A downtown Galesburg Mexican restaurant and tequila bar has suddenly closed after just more than a year under new ownership.
Workers and management were busy Monday clearing out La Cantinita Cafe & Tequila Bar, 240 E. Simmons St. By 4 p.m., bar shelves were empty and much of the furniture and other fixtures had been loaded into a U-Haul truck parked in front of the business.
Manager Isaac Velazquez, son of La Cantinita owner Armando Velazquez, tells WGIL, “Things are a little slow, so we’re going to concentrate on our place in Morton.”
He respectively declined further comment.
Armando and Isaac Velazquez opened Verandah Cocina Latina in Morton in February.
Elvith Santoyo-McNaught and her husband Justin McNaught, who opened the eclectic and artsy La Cantinita in the fall of 2020, sold the establishment in Spring 2023 to pursue other interests.
The sudden closure of La Cantinita came as a surprise to Santoyo-McNaught.
“We haven’t had the best communication with either son or father,” she said. “We’ve reached out and offered help, but it was never well received. Any updates or news we would hear about La Cantinita was usually from friends or former customers.
“The news of them closing shop for good came to us in the same manner. And today we received a picture text from a friend notifying us that they were moving out. Again, we reached out to them, but got very little back.”
She added, “It’s evident that they don’t want to resolve matters in the right manner and they simply want to release themselves from all lease responsibilities.
WGIL reported in April 2023 that the McNaughts would continue to own the building and adjoining former Carriage House furniture store. Velasquez signed a 10-year lease for La Cantinita with available extensions once the lease expires.
“Overall I’m heartbroken,” Santoyo-McNaught said. “La Cantinita was very short lived and it deserved so much more. She was a sleeping beast that never got woken up. And I can’t help but feel a little guilty about it as well for selling it so quickly to someone who I trusted way too fast.”
Velazquez also operates Long Beach Taco Company in Long Beach.
