TV Restaurants

What Happened to Buster's Beach House After Mystery Diners?

Mystery Diners, Season 4 Long Beach, California

Current status

Closed

As of October 2026, Buster's Beach House has closed — confirmed via Yelp, July 2026.

What the source shows: A Yelp listing for Buster's Beach House at its Long Beach marina address was updated in July 2026 and marks the restaurant permanently closed. How we decide a status →

About this show's format: Described as staged/scripted by Wikipedia's article, citing a 2012 realityblurred.com report. Surface this note on every record.

What happened after Mystery Diners?

In the Mystery Diners (Food Network) episode "Chef's Choice" (season 4, episode 1; aired July 17, 2013), owner Patrick called in the crew over concerns about heavy liquor loss at Buster's Beach House, a restaurant and bar on the Long Beach, California waterfront. Undercover investigators found bartender K.P. was pocketing cash through a lemon-slice counting scheme, and separately found that executive chef Johnny had been the subject of complaints about inappropriate conduct toward female staff, along with favoritism shown to certain regular customers. When confronted, both K.P. and Johnny were fired by Patrick.

Wikipedia's article on Mystery Diners, citing its sources, notes that the program carries a disclaimer stating its events may be staged or re-enacted for dramatic effect, and describes a television critic's view that some of its scenarios read as implausible. A Yelp listing for Buster's Beach House at 168 N Marina Dr, updated in July 2026, marks the restaurant and music venue as permanently closed. A separate Yelp listing for a same-named Buster's Beach House location in San Diego was also marked permanently closed, updated in June 2026. this check did not check the Long Beach location's own Facebook or Instagram pages for any further dated confirmation of its closure.

The episode Mystery Diners, Season 4

Episode 1
Aired
Title: Chef's Choice · What was featured: bartender skimming drink cash while a chef faced misconduct complaints
How Mystery Diners restaurants have fared: 55% closed →

Also in Season 4 Mystery Diners

Season 4: 3 of 13 still open

All 13 Season 4 episodes →

Nearest open restaurants By distance from 168 N Marina Dr

All 892 TV restaurants in California →

Before you go: Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources we checked 3 references

  1. Yelp https://www.yelp.com/biz/busters-beach-house-long-beach
  2. Yelp https://www.yelp.com/biz/busters-beach-house-san-diego-3
  3. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Diners
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Record md-035 · checked by Cal Marchetti.