Essential Tex-Mex Restaurant Enchiladas Y Mas Closes After 26 Years

Important Austin Tex-Mex restaurant Enchiladas Y Mas is now closed on 1911 West Anderson Lane, after 26 years of service, as announced through its Facebook page. Co-owners Robert and Mary Martinez already knew that they would not renew the Crestview restaurant’s lease, which was ending in June. “This was our decision,” they wrote in the post, because they wanted to retire.

The Martinezes originally intended on keeping Enchiladas open through June, but they had to change their plans because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. In accordance to city orders, they closed the restaurant’s dining room and served takeout food only on Tuesday, March 17, for several days. Then they decided to halt that service on Saturday, March 21, because, “financially, it didn’t work out for us,” they explained.

However, Enchiladas Y Mas might return: Eva and Carmen Hernandez, the restaurant general managers and daughters of former co-owner Roe Hernandez (Mary’s brother who passed away last year), are looking to buy the business from the Martinezes. If and when that happens, the restaurant would reopen, though it’s unclear if that would happen after the dine-in service ban ends on Friday, May 8, or before that date.

Robert Martinez and Roe Hernandez opened Enchiladas Y Mas in 1994 originally in Central Austin. They relocated the restaurant to its current West Anderson Lane home in the late 1990s.

Similarly, Austin taco mini-chain Veracruz All Natural decided to outright close its North Burnet restaurant ahead of the building’s scheduled demolishing in June. Its several trucks and Round Rock restaurant will remain open.

Enchiladas Y Mas’s Facebook Announcement

Good afternoon everyone. We want to take this time to reach out to all of you and let you know what is going on with us at EYMas. Inaccurate information is being circulated and as the owners we want you to hear this from us. When Robert, Roe and I started this business years ago we knew there would come a time that we would be wanting to retire. As many of you know my brother, Roe passed away last year. Before his death, we already knew that when our lease ended, June 2020, we would have no intention of signing a new lease. This decision has been in the works for over a year and has nothing to do with our landlord, he’s been fair to us all these years. This was our decision.

Robert and I had every intention of staying open until the end of our lease, but COVID-19 changed our plans. We tried doing take-out service, but financially it didn’t work out for us. We didn’t know that the City of Austin would keep us closed this long.

However, Roe’s daughters, Eva and Carmen, are in the process of trying to buy the business from us. If they are able to make this a reality they will be back as soon as possible to serve the same food and margaritas that we’ve been offering all these years. Please be patient and as soon as we know something we will share that information with you.

So at this time Robert and I want to thank all of you for your patronage, loyalty, and kindness. Thank you for 26 wonderful years. It’s been an unbelievable experience. Our hearts are full of gratitude and some sadness.

Again, thank you.

Robert and Mary Martinez

• Enchiladas Y Mas [Facebook]
• All Coverage of Enchiladas Y Mas [EATX]