Popular Mexican restaurant now has second location
The owners of the Pueblo Viejo Mexican restaurant in Aurora have opened a second location in Grand Island, reporting strong support for the South Locust Street location since its December debut.
Antonio Sanchez, who opened Pueblo Viejo on Highway 34 in 2017 with his partner, Carlos Munoz, said the decision to expand with a second location was based on the success of the Aurora eatery.
“We started with our first restaurant in Aurora and it’s been very successful,” he said. “People like our food and our service and we try to keep it that way as much as we can.”
Sanchez said he and his partner, who lives in York, have been talking for some time about opening a second location, and the opportunity presented itself last year when a former Mexican restaurant closed not far from the south Wal-Mart.
“When I go to Grand Island there are people asking me to open a restaurant there,” he said. “We’ve had it in our minds, but the opportunity never came up. In the meantime, we were thinking we would probably do something at some point, and then this building became available and I always thought that was a good location.”
The new Mi Pueblo, a spin-off of its namesake in Aurora which translates to “my village,” or “my people,” is located at 2610 South Locust, just across the street from a Harley Davidson business.
“It used to be a Mexican restaurant and the former owner just decided to retire, so we took over that building,” Sanchez said of a lease arrangement with the property owner. “The kitchen was there, but we basically remodeled the whole thing inside. We spent five or six months working on it and just did a lot of updating.”
Opening day in Grand Island was Dec. 16. Sanchez said the customer turnout and reaction was good on that day, and every day since.
“The response from customers in Grand Island has been great,” he said. “We just try to bring good food and quality that people will like. We work hard for it and people are giving us feedback that they like it, so that’s why we keep on going. We’re excited because it has been working, just like we thought it would. The people have been amazing and the support of the customers has been great.”
The menu at Mi Pueblo is very similar to Pueblo Viejo, featuring steak, chicken and sea food entrees as well as combination platters, fajitas, enchiladas, tacos, quesadillas, burritos, vegetarian dishes as well as nachos, salads and appetizers. There are a few additional platters unique to the Grand Island menu as well.
“We have five different platters there that we are trying just because there was a market for it,” he explained.
Flavored margaritas have proven popular in Aurora and are offered at Mi Pueblo as well.
“Basically the margaritas and the menu are the same,” he added. “The recipes are the same, so nothing has changed.”
Sanchez has been extremely busy during the planning and start-up stages, though he said an entirely separate staff of employees has been hired and trained in Grand Island, including a new full-time manager. The lead cook in Aurora spent time training the kitchen staff at Mi Pueblo and will soon be returning full-time to Pueblo Viejo.
Both restaurants are open six days a week, from Tuesday through Sunday.
Looking back to 2017, Sanchez said there were many similarities between the decisions to open the two restaurants. Sanchez had worked at that time for 10 years at a Mexican restaurant in Iowa before moving to York, where he and Munoz began looking for a location to start a new restaurant. Munoz had operated a Mexican restaurant in York for more than 20 years and was looking for a partner.
“We had heard about Aurora before and wanted to offer something new here, so here we are,” Sanchez said in a 2017 ANR interview.
Seven years later, he said that decision proved to be a good one.
“This is part of our lives,” he said, noting that Pueblo Viejo employs 14-16 full- and part-time employees, including several family members. “We have made a living out of this restaurant — me, our family and the next generation that will work here — so this has really been nice for all of us, including the community.
“We’ve been blessed here in Aurora because we like this community so much,” he concluded.
Sanchez and his wife, Martha, will continue to live in Aurora with their three young children.