Studio Diner

San Diego, United States

3.8

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards
Free Wi-Fi

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 858-715-6400
Website:
www.studiodiner.com
Address:
4701 Ruffin Rd, San Diego, CA, 92123
b/t Kearny Spectrum Blvd & Balboa Ave
Kearny Mesa
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.6 miKearny Mesa Transit Center
3.1 miQualcomm Stadium
3.2 miFenton Parkway
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Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
No
Delivery
No
Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Good For
Breakfast, Late Night
Parking
Private Lot
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
Yes
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Ambience
Casual
Noise Level
Average
Alcohol
Beer & Wine Only
Outdoor Seating
Yes
Wi-Fi
Free
Has TV
Yes
Waiter Service
Yes
Caters
No

Today

Today –
Local time (San Diego) 2:37 PM Thursday, November 28, 2024

Business hours

Monday 5:30 am – 12:00 am
Tuesday 5:30 am – 12:00 am
Wednesday 5:30 am – Thu
Thursday –
Friday –
Saturday –
Sunday 5:30 am – 12:00 am

Description

Specialties

Samson’s Steak Sandwich .(Awesome Baby!)…$ 11.95

Slice & Marinated Prime Rib, grilled with cheese, spinach, mushrooms, bean sprouts, and onion on a toasted roll

Of course… there’s often copied, never duplicated…

Count of Monte Cristo …$ 10.50

A Studio favorite, battered and fried sandwich stuffed with turkey, ham, Swiss & Cheddar served with raspberry preserves.

You’re going to love this one!!!

History

Established in 2003.

Originally built in the summer of 2003 as another TV/​Movie set to the next door 20 acre Stu Segall Productions facility… was modified along the way to serve great food to late night film crews and then San Diego’s dining public.

Sure we have our share of hams (Actors) eat here but we have gotten really more known for our regulars who eat eat several times a week from the Kearny Mesa Mesa business district and the familes of the great Tierrasanta neighborhood across I-​15.

Guy Fieri and the Food Network’s «Diners, Drive-​Ins and Dives» stopped by for 3 – 4 days last summer.

That show is soooo Popular and brought in so many new faces, we think a few of the regulars were bummed out that we got «discovered»!

We’re still here to serve you, young, new, old, neighbors, friends and visitors!

We are family run and serve 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

(Closed Thanksgiving day at 11am & Xmas eve at 4pm till noon Xmas day)

Meet the Manager

Jim P.

Manager

Hi, I’m Jim, the General Manager here at Studio Diner.

I started in the restaurant business when I was 13 washing dishes

& bussing tables.

Originally born in Massachusetts and raised near Buffalo, New York.

I’ve ate in a LOT of Diners!

This is a Great spot and it’s a lot of work to try and get so many staff members to work 24⁄7 to serve hundreds of people each day.

But the reward is knowing I have a lot of Great employees who like working here as much as I do… and meeting & becoming friends with so many repeat customers!

Please ask for me when you visit and

I can tell you more about this

Excellent «East Coast style» family American Diner.

Jim

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Vicinity

Near this location:
240
ft
Stu Segall Production
4705 Ruffin Rd
240
ft
Background San Diego
4705 Ruffin Rd
290
ft
Strategic Operations
4705 Ruffin Rd
540
ft
Bekaert Specialty Films
4540 Viewridge Avenue
540
ft
San Diego Mortgage
9444 Balboa Avenue
620
ft
Jack in the Box Innovation Center
Corporate Headquarters 9357 Spectrum Center Blvd

