The diner will reopen as a new restaurant, an owner says. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s Broadway Diner, a gleaming all-night mecca of stainless steel, Formica and neon, has closed.

The Monmouth Street eatery ended an 18-year run owning to the death of one of its owners, Bob Russo, and a restructuring of the business.

By coincidence, Mayor Pasquale Menna and new borough school Superintendent Jared Rumage were the last customers, Menna told redbankgreen.

“We had the last cups of coffee,” he said.

“Better things are coming,” said Rocky Coviello, one of the owners, attributed the closing to the February death of his partner, Bob Russo.

Russo’s family is taking full ownership of the business and will reopen it with a new restaurant, he said.

Coviello referred redbankgreen to Amy Russo, who couldn’t be reached immediately.

“It’s nothing to do with business, nothing to do with the town,” Coviello said. “Red Bank is a great town, and I wish I could stay here.”

He called the closing “bittersweet.”

“They had 18 years of a really good run,” Menna said. “The best thing about the diner was that it was open all night.

“The good news is that it’s not a permanent closure,” he said.