Agave Azul Cocina Mexicana will open its fifth location — its second in Orlando — at 5475 Gateway Village Circle near Orlando International Airport.
The popular restaurant chain will go into the 5,000 sq. ft. site where the now-closed Ari Sushi used to be, owner Juan Rios said. Agave Azul’s other stores are located in Windermere, Winter Park, Winter Springs and on Kirkman Road in Orlando.
This restaurant will feature two outdoor patios, front and back, Rios said. The back patio already exists but it will be made into a “tequila garden,” the exact description is still a secret but it will have lots of plants and foliage. The front of the building will be knocked down to put an outdoor patio, facing Route 436, in the front. It will also have a 360-degree bar and a semi-private room for parties, board meetings and such.
This restaurant near the airport has been a long time in the making. Rios said he signed the lease two years ago but Covid — and the staffing shortage to which it led — made him put the project on the back burner. But, now, he said, business is better than ever, allowing the project to go forward.
And the expansion of the family-owned and operated restaurant doesn’t stop here.
The one he plans to build next, his sixth store — and the one he seems is most excited about — will be built in O-Town West, the brand new shopping center being constructed off I-4, at the intersection of Palm Parkway and Daryl Carter Parkway, between Universal Orlando Resort and Walt Disney World. O-Town West is perhaps known as being the site of the world’s biggest White Castle. He expects to start construction on that next spring. He said he also has plans to build an Agave Azul Cocina Mexicana in Lake Nona.
Rios said he came to the United States from Mexico when he was 9 years old. He was raised in Atlanta and moved to Virginia where his parents opened their first restaurant. His menu comes from the recipes of his mother and grandmother, he said.
The remodeling and renovation project, being done by BDM Construction, the same company that did its other four restaurants. Owner David Aurelio said the project is expected to be done by March or April of 2022.
