California diners are down to just two reported On The Border restaurants. The longtime Tex-Mex chain has closed its remaining company-owned locations in the state after its 2025 bankruptcy filing. The move is part of a much bigger national pullback.
California footprint shrinks to two franchised sites
On The Border, a Dallas-based casual dining chain founded in 1982, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2025 after years of falling sales and mounting financial pressure, according to reports cited by NewsBreak. Earlier this month, the company shut all 60 of its remaining company-owned restaurants across the U.S.
In California, that left only two franchise-operated locations still reported as open: one in Escondido and one in San Diego’s Mira Mesa neighborhood. Recent reports identified those two sites as the chain’s last outposts in the state after the wider shutdown of corporate stores.
The company has not released a public city-by-city list of every California location that closed in this latest wave. What is confirmed is the state count now stands at 2 operating restaurants, both franchised, with no company-owned On The Border restaurants remaining in California.
Bankruptcy fallout hit the chain nationwide
The California closures are tied directly to a nationwide restructuring that dramatically reduced the brand’s footprint. At one point, On The Border operated more than 150 restaurants in the U.S. and internationally, but that network has now been cut to a fraction of its former size.
According to the source material, only 5 franchised On The Border restaurants remain open in the United States following the bankruptcy-related closures. That means California’s 2 surviving locations account for 40% of the chain’s remaining domestic restaurants.
The source material does not provide confirmed state-by-state closure counts beyond California’s 2 remaining stores and the national closure of 60 company-owned restaurants. It also does not identify other specific cities affected in this round, so those locations cannot be confirmed here.
What changed for the longtime Tex-Mex brand
The chain’s troubles built over several years as diners shifted spending toward fast-casual restaurants and delivery-focused meals, according to the report. Rising labor costs and inflation added more pressure during 2024 and 2025, making it harder for legacy casual dining brands to keep underperforming stores open.
During the bankruptcy process, the brand was acquired by Houston-based Pappas Restaurants. Even with that ownership change, the immediate result has been a much smaller operation, not a broad reopening campaign.
For California customers in North County San Diego and Mira Mesa, the Escondido and San Diego franchise restaurants may be the last nearby places to visit the brand for now. Beyond those two sites, On The Border’s future in California remains uncertain, and no new reopening dates have been publicly announced.
