Local Mexican Restaurant Suspiciously Closes Out of Nowhere

A local Mexican restaurant closed out of nowhere.Photo byLisa BresleronUnsplash

Typically, when a restaurant shuts down it makes some kind of announcement. The pre-closure notices are the most beneficial, as they give patrons a final opportunity to visit, it makes it easier to inform readers of upcoming closures. Then there are the post-closure notifications, where restaurants post a quick blurb on social media about being sad to say goodbye. Those are less helpful, but at the very least make it possible to track. And then there are the ghost closures. These closures are the most frustrating for everyone involved, as there’s absolutely no word as to what happened. That is exactly what happened at one local Mexican restaurant in Scottsdale. 

A little more than a week ago, Dos Familias Local Mexican at 10885 North Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd closed its doors for good. There was no warning, no social media posts, or no updates to its website (in fact, when attempting to visit the website now it curiously redirects guests to a neighboring Italian restaurant). Outside of tracking the restaurant’s closure via updated reviews, there was almost no word as to the restaurant’s closure. 

The sudden nature of the closure, as well as just how quietly it went away, is surprising. With nearly 1,000 Google Reviews and a strong Yelp turnout, Dos Familias Local Mexican was a well-visited, and well-thought-of restaurant in the area. 

Beyond the website suddenly going dark, the Facebook page also had its name removed as well as most identifying marks, though it remains up. The fact that the website URL remains up (though it redirects) and the Facebook username is still active (even though the displayed information has been removed) indicates both are being used as placeholders. The biggest reason to do this is to maintain follower counts as well as review numbers. Dos Familias Local Mexican did the same thing when it took over the space for Blue Adobe. In fact, despite being an entirely different restaurant, it took over all the reviews from Blue Adobe, the previous restaurant to occupy the space, because of a placeholder tactic. 

So, either the new restaurant will be nothing but a rebrand (where the previous “closure” is used primarily as a write-off), or property management is using a placeholder tactic for whomever the next tenant will be. If a similar Mexican restaurant with a very similar menu opens at 10885 North Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd in the coming months, we'll likely have our answer.

Either way, while it is unfortunate the business closed, the tactic of gaming the system to artificially up review scores by using that of previous restaurants is disingenuous.