COLUMBUS — A local Tex-Mex restaurant with an unlikely cult following has closed its doors just two months after opening for the first time in three years.
Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant, located at 3932 E. 25th St., closed after the dinner rush on Friday and it is unclear when the longtime culinary staple in the Holiday Center will reopen, said co-owner Anna Garcia.
“I think we needed a break already,” said Garcia, who is 81 years old. “We couldn’t hardly keep the food cooked.”
Much hoopla ensued when Garcia and her husband, Joel, 85, announced on Facebook earlier this year that they would reopen the restaurant on Oct. 18 after being closed for three years due to health problems in their family.
Since reopening, the restaurant had unconventional hours and was open for lunch on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m and for dinner on Fridays from 5 to 9 p.m.
Despite limited hours, throngs of people still queued up every day that the restaurant was open, waiting hours in line to place their order and then find a table — including a 179-person line on opening night. One local woman waited nine hours to be first in line.
The Garcias were “amazed” by how long people were willing to wait to place an order, with some customers coming from as far away as Indianapolis, Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio, only to wait hours in line.
Anna Garcia said she and her husband typically have closed the restaurant during the winter months since opening in Columbus 44 years ago. The restaurant was founded in 1970 in Seymour, Anna Garcia said in a previous interview.
“We don’t know exactly when we’re going to reopen,” Anna Garcia said. “We always close in January, February and March, but we may do something different this time.”