20 reviews of Studio Diner

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Big Bear Lake, CA
I love this place!
My husband took me here when we started dating. The count of Monte Cristo with Mac n cheese: D is what we usually order.
It is worth it! :) be sure to try it next time you visit Studio Diner: D
I also enjoy ordering hot cocoa.
It’s open late, which is great. You can satisfy your midnight cravings.
The service is really good too.
The portions are a bit big for me, but I always ask for a box so I can enjoy those yummy leftovers at home.
Remember people: The Count of Monte Cristo!
Place rating: 2
San Diego, CA
I was so excited to eat here. My husband has been talking about this place for years! I ordered the T-​bone steaks and eggs. It came with hash browns, toast and a long strand of hair!!! The hair was on my wheat toast. The waitress took the toast and said she’d be right back with more toast. Almost 10 minutes later… here she comes. I’m over it and I won’t be coming back.
Place rating: 4
Corona, CA
Portions are very generous. Movie themed restaurant located near a studio lot, (hence the name). I had the fish plate a little on the bland side, but that sucka was huge!
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
Good breakfast! Awsome brownie! I will repeat! I need to try the sundae and milkshake! I spent there a good time! And the menu is sooooo good! You cant decide what you want to eat, because you want all… Amd you see the peoples orders and you want it too!
Really good american food in a good environment. Cool place.
Check my profile:
Instagram: chicandfashionlife
Place rating: 4
San Diego, CA
Tried this diner for the first time today. I had read in other reviews about how delicious their Monte Cristo Sandwich is. On a whim I tried it and sure enough it was delicious. The atmosphere is cute in this place and the menu has many mouth watering items on it. If you are in the area give this diner a try for sure!
Place rating: 4
La Mesa, CA
Never had a bad meal here, and I have been there at least 15 times. Breakfast and lunch, never dinner. Never had bad service either.
Place rating: 4
San Diego, CA
I have been here plenty of times, and I always walk out satisfied. First off they are open late nights, 24 hours from what I recall. So perfect place to visit anytime, especially after a late night of drinking. Parking is not too bad, their lot is kind of small, but there is plenty of street parking, and a business lot that seems free at night.
Service is hit or miss. Seating is done promptly and they usually get the orders done fast and correctly. I normally don’t have any problems, although this particular trip I noticed our waitress occasionally sitting in some booths with other customers. The food itself came out promptly, but when asking for a box and check it took our waitress quite a bit of time, she even gave me the wrong check (I was wondering why it was so cheap!) and it took another couple of minutes just to flag her down to fix it.
For this particular trip, I had the Prime Rib Sandwich which was incredibly juicy with a side of waffle fries, and my girlfriend decided to get the Monte Cristo, which I praised so highly, with a side of coleslaw. Both tasted amazing and delicious, and my girlfriend really enjoyed the coleslaw. The portions were HUGE, I was barely able to finish my sandwich (I didn’t even touch my fries) and my girlfriend was only able to eat about 1 and a half triangles of her Monte Cristo. Safe to say after a little retoasting, we had food for the next day. Amazing amount of food for a decent price, with each dish about 10 – 15 dollars.
Place rating: 3
San Diego, CA
Ordered some fries and a milk shake about midnight on Friday. Fries came out quickly, and a good size serving for $ 2.75. Half of them were golden brown and crispy. the other half were pale, and either soggy or hard (as in not cooked.) Sent them back, and another order arrived again very quickly (like, in less time than it takes to fry them in the deep fryer) They were no better. Wondering if the oil was old or not at the right temperature.
Milk shake was awesome. Chocolate with banana.
Staff was indifferent. After the issue with the fries, you would think someone would come over and say «are these ones to your liking?» Not a word.
Place rating: 4
San Diego, CA
**BOGO ENTREE WITH PASSPORT CARD**
Open 24 hours !
I used to come here all the time back in college to satisfy the midnight munchies. Its pretty good for diner food, definitely blows Denny’s out of the water. Milkshakes are noteworthy. Onion rings are beer battered and delicious. Plenty of menu options to choose from so theres something for everyone.
Place rating: 5
Santa Monica, CA
This place is excellent. Food is excellent. The staff is excellent.
Whoever owns this place runs it correctly.
Will be back.
Place rating: 5
El Cajon, CA
