Maybe that for-lease sign up in the window at Tila’s Restaurante and Bar on the Shepherd Curve for the last few months worked: The restaurant closed for business on Sunday — after 20 years at the same location. Owner Tila Hidalgo reports on the restaurant’s Facebook page that her business was given 25 days notice to vacate the property at 1111 S. Shepherd Dr. — it will be out of the space entirely by the end of the month.
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Tila’s moved into the rehabbed freestanding former dry-cleaning shop on the island at the intersection of Shepherd Dr. and McDuffie in 1997; an earlier incarnation of the restaurant stood for a time at 616 Westheimer, now the address of Katz’s Deli. Hidalgo reports she will continue to operate the Tila’s Tacos food truck until she can “create and build our newest Tila’s concept.”
- Welcome to Tila’s [Tila’s]
- Previously on Swamplot:Â Is Tila’s Restaurante Headed the Way of Teala’s Mexican Restaurant at the Shepherd Curve?
Images: aJ Gazmen [license] (top photo); Wulfe & Co. (others)
D*ck move by the landlord. 30 days is an impossible timeframe for an owner to relocate a restaurant.
A “For Lease” sign has been up on the property for months. She couldn’t have been too surprised. Her downfall to me comes down to the margaritas. They were too small, just a little bigger than a shot glass, too expensive, too weak and no frozen available. How can you run a Mexican restaurant for 20 years and never invest a few grand in a frozen margarita machine?
@Jgriff: Maybe she just didn’t want to attract the teacher crowd.
@Jgriff: I don’t know, why don’t you ask any restaurant in Mexico City how they stay afloat without frozen margaritas? Tila’s was a Mexican restaurant, not a Tex-Mex place.
Memebag, please explain.
@ShadyHeighster And you see where it got them. It was not a Mexican restaurnt. They had tiramisu and soufflé on the menu. Bad margaritas is why I didn’t go more often though.
And really. Who cares what they do in Mexico City? I don’t. I don’t care about authenticity, I just want good food.
Food wasn’t good, very overpriced, and the teacher comment while somewhat insulting is alluding to the perceived notion that teachers like to get tanked on cheap happy hour drinks (and or smoke too much and frequent karaoke bars).. But yeah I don’t think many will miss this place and their mediocre food/drinks alas. Word is even their food truck was notoriously unpopular.
Not a fan at all. The one time I did encounter Tila, she was the rudest person. I could not believe how belligerent she was to her customers. No matter how good the food was, she was never going to get another dollar of my hard earned money.
A PROMISE KEPT: About seventeen years ago when I moved into the neighborhood I stopped at Tila’s for dinner. From the outside the place was charming, not something you can say about a lot of restaurants in Houston. But the food was so insipid, the margaritas so awful, and the meal so expensive that I vowed never to go back. I hope it’s replaced by a Chacho’s! The neighborhood needs a good, cheap Tex-Mex restaurant. Or a Collina’s or anything BYOB with no corking fee.
Oh, great, another place that was around for decades and became a landmark, the place that had decent Mexican food, closes down. This makes me frustrated beyond belief. I don’t care if the downfall was predicted, I just hate how the restaurant scene is changing. Honestly, all recently opened Mexican places around are crap and not just hem. The millenial food industry is horrible in general, I have to actually look for older guys.
https://restaurantguru.com/mexican-food-near-me
https://restaurantguru.com/
And the good ones are getting harder and harder to find. All that glossy hisptery crap that’s replacing my beloved gritty smut is getting on my nerves. I, for one, love to get shitfaced in a crappy bar. But now I’m denied simple American pleasures.