Was it a restaurant opening or a car show?
On Monday, Cybertrucks and Teslas filed into the parking lot and lined around the block for the opening of the Tesla Diner: a two-story, retro-modern, steel-covered restaurant with two towering movie screens for customers to watch as they “supercharge” their cars.
It marks the popular but controversial car company’s first foray into the restaurant industry. Should it prove successful, owner Elon Musk posted to his social media platform X, the L.A. Tesla Diner will be the first of many.
The contentious new Hollywood diner will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The chef and co-operator Eric Greenspan posted a video of the diner set to Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” to his personal Instagram account with the caption, “Tesla Diner now open. 24/7 from now until forever.”
The roughly 9,300-square-foot Tesla Diner drew at least a thousand customers, according to co-operator Bill Chait, and at least one protester, on its first day. Some traveled for hours and arrived early in the morning to wait in line until the doors opened with little warning, and in memelord Musk fashion, at 4:20 p.m.
Across the bar at the Tesla Diner reads a Tesla mission statement: “Accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
(Lauren Ng / Los Angeles Times)
The opening day scene was a parade of Tesla owners, Musk fans and curious Angelenos who flocked to Santa Monica Boulevard to find parking lots outfitted with 80 superchargers compatible with any electric car, according to Chait.
Some of the vehicles outside were covered with custom decals, at least one done up in purple glitter, another with sparkly polka dots and one plastered with the face of the Musk-beloved crypto-meme dog, Doge.
The tuna melt at Tesla Diner comes served in a paper Cybertruck.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Inside, the diner boasts the smell of an In-N-Out in a space that looks as if it were plucked from Disney’s Tomorrowland. From behind the pass in the kitchen, Greenspan shouted customer orders: “Epic Bacon,” tuna melt, grilled cheese, egg sandwich add avocado — most of which come served in paper boxes shaped like Tesla Cybertrucks. Some customers wore them as hats.
The diner is also fully electric, from the fryers to the griddles (no gas stoves).
“If our retro-futuristic diner turns out well, which I think it will, @Tesla will establish these in major cities around the world, as well as at Supercharger sites on long distance routes,” Musk, a former President Trump senior advisor, wrote on X. “An island of good food, good vibes & entertainment, all while Supercharging!”
At the center of the diner are two industry veterans: restaurateur Chait, whose credits include Tartine, Mian, Paloma and Firstborn, among others, and Greenspan, a former Foundry and Patina chef, the creator of New School American Cheese and the culinary lead on MrBeast Burger.
The company gave Chait and Greenspan “more or less carte blanche to operate the diner within the Tesla brand,” Chait said.
Tesla began planning the diner in 2018. Franz von Holzhausen, a lead automotive designer at Tesla, oversaw much of the restaurant’s design and consulted with Chait and Greenspan to bring Musk’s vision to life.
Chait characterizes Musk — who has been lambasted by critics for his work in the Trump administration as well as a recent alleged Nazi salute, which he denied — as “a big thinker.” Longtime Tesla fan, investor and cinematographer James Miller, who arrived at the diner at 6:30 a.m. Monday, likened him to Michelangelo or “Steve Jobs on steroids.”
As smooth as the diner’s opening has proved for the operating duo, sometimes the restaurateurs learn news of it just like the rest of the world: from social media outbursts by its polarizing tech billionaire.
“We hear it before he posts it, usually, but there is stuff that he posts, you know, in the middle of the night: out come proclamations,” Chait said.
Chait said he submitted a proposal for the diner years ago; Tesla chose another operating team, then parted ways, and Chait reentered the picture. When it came to tapping a chef, the restaurateur said he knew who to call. He and Greenspan were already in development of a modern Jewish deli, called Mish, which is planned to open Oct. 3 on La Brea.
Tesla Diner chef and co-operator Eric Greenspan in the kitchen of the restaurant.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“He’s an American chef, he knows this food really well, he understands the system,” Chait said.
Greenspan envisioned a pseudo-retro diner. “Charged sodas” on draft are meant to evoke phosphates, and breakfast is served all day long. There are hot dogs, club sandwiches, biscuits with gravy, tallow French fries, cinnamon buns and slices of apple pie served with vanilla ice cream.
