Elmwood Diner

For the past 3 years, our family loved running Elmwood Diner. We love our customers, our staff, and our food. But we need our weekends back! We officially closed our doors April 2. The Diner is listed for sale at CorbettRestaurantGroup.com. Thank you to everyone for being fabulous and giving our family such a wonderful experience. It was our pleasure to serve you.

“Since when,” he asked, “Are the first line and last line of any poem, Where the poem begins and ends?” -Seamus Heaney

The Elmwood Diner originally was car number 806 built in the factory of the Worcester Lunch Car Company in Massachusetts. In 1947, Ralph “Truck” Narducci of Providence ordered the custom-built diner—completely furnished and stocked—and opened Central Diner for business at the corner of West Exchange and Gaspee streets in Downtown Providence. This spot (where the Westin Hotel stands today). Ralph Narducci relocated the Central Diner from Providence’s central business district 2.75 miles south to 777 Elmwood Avenue in 1953-54 and built a new concrete block kitchen structure in anticipation of bigger business. The relocated diner was known as Central Diner through 1972. It has changed hands, changed names, and received a number of facelifts since then. Some may remember eating at Elmwood Diner, Jenn’s Elmwood Diner, Ole Elmwood Diner, Louie's Diner, La Criolla Restaurant, or The Liberty Elm Diner. In 2009, the National Park Service added Central Diner to the National Register of Historic Places. The diner was purchased by Zoe Neves and family in January 2014 and is open for business! (Historical information taken from a RI Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission press release from Februray 2010)