This place was amazing and even though I had good expectations I was still blown away. It had all the key components in being the perfect restaurant. First and foremost the service is spectacular. From the smiley friendly greeter in her winter clothes, to our wonderful waitress Christie and the rest of the staff we came into contact with. Everyone was very attentive, quick, and very friendly. We got our food fast and it was so delicious! To start the chicken tortilla soup was unbelievable and the sandwiches we got for dinner were incredible too! Next, was the ambiance. It was just too cute! An old style diner feel, equipped with the neon lights outside and cute furniture on the inside. Love it. I’m so sad I have just discovered this place! We can’t wait to come back and try everything on the menu!
Place rating: 3
San Marcos, CA
I’ve been craving Monte Cristo for a while! This was the closest place my boyfriend and I could think of. We also saw it on diners, drive ins, and dives, pretty cool!
Came Saturday around 12, there was a 20 minute wait. When we were seated there was a lot of empty tables, so why the wait? Maybe short staff, that’s understandable.
I ordered the garden salad and the monte Cristo my boyfriend ordered the salad and a hot pastrami roll.
The salads came out probably a minute after we ordered they were very good. About 5 minutes after that our food came out. The first couple bites of the monte Cristo was so delicious! After a while they started getting soggy, good thing they are so filling after a couple bites! My boyfriend also enjoyed his sandwich as well.
Just a typical diner, diner food. I feel like the staff could of been more friendly. Other than that everything was average, might come back if I was in the area.
Place rating: 3
San Diego, CA
I remember when I first came here they where open 24 hours but now they have changed it to where they are open 24 hours on Thursday to Saturday.
Anyways, I got their grilled portobello sandwich ($ 8.95) which has portobello mushroom on a sourdough bread with lettuce, tomato, onion red pepper aioli sauce and fries. Hmmm, the sandwich is OK. I wish they grilled the portobello mushroom longer cause it was still hard, and it wasn’t juicy at all. The whole sandwich itself wasn’t flavorful so I had to add seasoning myself. The fries where season nicely and super cripsy, I enjoyed eating the fries more than the sandwich.
My boyfriend got the «Improv» ($ 8.95) which is a build your own omelet, up to 4 ingredient of your choice, with bread and hash brown. He picked spinach, cheese, avocado and mushroom for his omelet. The omelet was another OK. It wasn’t the best or the worst, just alright.
Overall this place was a miss for us. I feel like I could go somewhere else to get better tasting food. Service was fine, didn’t have any issue.
Place rating: 3
San Diego, CA
Came here for dinner, was craving their chili cheese fries. They ran out of the house chili, so they did steak chili instead. Yay for a normal portion of chili cheese fries, I still don’t understand why there’s no consistency. I’ve gotten small portions of this dish in the past, reason why I haven’t been in forever. Their food is very good for a diner. I got a burger, always good. I’ll still come here occasionally, just not as often as I used to dine here. If they are more consistent with their portions, then maybe I’ll be a regular again.
Place rating: 4
San Diego, CA
The food here is pretty basic but you can get a good sandwich here. I like to use my passport discount card. Nice way to save money
Place rating: 4
San Diego, CA
Had to come here because they have a New England section on the menu. Once I saw fried clams, I sped here. I grew up on fried clams and they’re extremely hard to find out here, let alone good ones. This place is more of an upscale diner. Cool and über clean interior. Staffed well with good people. I got the fried clams with fries, cup o’ chowda and an iced tea to reflect on my childhood.
Iced tea was average. The chowda was incredible. Best cup of chowda I’ve had outside of the northeast. They cut no corners with it. Heavy rich cream, good chunks of fresh not over done clams and perfect potato ratio. The cherry on top of the chowda was their fancy pants Westminster Bakers Co. oyster crackers. Most normal people can’t get too excited about oyster crackers, but these are the best and hold texture and compliment chowda incredibly. I could start to hear horrific New England accents in my head as I ate this.
Fried clams looked incredible. Good color and size on them. Portion was a little skimpy, but no complaints. These were very good and probably the best I’ve had outside of the NE area. Batter did keep coming off that was a little annoying, but pretty good. They do need to step up their cocktail sauce and fries game. They gave me refrigerated cocktail sauce in little plastic container and the sauce was a solid? Couldn’t even get the food in there. No excuse, not to make fresh daily cocktail sauce when serving as many seafood items. I ain’t no tar tar head. Fries were boring and petite. I should of gone with the mac & cheese.
