TV Restaurants

Is Ray's Drive Inn Still Open? Food Paradise Update (San Antonio, TX)

Open reported

As of September 2026, Ray's Drive Inn is listed open on Yelp, reviewed by our team on September 7, 2026; not yet independently confirmed through direct contact.

Primary source
Yelp ·
Secondary source
raysdriveinn.net

Last verified

What the source shows: Yelp's listing for the restaurant shows customer reviews with a page-update timestamp of July 2026, and the restaurant's own site lists current weekly hours.

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What happened after Food Paradise?

The episode 'At the Drive-In' featured Ray's Drive Inn, a San Antonio drive-in restaurant that advertises itself as the birthplace of the puffy taco, according to its own website. The Tex-Mex spot serves combo plates and tacos from its West Side location on SW 19th Street. A 2026-09-08 check of Ray's Drive Inn's website (raysdriveinn.net) found current weekly hours — closed Monday, open Tuesday through Sunday — and an active online ordering option, both signs the drive-in continues operating under its original name.

Ray's Drive Inn was featured in Man v. Food's San Antonio episode (Travel Channel, host Casey Webb, aired 2019-11-12) as a local-flavor stop built around the puffy taco, a deep-fried, pillowy corn-tortilla shell the restaurant is widely credited with originating. Ray's Drive Inn opened in 1956 and has operated from the same West Side address, 822 SW 19th St, San Antonio, according to Texas Highways magazine and the restaurant's own site, raysdriveinn.net. The segment centered on the puffy taco alongside other counter classics such as the crispy dog. Since the episode aired, the restaurant's Yelp page has continued collecting reviews, with the listing showing an update dated July 2026, and raysdriveinn.net lists current weekly hours, Tuesday through Sunday, with Monday closures. The restaurant's own site also displays undated guest testimonials praising the puffy tacos and describing the staff as personally welcoming visitors.

Featured on Food Paradise

Season / episode
Season 19, Episode 15
Original air date
Not confirmed
Episode title
At the Drive-In
What was featured
Puffy tacos and Tex-Mex plates at San Antonio's original drive-in
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Ray's Drive Inn
Season / episode
Season 8, Episode 18
Original air date
Episode title
—
What was featured
the original puffy taco
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Ray's Drive Inn

Frequently asked questions

Is Ray's Drive Inn still open in 2026?

As of September 2026, Ray's Drive Inn is listed open on Yelp, reviewed by our team on September 7, 2026; not yet independently confirmed through direct contact.

What happened to Ray's Drive Inn after Food Paradise?

The episode 'At the Drive-In' featured Ray's Drive Inn, a San Antonio drive-in restaurant that advertises itself as the birthplace of the puffy taco, according to its own website. As of September 2026, Ray's Drive Inn is listed open on Yelp, reviewed by our team on September 7, 2026; not yet independently confirmed through direct contact.

Where is Ray's Drive Inn located?

822 SW 19th St, San Antonio, TX 78207. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Food Paradise featured Ray's Drive Inn?

Season 19, Episode 15 of Food Paradise. The episode is titled “At the Drive-In”.

Every status on this site carries a confidence label and a date, and names the source it rests on. Read the Editorial & Corrections Policy for what each label means and how quickly we act on corrections. The questions above are generated from this record's own published fields — we never publish a question we cannot answer from the data.

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Visit info

Address
822 SW 19th St, San Antonio, TX 78207
Venue type
diner
Official website
raysdriveinn.net

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

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Record mvf-469 · last verified .