Busboys Filming Locations

“Busboys” takes two men with almost no career momentum and gives them a goal they regard with ridiculous seriousness: becoming waiters. David Spade plays Markie Montgomery opposite Theo Von as Steefen “Steef” Barn, longtime friends stuck cleaning septic systems until they decide the restaurant business offers a path to money, respect and, apparently, a better life. Their grand strategy begins at Open Border Bistro, where they take jobs as busboys and immediately discover that moving up the restaurant hierarchy is considerably messier than expected.

Director Jonah Feingold filmed that fictional Arizona border-town story in Los Angeles, California, not Arizona. Production records had Los Angeles listed as the shooting location before cameras rolled, and Feingold later confirmed that the movie was made there in January 2025. The shoot also happened during an unusually difficult period for the city, as Los Angeles was dealing with the devastating January wildfires.

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles was the main production center for “Busboys.” Production Weekly listed the project for a January 10, 2025 start in Los Angeles, while industry tracking similarly records January 2025 as the movie’s shooting period and Los Angeles as its location.

That makes Southern California responsible for a setting that is supposed to feel much farther east. The movie takes place in a small Arizona border town, but Feingold and cinematographer Jeff Leeds Cohn avoid relying heavily on famous Los Angeles landmarks. Instead, the camera concentrates on restaurants, parking lots, workplaces and dry suburban surroundings that can more easily pass for Arizona.

The choice was also important to Spade. Discussing the movie after its release, he said they deliberately filmed in Los Angeles despite the additional expense because he wanted to keep production work in the city at a time when local film employment had been declining.

Related: Busboys’ Ending Finally Gives Markie Everything He Wanted, Then He Turns It Down

Where Is Open Border Bistro?

Most of “Busboys” revolves around Open Border Bistro, the casual Mexican restaurant where Markie and Steef become bussers and begin chasing their dream of being promoted to waiters. The restaurant is fictional. Early production documents called it simply Border Bistro, while the finished movie uses the fuller Open Border Bistro name.

The location is unusually important because the comedy spends so much time inside it. Manager Tim, played by Tim Dillon, runs the dining room while Markie and Steef work alongside an eccentric group of bussers, hostesses and restaurant employees. The dining room, kitchen, bathrooms and back-of-house areas consequently function almost like the movie’s main set.

What has not been publicly revealed is the real Los Angeles restaurant or property used to create Open Border Bistro. Neither Feingold nor the official production material currently names an address, and no reliable local filming notice connecting the movie to a specific restaurant has surfaced. Production designer Jenn McLaren and set decorator Janna Ling are credited with creating the movie’s physical environment, but the credits do not identify the underlying property.

That distinction matters for anyone trying to visit the restaurant. Open Border Bistro is a fictional business, and a similarly named restaurant should not be assumed to be the filming site simply because it resembles the movie.

Los Angeles Doubles for Arizona

The Arizona setting is essential to the joke even though the production never went there for its main shoot. Markie and Steef live in a working-class border community where the Open Border Bistro represents a strange kind of upward mobility. Contemporary production descriptions specifically place the story in an Arizona border town while naming Los Angeles as the filming location.

The filmmakers could make that substitution because much of greater Los Angeles can lose its identity surprisingly quickly once recognizable landmarks are excluded. Dry vegetation, low-rise commercial buildings, wide streets and sun-baked parking areas can all support a Southwestern setting with relatively modest production dressing.

“Busboys” also keeps its geography intimate. It is not attempting to recreate downtown Phoenix or another heavily identifiable Arizona city. Most of the story concerns the restaurant, Markie and Steef’s homes and their unpleasant employment at the septic company called We Suck. That smaller footprint makes Los Angeles easier to disguise.

No confirmed address has been released for the We Suck workplace either. The exterior and industrial material belongs to the wider Los Angeles shoot, but assigning it to a particular sewage facility or commercial property without production confirmation would be speculation.

Filming During the Los Angeles Fires

The circumstances surrounding production were more dramatic than anything the locations were supposed to portray.

Feingold has said “Busboys” was shot in January 2025, around the period when the Los Angeles fires were devastating communities and disrupting the city’s entertainment industry. He recalled that several crew members were personally affected and described the production as grateful to be able to keep people employed during an exceptionally difficult time.

The director also described the movie as a demanding shoot involving practical comedy gags, animals, fire effects and a constantly rotating collection of comedians. Spade and Von were the consistent leads, while performers such as Jay Pharoah, Tim Dillon, Bobby Lee and others moved through the production according to availability.

Production records initially scheduled cameras to begin rolling on January 10, 2025. Feingold later described the shoot broadly as taking place in January, although a definitive public wrap date has not been released.

Was Busboys Filmed in Massachusetts?

There is one confusing entry worth addressing. IMDb’s filming-location page currently lists Brockton, Massachusetts as a filming location for “Busboys.”

I could not find reliable independent evidence supporting that listing. It also conflicts with several stronger sources. Production Weekly identified Los Angeles before filming began, director Jonah Feingold personally said they shot the movie in Los Angeles, Production List records Los Angeles as the production location, and Spade has publicly discussed choosing to make the film in Los Angeles.

It is possible that a small piece of material connected to the production originated elsewhere, but there is currently not enough evidence to describe Brockton as a confirmed principal filming location. For a location guide, Los Angeles is the firmly documented answer.

That is also part of what makes “Busboys” an interesting location exercise. The film sells a scruffy Arizona border-town restaurant without needing to leave Southern California, and because so much of the comedy lives inside Open Border Bistro, the audience rarely has reason to question the geography. The exact restaurant remains unidentified for now, but the larger illusion is clear: Markie and Steef may think they are trying to make it in Arizona, while Spade, Von and Feingold were making the whole mess in Los Angeles.