Check Out Mike's City Diner's Brand New, Art Deco-Inspired Look

The newly revamped Mike’s City Diner. (All photos by Leah Mennies/Boston magazine)

After over a decade of serving his hearty, greasy-spoon-style food to the South End neighborhood, owner Jay Hajj decided to give his diner a big facelift, complete with art-deco touches and clean, sleek seating. “I wanted an art-deco look. I didn’t want to do a 70’s-style place, I wanted it to be a little bit different,” Hajj says. “I wanted to still have a homey feeling, so I figured that I’d be a little bit different and go for a 20’s, 30’s, 40’s kind of a feeling to it.” Find more details on the updated digs (which are open to the public now), ahead.

While the black, white, and red palette is strikingly similar to the previous incarnation of Mike’s, Hajj insists that everything from the seating and tables to the ceiling and lighting has been entirely replaced, even the flooring, which he helped tile by hand. “Before, the floor was just not designed to handle the traffic that we were doing,” Hajj says. “We built it a lot stronger.”

Deco-style lighting fixtures and a textured ceiling (which, believe it or not, is vinyl) add to the throwback look.

The above chalkboard was custom-designed to mimic a 20’s-era piece that Hajj found at Restoration Resources in the South End. While the space has changed, the menu remains identical.

Even the red barstools have been replaced, and there’s updated subway-style tile work in the kitchen backsplash.

What do you think about Mike’s City Diner’s new look? Let us know in the comments.

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