All in all, this is a good place and want to come back here to try many more dishes. Kind of shocked they have a small New England section and I can’t find corned beef on the menu. They have something for everyone here and I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying this place.
Place rating: 4
San Diego, CA
I have not been to Studio Diner in over a year. I wanted a late night dinner tonight and decided to give it a chance and I was not disappointed. I had the chicken pot pie which came with mashed potatoes, garlic string beans and corn.
The pot pie was a bit peppery but non the less still delicious filled with white meat chicken, peas and carrots. My hubby had the Samson steak sandwich which was moist and tender sliced beef with spinach and a side of mac and cheese.
It was a good late night meal. In addition, it is a BOGO with the Passport Card.
Place rating: 2
San Diego, CA
First time going here on a Friday 9pm the wait is 15 minutes. Understandable.
The parking lot is very small but there is plenty of street parking.
I always drove past since I have friends who live in the condos down the road. I had high expectations for this place since my friends talk about how this place is 24hrs and its cool because it’s supposedly haunted.
I got the New England claim chowder, blockbuster combo platter and a vanilla milk shake (Menu and pics uploaded). Btw no mozzarella sticks which bummed out my bf but I guess that’s okay. It happens.
My clam chowder was cold but the cup was hot. I flagged down a bus boy who notified a different waitress who said they would reheat it. Oh no microwaved clam chowder is never good!!! It wasn’t bad. It gave lots of baby clams but shells kept cracking inside my mouth which will not make anyone happy.
My milkshake was 99% ice cream in a cup. Which I’m glad they are not stingy with the vanilla bean but I can’t suck it with my straw unfortunately and when I was finally able to. Melted ice cream in a cup wasn’t my cup of tea.
The platter was average. I can get it anywhere.
Some time later a 3rd waiter brought me my clam chowder. Top was cold but the bottom was hot so I mixed it but I like when all my soup is hot. Kinda weird. I asked him to put in a side of fries for me but 15 minutes later no fries so I asked for the check.
The server was nice but once she took our order and checked up on us once we got our food she was nowhere in sight. We needed refills and it took us 10 minutes to flag someone down.
What’s cool is the menu is served 24⁄7. With that said, this place is no different then a Denny’s or iHop. Your average ol diner that didn’t impress me enough to come back.
Btw as soon as I walked out my stomach started aching terribly.
Place rating: 3
San Diego, CA
Date of visit: 7÷19÷2015
My mom’s coworkers recommended she come here for the country fried steak and eggs (her favorite breakfast food). We arrived around 9:20 am on a Sunday morning with a 20 minute wait for a party of 5, so I was pretty excited to eat breakfast. The hostess gave Cam a menu to peruse while we waited, so my entire family was ready to order when we were finally seated (took about 30 minutes since the party our table was at took a little longer with their check than anticipated).
We all ordered coffees, which I just wasn’t a big fan of. Normally, I don’t mind diner coffee, but I just couldn’t get it down. Cam, Anthony, and my Dad had no problem though, so maybe I’m just falling off the coffee bandwagon. My mom got a Diet Pepsi since they don’t have Diet Coke here.
Corned Beef Hash. I got my eggs scrambled and what came out was exactly what I was expecting — canned corned beef hash with greasy hash browns, and dried scrambled eggs. Nothing terrible and nothing amazing. They don’t crisp the corned beef hash though, so if that’s what you’re looking for, stay away.
My mom was a little disappointed with her Country Fried Steak and Eggs. She said the dish at Truck Stop is much better. My dad was happy though since the sourdough bread was really good.
Overall Studio Diner is just okay in my book. If you’re really hungry at 4am in the morning, it’s really convenient that they are open 24 hours (Thursday — Saturday), but definitely not worth the wait.
Place rating: 4
San Diego, CA
This is a great family restaurant. The portions are big and the atmosphere makes you feel like you are not in San Diego. This is the best place during the weekends because they are open 24 hours! If you are looking for good food and something different than the normal chain diners, this is it! They do have a great «studio» theme. If you walk to the back patio you will also find movie props.
Ive been here many times but I can never stop ordering the Monte Cristo and milkshakes. Those are the must haves!