Is Hodad's Still Open? Best Thing I Ever Ate Update (San Diego, CA)

Best Thing I Ever Ate, Season 1, Episode 3

Hodad's Ocean Beach appeared in the "With Bacon" episode (S1E3), which featured the restaurant's bacon cheeseburger. Hodad's is a small hamburger restaurant chain in San Diego, California, established in 1969 by husband and wife Byron and Virginia Hardin, according to Wikipedia (revised 2026-08-03). Following Byron's death in 1984, his son Mike Hardin took over daily operations and later moved the restaurant to its current Newport Avenue location in Ocean Beach, according to Wikipedia. Mike died in 2015, leaving the business to his children Shane and Lexi, according to Wikipedia.

A site check on 2026-09-08 found Hodad's website (hodadsoceanbeach.com) live, listing the Ocean Beach location along with an online ordering widget and gift-card sales. Wikipedia also reports that the restaurant has appeared on Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" and has been included on multiple "best of" lists for its burgers.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Season 17, Episode 11 Aired August 5, 2013

Guy Fieri returned to Hodad's, the Ocean Beach burger stand, for the "All San Diego, All the Time" segment after an earlier Triple D visit to the same restaurant. According to Ocean Beach San Diego News, the revisit centered on the Guido Burger, a menu item topped with pastrami, Swiss cheese, spicy brown mustard, and grilled onions that remains on the menu today. SanDiegoVille's retrospective road-map of Fieri's local stops likewise credits Hodad's repeat appearance to that pastrami-topped burger. The segment aired as part of the season 17 episode that also featured Pizzeria Luigi and OB Noodle House in the same Ocean Beach neighborhood.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Season 2, Episode 3 Aired October 15, 2007

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives featured Hodad's in Ocean Beach, San Diego in the 'Seaside Eats' episode, spotlighting the small burger chain's bacon cheeseburger. Byron and Virginia Hardin established Hodad's in 1969; after Byron died in 1984, their son Mike Hardin took over operations, later moving the business to its current Newport Avenue location in Ocean Beach and opening additional locations near Petco Park and at 10th Avenue and Broadway. Mike Hardin died in 2015, leaving the business to his children, Shane and Lexi. According to Wikipedia (revised 2026-08-03), Hodad's has enjoyed a large increase in sales since its Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives appearance, often selling thousands of burgers daily, and has appeared on multiple best-of lists. A Yelp listing for the Ocean Beach location at 5010 Newport Ave, updated August 2026, showed the restaurant active with more than 6,600 reviews.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Season 33, Episode 11 Aired March 19, 2021

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives visited Hodad's Ocean Beach in San Diego, California, for the "Takeout: Carnivore Delivery" episode, which aired on Food Network on 2021-03-19. Hodad's Ocean Beach bills itself, on its own website, as the "Best American Restaurant in San Diego" and lists a menu, drinks, gift cards, shop merchandise, and upcoming events, along with an option for large group orders. The restaurant operates on Newport Avenue in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego. A site check on 2026-09-08 found hodadsoceanbeach.com still live with a working online ordering system and links to the business's Instagram and Google pages, according to the business's website. Google Places separately lists the business as operational. No news coverage of a closure, sale, or relocation was found in the available records.