restaurantMystery Diners · Season 5, Episode 13 · Aired March 31, 2014
Encore Dinner Theatre
Tustin, California
Status unknown. No reliable current signal turned up. The last confirmed sighting we found dates to 2014.
What happened after
No dated confirmation of current open/closed status found; only static directory listings (Chamber of Commerce, RestaurantJi) with no recency signal.
What happened on the show
Rumors that his waitstaff was dating his cast, and that late food and dull performances were the result, brought Tustin dinner-theater owner Peter Zappas to Charles Stiles. Stiles sent mystery diners Amanda, Rob and John in as an actress, a waiter and a customer. As aired, a waiter is stalking an actress who does not return his interest, sulking through her scenes on stage, while she quietly trades on his attention for free food from the kitchen, and a bathroom attendant strong-arms guests for tips while eating and drinking on the job. The confrontation has Peter firing the waiter and the attendant storming out. Because Mystery Diners was later accused of staging these reveals, this backstage sting, with its tangle of onstage and offstage drama, is best read as broadcast rather than as independently confirmed.
After the cameras left
After the episode, Encore drops out of the verifiable record. We could find only undated directory listings for the Tustin dinner theater at 690 El Camino Real in our 2026 pass, with no current open or closed confirmation, so we hold it at last confirmed rather than guess. Mystery Diners filmed a backstage sting and moved on; it left no rescue to trace, and a small dinner-theater venue with a faint online footprint is exactly the kind of subject whose current status the record simply cannot settle.
Sources
Last checked 2026-07-19.
What is there now
Street imagery via Google Maps. Location approximate.