Tesla’s branding — and occasionally Musk’s meme-leaning humor — seep into the food. Waffles come stamped with Tesla’s lightning bolt, while a white paper carton holds four maple-glazed strips of “Epic Bacon.” Tesla’s engineers devised their own smashburger press, which produces crispy edges and a juicy center for the burger topped with caramelized onions, shredded lettuce, pickles, a punchy “Electric Sauce” and Greenspan’s brand of American cheese.
Even the electric vehicles’ range influenced the restaurant: Greenspan and Chait wanted to build a menu using purveyors found within a Tesla’s mileage from a single charge. Burbank’s RC Provisions makes the diner’s wagyu chili. Colton’s Chino Valley Ranchers provides the eggs, while Buena Park’s Brandt Beef supplies the burger patties. Tartine, with a location two blocks away, delivers the bread.
A Tesla smashburger, tallow fries, wagyu-chili hot dog and hash brown bites prepared in the all-electric kitchen of the Tesla Diner.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The diner does not allow tipping the staff; instead, Chait said, Tesla covers a 20% tip pool, which is distributed to both front- and back-of-house employees.
“Being in food service myself, it’s always great to see innovation,” said Nathan Hoover, a Tesla owner who drove from San Diego at 4 a.m. that morning. “I was impressed. It was worth the wait.”
Chait said he finds the integration of food and technology “outrageous.” Orders can be placed up to 24 hours in advance, while a new “geofence” system tracks when a Tesla enters a set perimeter, alerting the kitchen to ready its order 15 to 20 minutes from arrival.
Guests can select their preference of dining in or utilizing carhop-inspired delivery. Movies projected onto two large screens in the parking lot can also be viewed within the vehicle. “Easter eggs” are hidden in the menu; Chait said some may or may not pertain to how long certain buttons are held while ordering.
On opening day, rumors ran rampant. Does the diner take crypto as a form of payment? No, Chait said, at least not currently. Will robots deliver the food? No, but one was serving popcorn.
A Tesla Optimus robot hands out popcorn to customers on the rooftop of the Tesla Diner.
(Lauren Ng / Los Angeles Times)
The restaurant’s 360-degree rooftop — accessible by an all-white winding staircase with museum-like displays of Tesla’s humanoid Optimus robots in glass cases — offers ample seating and prime views of the movie screens. At the bar is the Diner Shop, where customers clamored for $40 Tesla Diner T-shirts and $175 levitating Cybertruck models. Adjacent sat a popcorn stand operated by none other than an Optimus itself. Fans giggled as the robot slowly filled paper boxes with popcorn, handed them to customers and gave a wave and peace sign.
Not everyone was there to plug in and dine.
Outside the entrance on Santa Monica Boulevard, a man strode the block carrying a sign that read “Workers should have power not the billionaires!”
It was, he promised, the first of many Tesla Diner protests to come.
Neighborhood resident Charles Happold protests the Tesla Diner on its opening day.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“I’m putting word out to Action Network and a variety of other Tesla takedown organizations, so we will be here in vast numbers from now on,” said Charles Happold, who lives in the neighborhood. “We will do everything in our power to get him to sell this place and get out of here.”
The activist said he regularly protests Tesla dealerships on weekends, and considers Musk to be a threat to democracy alongside President Trump. Happold also pointed to Musk’s estrangement from his trans daughter as proof of poor character.
Happold paced the sidewalk, occasionally garnering honks of support from passing cars. As guests exited the restaurant, he stopped them to ask why they supported Musk; many responded that they were unaware of the billionaire’s involvement.
“They’re playing dumb,” he said.
Los Angeles, Happold said, is not a city receptive to Musk. But Teslas queued down the block to enter the diner’s parking lot.
“I wanted to make sure there was sound presence here today at this secret grand opening that will make people understand that this is not something we will tolerate in Los Angeles,” Happold said. “We do not want this restaurant here unless he sells it: It’s a unique place and that would be fine, but we don’t want Musk involved at all.”
