Cinco de Mayo, the fast-growing Jacksonville-based Mexican restaurant, is returning to where it started with a new location coming to Downtown at 301 E. Bay St.
The company’s ninth location is expected to open by the end of the year in the former home of Olio, according to Jacksonville Daily Record. Co-owners Rodolfo and Maria Torres-Leon opened their first Cinco de Mayo in the Jacksonville Landing in 2007 and are ready to open its newest location at 11101 Old St. Augustine Road this month. The owners purchased the ground-floor Olio restaurant space on Sept. 22 for $1,337,500 after the company closed its doors in 2022 after a decade.
“We are very, very happy to come back to Downtown again,” Maria Torres-Leon tells JDR. “We already have plenty of customers there. They were sad when we left there. We want to see what it is like to own a property. When we were back at the Landing, they just kicked us out of there. We had no knowledge of the whole thing. When you have to leave, that can be one of the worst-case scenarios.”
When the new Downtown location opens later this year, customers can expect a full bar and plenty of delicious Mexican food. The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The family is opening Don Eduardo Cocina Mexicana at 2665 Park St. at northwest King and Park Streets in Riverside. While the owners are waiting for a waiver for an alcohol license, the space will be used as a tribute to Torres-Leon’s late father, who passed away in July 2022.
“My dad, he was in business for 40 years,” Torres-Leon said. “In the middle of this project, my dad unfortunately passed away. So we kind of wanted a backup on it, but it was too late to do. There was already a lot of work involved. So, at the end, we decided to sign the lease on the property because we already have everything set up. In the end, I think there’s a lot more motivation to move forward with this project. Because that’s something that he really wanted to get done. And he cannot be here for us to complete the work. So I think that’s what motivates us to keep working very hard on this project.”
