Large, Smoky Fire Temporarily Closes Diner in Edison, NJ

EDISON — A diner along Route 1 in this Middlesex County town is closed after a fire with heavy smoke broke out after closing.

People saw large amounts of smoke billowing from the Menlo Park Diner around 10 p.m. Saturday night, Edison Fire Chief Andrew Toth said.

Firefighters quickly responded. They found the source of the smoke was a fire in the kitchen.

They put out the flames but the smoke remained incredibly thick. Toth said that to ventilate the building, the firefighters had to break the diner's skylights.

There were no injuries in the two-alarm fire, Mayor Sam Joshi said on Facebook. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

No one was inside the diner when the blaze started, Toth said.

Is the Menlo Park Diner in Edison for sale?

The diner at one time was open 24 hours a day but changed to only open daily 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. after losing employees due to the pandemic, owner Steve Mitossis said to News 12 New Jersey in January.

At the time, a listing through EXP Realty put the diner up for sale.

It was priced at $4 million. Mitossis was quoted as saying that they weren't looking to go "anywhere soon" but that if someone was willing to pay that much for the diner and a sale went through, then he would announce it.