TV Restaurants

Is Taco Bus Still Open? Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Update (Tampa, FL)

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Season 12 Tampa, Florida

Current status

Open

As of October 2026, Taco Bus is listed open on taco-bus.com, reviewed by our team on September 7, 2026; not yet independently confirmed through direct contact.

What the source shows: Taco Bus's own website, checked in September 2026, shows a current menu, active online ordering and no closure sign at the 3939 US-301 location. How we decide a status →

What happened after Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives? 2 episodes

Part 1 — Season 12, Episode 11 Aired

On Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (S12E11, 'Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner,' aired October 31, 2011), Guy Fieri praised the tortas at Taco Bus while sampling the Tampa restaurant's Mexican street food. According to Wikipedia, Taco Bus began as a food truck on Hillsborough Avenue under chef and owner Rene Valenzuela before growing into multiple Tampa-area storefronts, including the US-301 location later confirmed for this record. The business's website, checked in September 2026, listed a current menu, an active online-ordering system and a store locator spanning several Tampa Bay-area addresses, with no indication of a closure at the 3939 US-301 location. Taco Bus's own site also promotes a 'Bus Club' loyalty program and continues to describe the chain as operating multiple restaurants.

Part 2 — Season 27, Episode 5 Aired

This Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives segment featured Taco Bus, a Tampa taco business that grew from a single bus into a multi-location restaurant chain. According to Taco Bus's own account of the visit (taco-bus.com), Guy Fieri sampled the restaurant's tortas, a Mexican sandwich, during the segment. According to the same source, after the episode aired, Taco Bus began receiving recurring email inquiries from visitors traveling from northern states specifically because they had seen the restaurant on Food Network.

The episodes Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

Episode 11
Aired
Title: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner · What was featured: tortas and other Mexican street food from a food-truck-turned-restaurant
Season 27, Episode 5
Aired
Title: Mex to the Max · What was featured: Tortas (Mexican sandwiches) that impressed Guy Fieri
How Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives restaurants have fared: 27% closed →

Also in Season 12 Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

Season 12: 20 of 39 still open · 1 renamed, moved or under new owners

All 13 Season 12 episodes →

Nearest restaurants By distance from 3939 US-301

All 277 TV restaurants in Florida →

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 4 references

  1. taco-bus.com http://www.taco-bus.com/
  2. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taco_Bus
  3. taco-bus.com https://taco-bus.com/taco-bus-story-florida-icon/
  4. flavortownusa.com https://www.flavortownusa.com/locations/470/tampa-taco-bus
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Record ddd-0461 · checked by Cal Marchetti.