Popular Coffee Shop Cenote Closes Windsor Park Location

The Windsor Park location of essential coffee shop and cafe Cenote has closed. Its last day at 6214 Cameron Road was Sunday, September 18. The East Cesar Chavez location will remain open.

Cenote was known for coffee alongside wine and beer and a robust brunch menu that included tacos and burgers. In an Instagram post announcing the closure, the coffee shop cited the rising costs of goods and labor, and a recession making it difficult to retain customers. “Even with our menu prices going up this January, we were unable to reach the sales needed to sustain the restaurant,” general manager Alanah Patterson tells Eater over email.

The coffee shop’s co-owner, Cody Symington, died in 2021. The cafe had been overseen by his father, Nick Symington, along with his brother and other investors. The East Cesar Chavez also includes his wife, Mary Jenkins, who tells Eater that she is in the middle of buying out the other owners so she can solely own the East Cesar Chavez location.

Symington opened the first location of Cenote on East Cesar Chavez in 2012, and the Windsor Park location followed in 2017, taking over the final location of Fran’s Hamburgers. Cenote owns the building in Windsor Park and is looking for another restaurant or coffee shop to buy or lease the space, according to a post by a Cenote general manager on Nextdoor.

Similarly, Austin catering company Word of Mouth closed its South First bakery earlier this month and its 12th Street bakery remains open. Owner Leslie Moore is looking for a new cafe, restaurant, or bar to take over the space.

Update, Friday, September 23, 4:44 p.m.: This article, originally published on September 21, has been updated to include comments by Cenote’s general manager, who runs Cenote, and the status of the East Cesar Chavez location’s ownership.