Eat Crispy Burger and sister concept Crispy Fish Tacos are taking over the Carbonaro's space at 5120 College Avenue in San Diego's College Area, just west of the SDSU campus. The dual-concept restaurant is currently anticipated to open sometime in October 2026.
The new location will give customers access to both brands from the same storefront, pairing Eat Crispy Burger's signature flat-top-seared smash burgers with the seafood-focused menu the family introduced earlier this year. It will also put the rapidly expanding company directly into the heavily trafficked SDSU dining market.
Founded in Encinitas in 2022 by Angela Ablahad and Ramzy Rahib, Eat Crispy Burger has transformed from a single neighborhood burger shop into a growing San Diego County restaurant operation in only four years. The company's official website currently lists locations in Encinitas, Kearny Mesa's Convoy District, National City, La Jolla and Oceanside, with another restaurant coming soon to Temecula.
The menu centers around smashed-to-order burgers made with fresh, never-frozen, grass-fed Angus beef and all-natural cheese served on custom seed-oil-free buns. Current offerings range from the straightforward Original OG Crispy Burger to a Cowboy Crispy Burger loaded with bacon, jalapeños, onion rings and barbecue sauce, as well as crispy chicken sandwiches, salads, breakfast sandwiches, milkshakes and other casual fare.
The company has also continued modifying its cooking methods and ingredients as it has expanded. Eat Crispy Burger currently touts chicken and onion rings fried in avocado oil, French fries cooked in beef tallow and custom buns made without seed oils.
The College Area restaurant will be especially notable because it will unite the burger operation with Crispy Fish Tacos, the Ablahad family's first major restaurant concept outside the burger category.
As SanDiegoVille first reported in July, Crispy Fish Tacos was developed to serve wild Alaskan pollock prepared as beer-battered fish fried in avocado oil, along with grilled fish tacos, fish burritos and seafood plates. Sides include cilantro-lime rice and black beans, giving the concept a distinctly Southern California fast-casual identity.
The family initially developed Crispy Fish Tacos for the space adjoining Eat Crispy Burger at Regents Plaza Marketplace in the University City area. The College Avenue project takes the strategy a step further by combining both concepts at a single address, potentially allowing diners to mix burgers and seafood within one order.
The company's own website has already begun pairing the two brands in its online marketing, referring to "All-American Crispy Burger and Crispy Fish Tacos" while promoting both smash burgers and fish tacos.
The expansion follows an aggressive few years of growth for Eat Crispy Burger. After debuting in Encinitas, the family expanded south with restaurants in National City and Kearny Mesa before adding locations in Oceanside and La Jolla. The company also launched its first mobile burger trailer this year near downtown San Diego and Little Italy.
Eat Crispy Burger's website currently confirms five operating brick-and-mortar locations around San Diego County and a forthcoming Temecula outpost, although the new College Area restaurant has not yet been added to its public locations page.
The incoming restaurant will replace Carbonaro's, the fast-casual Italian concept that itself took over the former Lolita's Mexican Food space near SDSU.
Carbonaro's was founded by Andrea Carbonaro, Mariano Liga, Giuseppe Cascia and Ercole Rubino, a group also associated with San Diego-area Italian restaurants including Trattoria da Sofia in Kensington and Aromi Italian Cuisine in La Mesa. The concept was designed around customizable fresh pasta bowls and opened with aspirations of eventually expanding into additional locations.
Its menu offered a surprisingly broad collection of Italian staples for a fast-casual operation, including carbonara, cacio e pepe, Bolognese, amatriciana, pesto, arrabbiata, truffle pasta and several salads and desserts. Online ordering records still identify Carbonaro's at 5120 College Avenue.
The restaurant's run at the location ultimately proved relatively short, continuing a series of changes for the prominent College Avenue storefront. Before Carbonaro's, the space was occupied by a branch of longtime San Diego-born Lolita's Mexican Food.
For Eat Crispy Burger, however, the location represents another opportunity to grow in a dramatically different market. Its existing restaurants stretch from Oceanside and Encinitas in North County to National City in the South Bay, while the new College Area outpost will put the company immediately adjacent to one of the region's largest concentrations of college students. The owners also confirmed to SanDiegoVille that the new restaurant will be among 27 dining establishments where SDSU students can use their university meal plans, giving Eat Crispy Burger and Crispy Fish Tacos direct access to the campus dining program.
It also provides a showcase for the family's increasingly diversified business. Rather than simply opening another Eat Crispy Burger, the SDSU-area restaurant will bring together the company's established burger brand and its fledgling seafood concept, creating a menu that can range from smashed Angus beef burgers and crispy chicken to beer-battered wild Alaskan pollock tacos and fish burritos.
The expansion comes only four years after Eat Crispy Burger's original Encinitas debut and just months after the family began branching beyond burgers. With five existing San Diego County restaurants, a Temecula location on the way, a mobile operation and the developing Crispy Fish Tacos brand, the company has quickly grown into a sizeable locally owned fast-casual operation.
Eat Crispy Burger and Crispy Fish Tacos are anticipated to open their joint location in October 2026 at 5120 College Avenue, Suite 125, in San Diego's College Area near San Diego State University. For more information, visit eatcrispyburger.com.
The expansion comes only four years after Eat Crispy Burger's original Encinitas debut and just months after the family began branching beyond burgers. With five existing San Diego County restaurants, a Temecula location on the way, a mobile operation and the developing Crispy Fish Tacos brand, the company has quickly grown into a sizeable locally owned fast-casual operation.
Eat Crispy Burger and Crispy Fish Tacos are anticipated to open their joint location in October 2026 at 5120 College Avenue, Suite 125, in San Diego's College Area near San Diego State University. For more information, visit eatcrispyburger.com.
Originally published on September 25, 2026.
