Fire hits popular Agoura Hills restaurant




IN THE AFTERMATH—Above, the debris outside of Mejico Grill & Tequila Lounge in Agoura Hills following last weekend’s fire. Right, an engine company from Station 89 on Canwood Street responds to the blaze. The restaurant had just recently reopened for outdoor dining. Below, co-owner Antonio Vasquez surveys the damage. IAN BRADLEY/Acorn Newspapers

IN THE AFTERMATH—Above, the debris outside of Mejico Grill & Tequila Lounge in Agoura Hills following last weekend’s fire. Right, an engine company from Station 89 on Canwood Street responds to the blaze. The restaurant had just recently reopened for outdoor dining. Below, co-owner Antonio Vasquez surveys the damage. IAN BRADLEY/Acorn Newspapers

As coronavirus cases drop, restaurants have begun to reopen their doors and welcome patrons back, but one local business got a harsh reminder that there are other dangers besides COVID-19.

Mejico Grill & Tequila Lounge, in what many patrons remember as the former Padri restaurant location at 29008 Agoura Road in Agoura Hills, erupted in flames the afternoon of Feb. 20, only a week after opening back up to customers.

Responding fire crews, including Station 89 in Agoura Hills, doused the blaze before it engulfed the entire building, but Antonio Vasquez, one of Mejico Grill’s two founders, said it will be some time before the eatery can reopen its doors.

“We survived the pandemic almost a year. It hasn’t been an easy ride, but we managed to survive because we really love what we do,” Vasquez said. “This is devastating, emotionally devastating. Not only because material things are lost but because we feel really proud of being able to employ a lot of associates.”

Photo right courtesy of LASD

Photo right courtesy of LASD

Vasquez said the fire started in building’s attic around 4:30 p.m. He evacuated his employees and patrons as the flames threatened the rest the structure. The fire department arrived on scene quickly and took about an hour to get the blaze under control. It’s believed to have started in the kitchen. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause. The flames ate through a major section of the roof above the kitchen and bar area and left serious damage, the full cost of which is still unknown.

“At this point we don’t know what’s next. I’ll say that if it was easy to fix in a month, we’d be up and running again, but because of the amount of the damage, I think it’ll take more than a couple of months to repair,” Vasquez said.

Adding to the pain of the fire is that Vasquez and his partner had just hired new employees—bartenders, cooks, servers—to staff the business as it reopened to the public, and now they’re worried about how those employees will make ends meet.

IAN BRADLEY/Acorn Newspapers

IAN BRADLEY/Acorn Newspapers

“The building can be repaired. The most important thing is our team, everyone is safe and nothing major happened,” Vasquez said. “That’s what we as owners are concerned about, the well-being of our employees.”