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After 30 years in downtown Mountain View, Fiesta Del Mar Too prepares to permanently close.
The Bay Area institution – the second location of the now shuttered Fiesta Del Mar, which opened in 1991 – will have its final day of service March 30. According to owner Charlee Garcia, whose parents founded the restaurant in 1995, post-pandemic recovery has been difficult and rising costs are just too high to make the restaurant sustainable.
“Our business never really bounced back to what it was after COVID,” she said. “Rent prices are going really, really high. Our rent just got to a point where we couldn’t necessarily afford it anymore. Labor costs have gone up. Food prices have gone up.”
As Fiesta Del Mar Too prepares to close, it’s selling its chairs – handmade in Mexico – and artwork. But longtime customers don’t have to go far to continue enjoying Fiesta Del Mar Too’s signature dishes, like its enjococado, a 100-year-old family recipe of sour cream-based sauce with roasted guajillo chiles and special herbs served over boneless chicken breast. Walk down Villa Street for one minute to Agave Mexican Bistro, or eight minutes in the opposite direction to La Fiesta for a near identical menu and the same family recipes.
Arturo and Rosalina Garcia opened La Fiesta in 1977, offering Mexican dishes like mole, enchiladas, burritos and more. In 1991, their son and his wife Alexandro and Susan Garcia opened their own restaurant on Shoreline Boulevard called Fiesta del Mar, using family recipes. Four years later, they expanded the concept to downtown Mountain View with Fiesta del Mar Too, originally intended to be a fast-casual taqueria with a focus on to-go.
In 2012, the couple opened Agave Mexican Bistro, originally a Mexican California bistro. Three years later, the original Fiesta del Mar closed, as the property had been purchased by a developer and scheduled for demolition. Now, Agave Mexican Bistro is owned by Charlee Garcia’s uncle Gilberto Fugueroa, and La Fiesta is managed by Charlee Garcia’s aunt Lucy Garcia.
While Fiesta Del Mar Too, Agave Mexican Bistro and La Fiesta all offer the same homestyle Mexican dishes and lengthy margarita menu, the salsas are what hold the most meaning to Charlee Garcia.
“The sauces that we have created at all of our locations, we take a lot of pride in those,” she said. “Those are passed down family recipes. So those are really almost the stars of the show in terms of what we offer.”
And soon, you might even find these sauces bottled on the shelves of local retailers, the newest project from the Garcia family. While the brand name for the sauce line hasn’t been finalized yet, Charlee Garcia said she hopes to launch it by the end of the year.
There are no plans to reopen Fiesta Del Mar Too or open another restaurant concept, Charlee Garcia said; instead, the focus is on the sauce line and Blue Agave Club in Pleasanton, created by her parents in 1997.
“If an opportunity (to reopen Fiesta Del Mar Too) were to present itself, where it would work out that would be amazing, potentially in maybe a different area of the Bay Area, but as of right now that’s not necessarily on the horizon,” she said.
Charlee Garcia said she’s grateful for the support of the community and is excited to embark on her next culinary chapter.
“While it’s very sad, and if we could keep it open forever, I would, but it is also nice to see that we had a really lasting impact on the Mountain View community, and I think it’s really special.”
Fiesta Del Mar Too, 735 Villa St., Mountain View; 650-967-3525, Instagram: @fiestadelmartoo. Through Sunday, open Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday from 5-8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5-8:30 p.m.
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