Thelma’s Diner

Wish I could have eaten here more often because they officially closed the doors today after 50+ years of service. Kind of sucks because it looks like the way an old hamburger strand would look back in the day.
I ordered the cheeseburger combo which was $ 7. The burger was good, not the best. I would say it was a little on the greasy side but the inside of the patty was dry, not sure how they did that, but a bit of seasoned salt would have done the trick. Crinkle fries were awesome. I really wish I could have tried the chicken teriyaki. Good news is they may relocate, bad news is we don’t know where.

It actually pains me to write this… as I just discovered Thelma’s and finding out that they will be closing shop the next few weeks.
Fresh burgers — made to order.
Fries! Crinkle cut fries!
Teriyaki chicken + fries. Yessss!
Bimbibop.
All decently priced and worth every penny. Call ahead if you’re short on time.
CASH only.

I’ve driven by this place many times and finally stopped in. The food is really good. It’s a classic burger stand.

I love this place, the burgers are so fresh. I ordered the bacon cheeseburger with egg.
It’s a classic burger joint, you can’t get more basic then this. Reminds me of when I was younger and my dad would take me to lunch, we would do steak sandwich switch fries.

Tried for the first time last week. Surprisingly fast service with authentic «home style» burgers. Decent price too considering the area and normal cost of a burger these days, lol.
Kinda lost hope on good homestyle burgers, but this renewed my faith.

The fries, bimbimbap, spicy noodle soup is really good here!

Burgers are never frozen and made at the store. At less than $ 4 a pop and $ 6.50 for a combo with fries and a drink, this is the best lunch for the price in the garment district! On cold days that ramen with the perfect combo of chicken, veggies and egg totally hits the spot. Yum!

Wonderful service and the burgers are phenomenal!
It is definitely one of the best burger joints in LA.

Cool little spot to hit up when you’re in a jam. Very typical LA diner faire here. The combo breakfast burritos are great, with two eggs, ham, sausage, bacon, and hash browns. It’ll keep you filled for a few days, to say the least. The hamburgers are very flavorful, and very very filling. The best thing about this spot, everything is made to order. The hamburgers are 100% beef patties (⁷⁰⁄₃₀) and made by hand. You can’t beat that. Prices are very reasonable. But don’t plan on eating here, there’s barely enough room for you and your wallet, so «to go» is the only way to go.

Good, quick food. Not gourmet; more along the lines of food truck type food. Good breakfasts and a variety of lunches. A mIx of American and Asian dishes to choose from. A greasy spoon in the best sense of the term.

Yesterday, I had Thelma’s hamburger. For $ 3.75, it was quite good (and that’s a good price around this area ’cause there is no In-​n-​Out here). Cooked to order, the burger was also quite huge – bigger than a Big Mac. The hamburger patty may have been pre-​made and frozen but it still hit the spot. The tomato, lettuce and onions were fresh. Overall, the burger had an appetizing look.
The burger also comes in a combo for $ 6.50 – and I believe that would be with fries and soda.
Thelma took my order yesterday and she’s a very nice lady. Her son is nice too. Great service!
Thelma’s Diner is a reliable place to grab a good and very affordable workday lunch.

Delightfully surprised!
I just ordered the bibimbap (korean dish with rice, assorted vegetables and egg). Tasted great! I can’t wait to go back and try their burgers!

Quick and cheap food. I’ll stop in for a quick breakfast burrito if I get to work early enough. And yes as others have said, «Thelma» is quite nice and accommodating.

simple quick lunch.
close to work.
friendly service.
customize your orders. (i.e. no onions, extra lettuce, and hold to mayo!)
really good chili cheese fries.

Delightfully surprised is the best way to describe this place! I ended up here accidentally and am really glad I did. The food was really good and Thelma is super nice. Go support local businesses!

If you look up the definition of «Hole In The Wall», you’d see a picture of Thelma’s little yellow shack.
Thelma is own and operated by a very nice Korean lady, whom I’ve been referring as Thelma. Thelma is a one-​woman show. She has attempted with hired help, but no one does it better than Thelma doing it alone.
Thelma sells burgers, sandwiches, chili dog, burritos, and a few of my favorite Korean dishes. Since all known Korean establishments near the area had shut down one after another, Thelma’s Korean food suffices my craving just fine.
My favorite dishes here are Bibimbap (an assortment of vegetable with an sunny side up egg over steamed rice). I pay extra for some Korean style teriyaki beef and Thelma throws in a little kimchi for good measure; Burgers and fries, love how she sear the buns and the crinkle fries are fried to perfection… yum; a fusion Korean ramen (it’s a packaged instant Korean) dish where Thelmas adds a slice of cheese and a wedge of lime. I tried replicating the noodle at home, but just couldn’t achieve the same tangy taste.

