What Happened to Joe's Cable Car Restaurant? (San Francisco, CA)
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Season 2 San Francisco, California Closed 2014
Current status
As of October 2026, Joe's Cable Car Restaurant has closed — confirmed via Wikipedia, July 11, 2026.
What the source shows: Wikipedia (revised 2026-07-11) states the restaurant closed in 2014 and its building was slated for demolition as of January 2021; a Yelp listing updated August 2026 marks the business as closed. How we decide a status →
- Episode Season 2, Episode 12
- Aired
- Address 4320 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94112
- Website No current website found
- Show map
© OpenStreetMap contributors © CARTO
What happened after Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives?
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives visited Joe's Cable Car Restaurant, a cable-car-shaped restaurant in the Excelsior District of San Francisco, California, known for grinding its own beef in-house for its burgers, during the episode "Burgers, Rings and Fries," which aired 2008-01-21. The restaurant was founded in 1965 and was owned and operated by Joe Obegi until 2014, according to Wikipedia (revised 2026-07-11). According to Wikipedia, the restaurant closed in 2014 and that the building at 4320 Mission Street was slated for demolition in early 2021. A Yelp business listing for the restaurant, updated August 2026, marks it as permanently closed.
No source located indicates the business reopened or relocated since 2014. The cable-car-styled dining room was purpose-built for the restaurant, a design detail Wikipedia's article credits with helping cement its local reputation, during Obegi's near half-century run, as home to one of San Francisco's best hamburgers.
The episode
Also in Season 2
Season 2: 36 of 45 still open · 3 renamed, moved or under new owners
-
Ep 11Galewood Cook Shack
Closed -
Ep 11Grinders Pizza
Open -
Ep 11Schooner or Later
Open -
Ep 11The Fly Trap
Open - New owners
-
Ep 12The Nook
Open -
Ep 13Hightstown Diner
Open -
Ep 13Jefferson Diner
Open
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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
We work hard to keep every status accurate and dated, but restaurants change fast and our sources aren't perfect. If something here is wrong — a status, a name, an address, anything — tell us what you're seeing and where you saw it, and we'll check it.
Record ddd-0074 · checked by Cal Marchetti.