<\/p>\n

Think \u201cZorba the Greek,\u201d \u201cMamma Mia,\u201d and \u201cMy Big Fat Greek Wedding,\u201d said proprietor Stratis Morfogen.<\/p>\n

The new two-story space is slated to open late next month at 1674 Broadway, a landmarked building run by the Emmes Group. Paul\u0092s Signs Inc<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not a Broadway show, but it is theatrical and great entertainment. There will be lots of fun stuff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Still, customers will be able to get an authentic experience while they eat \u2013 five of about 16 singing waiters hired so far have Broadway and off-Broadway experience, according to the restaurateur.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have steady work, and that\u2019s why they want to do this now,\u201d Morfogen explained.<\/p>\n

The original Diner 24 in Gramercy was famed for its \u201cchurch ladies\u201d \u2014 grandmas known as yia yias in Greek \u2014 who came out of retirement<\/a> to create homemade Greek dessert specialties with their own recipes.<\/p>\n

It has grown so fast in the past two years, with sales jumping from $2.5 million to $6 million a year, that the two \u201cyia yias\u201d in their 70s and 80s now work for John Nikolopoulos, or \u201cpapou\u201d \u2014\u00a0 which means grandfather in Greek \u2014 out of his Brooklyn commissary and bakery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Customers will be able to get an authentic experience while they eat \u2013 five of about 16 singing waiters hired so far have Broadway and off-Broadway experience, according to Stratis Morfogen. World Red Eye<\/p>\n

Nikolopoulos just celebrated his 90th birthday. He has been baking American, French and Greek desserts for the past 75 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very good. I\u2019m strong,\u201d Nikolopoulos told Side Dish, scoffing at the thought of retiring. He is known for making delicious cheesecake and baklava, as well as bagels, breads, red velvet cakes and apple pies.<\/p>\n

While the sweet treats will be served in both diners, only Diner 24 in the Theater District comes with singing waiters.<\/p>\n

The Theatre District space will seat 235 people with an additional 16 seats outside and comes with singing waiters. Daniel Kwak<\/p>\n

Theater, Morfogen says, is part of his DNA. Actors in the family include his late uncle, stage and screen veteran George Morfogen, who appeared in the series, \u201cOz.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new Diner 24 comes full circle for me,\u201d Morfogen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Theatre District space will seat 235 people with an additional 16 seats outside. It includes a stage upstairs with a 20-foot runway that divides the booths for the performers to be elevated above the guests, with stage lighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want it to feel like an off-Broadway play,\u201d Morfogen said. \u201cThere will be so much energy upstairs. We have great food and the performances. It\u2019s exciting for the consumer. It\u2019s dinner and a show and the only place on Broadway where the show never closes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The menu will follow the success of the first Diner 24, in Gramercy, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found a formula with Diner 24,\u201d Morfogen said. \u201cWe created a diner that is more focused on the new generation, with fresh produce, no longer dependent on a six-page, plastic-coated menu that\u2019s driven from the freezer,\u201d Morfogen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found a niche, a \u2018diner 2.0\u2019 version that is working \u2014 with big burgers, crazy shakes and all-day breakfast.\u201d<\/p>\n

The menu will follow the success of the first Diner 24, in Gramercy, Morfogen said. Daniel Kwak<\/p>\n

The new Theater District opening came about organically, he said.<\/p>\n

Another restaurateur had invested millions in the space and walked away during a friends-and-family week \u2014 and that\u2019s when the Emmes Group reached out, according to Morfogen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They worked out a revenue-sharing model for rent and a strategy including pricing, which will be slightly higher at the new spot than in Gramercy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Burgers, for example, are $10 at the Gramercy location and $12 in the Theater District, with double-decker smash burgers costing $19 in Gramercy and $23 in the Theater District. The new space will also have a shake bar.<\/p>\n

Prices will be slightly higher in the Theater District. Daniel Kwak<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that sales in the area will be robust,\u201d Morfogen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He originally wanted to add performances to Diner 24 in Gramercy, but the space was smaller: 1,500 square feet with 75 seats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we go all out for birthdays, with singing waiters and sparklers,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Gramercy location benefits from hospitals, police and other institutions with night workers, as well as 16 bars within a few blocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cater to them all. Midnight to 5 a.m. is our busiest time,\u201d Morfogen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that sales in the area will be robust,\u201d Morfogen says.\u00a0 Daniel Kwak<\/p>\n

Meanwhile at 1674 Broadway, the building \u2014 which once housed Birdland, where Count Bassie and Ella Fitzgerlad performed \u2014 recently welcomed The Lambs, the oldest professional theatrical club, founded in 1874.<\/p>\n

Diner 24\u2019s expansion comes as Pearl Diner, a stand-alone, one-story structure surrounded by skyscrapers, closed in FiDi earlier this month after 64 years in business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Morfogen, who grew up running Greek diners with his late father, wants to buy both Pearl Diner and the Ritz Diner, which recently closed after a solid 25 years on the Upper East Side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The original Diner 24 in Gramercy. Daniel Kwak<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to buy them back. They are nostalgia,\u201d said Morfogen, adding that he would take an approach of, \u201cI\u2019m not in the restaurant business, I\u2019m in the theater business,.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also taking a modern approach, factoring in social media and noting that with \u201cviral content on TikTok, you can fill a tree house in Antarctica with lines out the door.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, he\u2019s eyeing new outposts beyond the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking to expand the concept not just in New York but across the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Diner 24 is getting an encore of sorts, opening new digs in New York City\u2019s Theater District where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[288,4544,26424,289,9,56,63,65,64,821,292],"class_list":["post-313883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-business","tag-chefs","tag-diners","tag-food-drink","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-restaurants","tag-side-dish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}