Although the wording on the «shack» says Thelma’s, the middle-​aged Korean woman is NOT Thelma, that’s the former owner. And while the shack also says «Coffee, Hot Dog, Teriyaki, Hamburger» none of those are the reasons to stop at Thelma’s…although the coffee is usually freshly brewed, cheap, and Thelma-​who-​is-​not-​Thelma will provide real milk or ½ & ½ on request.
No, there are only two reasons to eat at Thelma’s: the chili-​chicken burrito; and chicken ramen.
Yes, it’s tinned chili, not some super secret family recipe handed down from generation to generation, and it’s as greasy as all hell so the tortilla ends up practically transparent before you’re done, but if you don’t care about your cholesterol levels or dying at an early age it’s a very tasty, very reasonably priced burrito that will definitely calm your growling belly.
Then there’s Thelma’s Chicken Ramen.
«Thelma» (who is not really Thelma) starts by hacking up a pre-​grilled chicken breast and tossing the pieces into the pot of boiling water. She then adds:
the Ramen (the same noodles you can buy for 10c in any decent Asian market) & Spices/​MSG packet;
a slice of onion;
one egg (sans shell, fortunately);
and the piece de resistance… a slice of American cheese.
Once the concoction is done and the egg is cooked and scrambled, not unlike egg drop soup, «Thelma» (who is not Thelma, but I seem to recall mentioning that already) pours it all into a quart-​sized «To-​Go» styrofoam container (and it’s bloody hot so you’re not going to eat it there). For some reason she also includes a wedge or two of lime in a paper bag. I don’t know if they make a difference or not but Thelma-​who-​is-​not-​Thelma seems to think they’re needed and who am I to argue with her culinary genius? So when I get back to the office I squeeze them into the soup as well.
Now while you’re paying approx. $ 6 for what is essentially a bowl of Ramen, the chicken, egg, onion & cheese all combine to make Thelma’s Ramen so much more than a simple bowl of mere Ramen. So much more that I’ve dubbed it Nomen, as in Nom-​Nom-​Nomen.
If you’ve got a hankering for a burger there’s far better places within a couple of blocks, but if it’s a bowl of Nom-​Nom-​Nomen you’re hungering for then stop in and let Thelma-​whose-​real-​name-​is-​Jenny hook you up with a #27.

A few weekends ago I was downtown working on a music video. I spotted Thelma’s while walking around and was immediately drawn to it. This charming little yellow and red shack amongst all the giant buildings downtown is easy to root for. A middle aged Korean woman runs the show taking orders and grilling burgers. Using pre made Costco hamburger patties you get a burger that is somewhere between a backyard barbecue and a diner. Not something you should go out of your way to try, but familiar enough that it hits the spot.
Her chili, she claimed, was better than Original Tommy’s. I have not tried Tommy’s but it is on my list of places to go. I hope Tommy’s is better because this chili resembled a thick mucus in texture and went from a tupperware container in the fridge to frying on the griddle. Worse than the chili were the crinkle cut fries. I don’t know why anyone in their right mind would think to serve crinkle cut fries. They are the worst form of a potato known to man.
I would not recommend you go out of your way to eat at Thelma’s. If you find yourself in this part of town however, and you don’t feel like eating a Santee Alley Sonoran Hot Dog, Thelma’s is not a bad option.

No Thelma and Louise here. Only Thelma. A very sweet Korean lady runs this place; she does everything.
The food was cheeseburger. I didn’t like it. I wanted to like it because she was super sweet and she cooked the burger just the way I liked it. Grilled onion, no lettuce, no tomato.
Still didn’t like it. I didn’t finish my burger. She also had Korean ramyun aka ramen and korean bbq bowl on the menu. Street parking.
I walked hungry to the car and left.
2 stars.
Thelma’s Diner is not yummylicious for me!

At first glance, this little yellow shack looks like it should be part of the ‘hoodie burger” scene. It is not. It is located on the edge of the CBD. The inside consists of the kitchen, a counter, and many stools.
Thelma, a very nice Korean lady is the Chef, Hostess, and Proprietor. Yes, the only employee. She serves up a variety of food from teriyaki chicken to burgers. Yup, I had the burger.
~Cheese Burger
What do you expect from this tiny little place? The burger was average. but better than Mc Donalds and even Johnny Rockets, in my opinion. For under 5 bucks you can get the burger and a drink.
The burger comes from premade patties, that were probably frozen. The same with the fries. This is nothing like Big Mike’s, so do not get your hopes up. Again, this is in the heart of downtown. what else would you expect.
~Parking
There is meter parking available on the street. I believe the cross street is 11^th, so walking may be an option for local businesses.
Overall, I would put the burger as average and 2 stars. However, add in the location and the price, I would round up to 2.8 stars.
CASH ONLY
Thanks for lunch Thelma!
Can’t we all Unilocal along?