Guests can charge their Teslas while getting ‘epic bacon’ and tuna melts carhopped to their vehicles, and other unique quirks we learned at the opening of Elon Musk’s new Tesla Diner in Hollywood.
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, 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, in memelord Musk fashion, at 4:20 p.m.
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.
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.
