Tom's Restaurant (Manhattan)
Tom s Restaurant is a diner located at 2880 Broadway on the corner of 112th Street in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Even though the interior and exterior have undergone minor remodeling since the show, Tom s is featured in the Seinfeld New York Tour conducted by Kenny Kramer and the trademark Tom s Restaurant marquee still exists above the exterior windows. Coordinates: 40°48′20″N 73°57′56″W / 40.80556°N 73.96556°W / 40.80556; -73.96556 .Frequented by students and faculty of nearby Columbia University, it has been owned and operated by the Greek-American Minasizoulis family since the 1950s. Tom s Restaurant was the locale of Suzanne Vega s 1987 song Tom s Diner . Later its exterior was used as a stand-in for the fictional Monk s Cafe in the popular television sitcom Seinfeld, where comedian Jerry Seinfeld s eponymous character and his friends regularly gathered to eat.
The interior, however, looked very little like the fictional Monk s , as indoor scenes were filmed on a set in California resembling the Broadway diner between 101st and 102nd Streets. Early Seinfeld episodes showed the entire neon sign; later, allegedly to avoid royalties, the Tom s portion was cropped out, showing only the RESTAURANT wraparound.
