Less than six months after its grand opening, Elon Musk's Tesla Diner in Los Angeles has seen a dramatic drop in popularity. Once drawing hours-long queues and hundreds of customers, the Hollywood diner now feels like a ghost town, with sparse crowds and a largely empty parking lot.
The retro-futuristic eatery, which combines a 1950s-style diner with Tesla Supercharger stations, has lost its initial novelty. The Optimus robot that served popcorn, the popular 'Epic Bacon' strips, and even the head chef Eric Greenspan are all gone. Greenspan, a Le Cordon Bleu graduate, left last month to focus on opening a Jewish deli called Mish.
The diner faced challenges from the start, including anti-Musk protests, noise complaints, and reports of sold-out or subpar food. Critics described the menu—featuring items like the $13.50 'Tesla Giga Burger' and $8 milkshakes—as forgettable and the concept as a corporate branding exercise. Despite Musk's claims that the diner was 'one of the coolest spots in LA,' the buzz has faded.
Musk had touted plans for a chain of Tesla diners in major cities worldwide, but so far only the Los Angeles location exists. While Tesla posted on X in October that it had sold 50,000 burgers since opening, the wave of social media influencers and positive reviews has since subsided. The diner now operates with more staff than customers, maintaining a spotless but quiet atmosphere.
