Rosa Madera, the Mexican restaurant with a popular location on West Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento, is opening a second restaurant in Old Town Elk Grove. Co-owner Gabriela Lopez confirmed to What Now Sacramento that the new restaurant will be at 9700 Railroad St., in the space formerly occupied by Horn Barbecue. “We anticipate opening early in 2027,” Lopez said.
The building is large, with marketing materials listing about 6,500 square feet of indoor space and a 2,500-square-foot patio. The Elk Grove restaurant will have an outdoor area, and Lopez has said it will likely be about twice the size of the Sacramento restaurant. The owners plan cosmetic changes to the building and will also seek a liquor license for a full bar.
The restaurant is expected to employ about 50 to 60 people, and the owners are financing the project themselves. Lopez said the extra space could help ease the long waits at the Sacramento restaurant, where guests can wait two to three hours for a table at busy times. That restaurant, at 7521 W. Stockton Blvd., has been open for nearly three years and will remain open.
Rosa Madera’s menu includes enchiladas, tacos and an assortment of seafood dishes, and the brand also has restaurants in Santa Ana and Camarillo in Southern California. At each location, the owners aim to create a space that feels like being somewhere in Mexico.
The Railroad Street building has housed several restaurants in recent years. Horn Barbecue, a Michelin-recognized barbecue restaurant from Oakland, opened there in April 2025 and closed earlier this year. Before that, the space was home to Slow & Low Smokehouse, which opened in 2024.
Lopez said that the owners had been considering Elk Grove for some time, partly because of the city’s growth, and that they hope to continue growing the brand in the greater Sacramento area. She said she couldn’t share whether the new location will offer anything different from the others, since those plans are still in the works.
The Sacramento Business Journal reported first on this development.
