Tesla is leaning into the festive spirit at its Hollywood diner this week to celebrate the Lunar New Year (which kicks off today). The company announced a limited-time promotion at its Santa Monica Boulevard location, offering a special boba tea and a chance for fans to score a rare piece of Tesla merch.
With every boba tea purchase, customers receive a traditional red envelope containing a voucher for a free menu item. The real prize lies in the “golden tickets” hidden inside select envelopes. Lucky winners walk away with a limited-edition Lunar New Year Tesla Optimus toy, which is a 1:10-scale action figure featuring a special red horse graphic to mark the Year of the Horse. The collectible includes over 40 parts and 20 points of articulation, designed to mimic the movements of the Gen 2 humanoid robot.
The Tesla Diner Experience
The Tesla Diner officially opened last summer in July, bringing Elon Musk’s long-teased “retro-futuristic” vision to life. The 24-hour site features 80 Supercharger stalls, making it the largest urban Supercharging station in the world. Guests can eat on the “Skypad,” a second-story rooftop deck, while watching movies on two massive 66-foot LED screens. Drivers also have the option for car-side service, where they can order food directly from their Tesla’s touchscreen and have it delivered to their window while they charge.
While the diner saw massive crowds and hours-long lines upon its debut, the atmosphere has recently evolved. Following the departure of its initial head chef, the restaurant shifted to a full-service model. It remains a distinctive destination for those looking to experience the fusion of classic LA car culture with modern EV infrastructure.
The Status of Optimus
The Optimus toy giveaway comes as the actual robot program enters a critical phase. Tesla recently upgraded the robot’s hands to a Gen 3 design, doubling the degrees of freedom to 22 for better dexterity. While Musk initially hoped to have thousands of bots working in factories by now, the company is currently focused on a “production-ready” third version of the hardware.
Current internal deployments at Tesla factories involve tasks like battery cell sorting and quality inspection. Musk has tempered expectations for the near term, noting that the production ramp-up for both Optimus and the upcoming Cybercab will be “agonizingly slow” at first because nearly every component is a new design. Tesla is now targeting limited external sales for the robot by late 2026, with a long-term goal of bringing the price down to under $20,000 for consumers (let’s see if that price will stick).
