PATERSON — The new owners of the Mr. G’s diner, which reopened six weeks ago to praise from numerous politicians, announced they will shut down on Sunday, citing a lawsuit accusing them of stealing the iconic restaurant’s name.
“Litigation over the name of our diner has presented significant operational challenges, which unfortunately prevented our vision for Mr. G’s Diner from coming to fruition,” the owners said in a statement issued Wednesday. “If we do re-open, it will be under a new name.”
The property also has pending violations issued by city inspectors accusing the new owners of not getting requisite municipal permits.
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On top of that, some people said the diner’s new menu was far pricier than the original one, and there have been complaints about the quality of the food.
“It’s been slow,” Paterson activist Ernest Rucker said about the flow of business at Mr. G’s since the reopening.
Russell Graddy — a revered Paterson civil rights activist, political insider, community leader and business figure — had operated the restaurant he called Mr. G’s for 14 years before he died in 2021.
Yaakoub Hijazi, who also owns Star Laundry, a few blocks away, bought the property for $800,000 in 2023, public records show. He entered a partnership with Mayor Andre Sayegh’s former business administrator, Vaughn McKoy, to reopen the diner and keep the name Mr. G’s.
Sayegh — a self-proclaimed foodie — had been touting the return of Mr. G’s on social media for months.
"We are deeply disappointed about the news relative to Mr.G's Diner," the mayor said. "However, we are eager to see what will become of the recently renovated restaurant."
Daughter says Mr. G's name used without permission
Graddy’s daughter, Lenise, accused Hijazi and McKoy of using the Mr. G’s name without permission from her father’s estate. She filed a lawsuit against the new owners on the same day they held their reopening ceremony in August, dropping her complaint in federal court before the balloons from the party were deflated.
Hijazi and McKoy did not respond to messages from Paterson Press regarding the imminent shutdown.
Lenise Graddy filed a request with the courts for an injunction to force the new owners to stop calling their restaurant Mr. G’s. That motion is still pending.
“Defendants have been shameless in their unlawful efforts to mislead the public into believing that defendants’ counterfeit diner is the same beloved diner business that was once operated by the Graddys,” the lawsuit says.
Critics, including the daughter, have suggested that McKoy, who is Black, was serving as the front man for Hijazi, to gain credibility for a restaurant that was prominent in Paterson’s African American community.
Graddy's family welcomed the news that the diner would not reopen as Mr. G's.
"After two years of unyielding grief after Mr. G's death, Mr. G is at peace," family members said on social media.
Hijazi a partner in cannabis stores, owns Star Laundry
Hijazi also was a partner in one of three businesses that city officials approved more than a year ago to operate retail cannabis stores in Paterson. But none of those three has opened for business yet.
Hijazi’s Star Laundry is undergoing expansion at present, with the construction of a structure that will connect two previously existing buildings. As part of that work, the Sayegh administration has given Hijazi permission to shut down a two-block stretch of East 16th Street for a month.
Hijazi said earlier this year that he expected to spend $1.2 million renovating the diner.
Rucker, the community activist, said he was disappointed when he ate at the reopened diner. The cook who worked there when Graddy owned the diner said he was not rehired by the new owners.
“When you have an institution like Mr. G’s, it’s very hard to try to repeat it,” Rucker said. “It was not Mr. G’s menu,” he added about the prices.
Paterson Press asked Rucker about the quality of the food.
“To be honest with you, I didn’t like it,” he said.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Iconic Paterson diner Mr. G's, reopened 6 weeks ago, closing over name dispute
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