LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The long wait for the second location of Pablo’s Old Town Mexican Restaurant’s in Lansing’s east side neighborhood on East Michigan Avenue is finally over.
Officially open since early-March, the new Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant, located at 2010 E. Michigan Ave., was hotly anticipated as the original Old Town spot has been a local Lansing staple for years.
“I always wanted to open a second location. We got a nice offer from the landlord [Gillespie Co.] and we decided to grab it and go from there,” owner Pablo Maldonado said.
First opened in 2005 by Pablo Maldonado, the original Pablo’s Old Town Mexican Restaurant began with a conversation about purchasing a mixer.
Maldonado initially wanted the mixer to prepare bread but when he discovered that the person was also selling enough kitchen equipment for an entire restaurant and a building big enough to house one, he decided to go for it.
The restaurant became a hit over the years, and expanding eventually became a thought on Maldonado’s mind. He planned to open a second a location in REO Town but due to several factors, including the hardship of the coronavirus pandemic, that never came to fruition.
“We bought a place in REO Town, but after the pandemic and everything else — we had to sell it,” Maldonado said.
His new location on Lansing’s east side, right next to Strange Matter Coffee Co. on East Michigan Avenue, is everything Maldonado dreamed of for the second Pablo’s Old Town Mexican Restaurant.
While the menu of delicious Mexican food recipes passed down from Maldonado’s family is the same, this new Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant has something the old one does not — alcohol.
For the first time ever, customers can crack a beer or enjoy a cocktail while eating their food at Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant.
This new restaurant also has a massive patio that Maldonado said has already proved to be a hit thanks to a recent spell of warm weather in mid-Michigan.
“It’s a great patio, last week when it was warm, it was packed. It’s going to be like that every single day when we get some warm weather,” Maldonado said.
