After 25 years of slinging hot tortillas and icy margaritas in Emeryville, the casual-Mexican restaurant, Chevys Fresh Mex, has announced it will shut down on April 22.
The closure will affect 62 workers, including bartenders, bussers, servers, managers, cooks and expeditors, according to a WARN Act layoff notice.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to reach a lease renewal agreement, leading to this difficult decision,” said Mike Johnson, chief operating officer at Xperience Restaurant Group, which owns Chevys. “We are thankful for our loyal diners and especially to our committed team members.”
Warren Simmons, the entrepreneur who developed San Francisco’s tourist and sea lion-crowded Pier 39, started the first Chevys in Alameda in 1986. The restaurant quickly expanded to 37 locations nationwide. That number shrank in the following decades to just under two dozen today, including outposts in the Midwest and East Coast. The Bay Area is still California’s Chevys hotbed, with eight restaurants remaining in Union City, Vallejo, South San Francisco and beyond.
The company operates several other Mexican-themed chains, such as El Torito and Acapulco Restaurant y Cantina, and claims on its website to have originated the concept of Taco Tuesday.
The Emeryville Chevys opened on the cusp of the new millennium, in 1999, at 1890 Powell St. in what used to be a Charlie Brown’s steakhouse. It proved a hit with local diners who, walking in the door, could enjoy its unique take on Tex-Mex cuisine, which included seasonal margaritas, flaming tableside fajitas and a tortilla-making machine in a glass-enclosed space that kids could endlessly watch. (Children would also get little masa-dough balls to play with.) For many in the Bay Area, it may have been their first encounter with fresh tortillas, rather than the cardboard-y things that wrapped Taco Bell fare.
Perched on San Francisco Bay, Emeryville’s Chevys Fresh Mex served up fajitas alongside stunning water views for 25 years. (John Metcalfe/Bay Area News Group)
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Birthdays were celebrated with sombreros and ice cream sundaes and, at this location, the cherry on the cake was the view: The 13,000-square-foot restaurant looks right out over the swelling waters of the Bay. Right now, with no documents publicly filed, it’s uncertain what restaurant will inherit this impressive dining vista.
Ahead of its closure, the kitchen has limited its menu to only certain popular items, according to recent Google reviews. “As the closing date gets closer, expect this place to be active, so be sure to get a reservation,” wrote one reviewer. Commented another: “I’m going to miss Chevys. Rest in peace.”
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