Mario and Yazmin Padilla, owners of the Mexican Hat, are saying thank you to the community and their loyal customers as they prepare to move on into the next chapter of their lives.--Submitted Photo
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
After nearly seven years, the Mexican Hat restaurant is closing its doors.
The idea for the restaurant had first come to mind when owners Mario Padilla and Yazmin Padilla first moved to Medicine Hat 12 years ago, the small pun a clear choice when they moved to share their culinary skills with the city.
“We started with a name, and then little by little, things started to fall in place, until we found this specific spot in the city and we thought that it would work for us,” said Mario. “It just really caught fire from there.”
The restaurant as it stands now is much the same as it was when they first opened, but since opening, they have been fortunate to see the lives of what Yazmin called the “Mexican Hat community” unfold in front of them. Mario fondly recalls seeing them go from coming in on their own to married and bringing their kids in for family dinner.
The COVID-19 pandemic had its challenges as well, but Mario says the people of Medicine Hat supported them throughout, something they will forever be grateful to.
However, they feel it’s time to move on to their next chapter.
“After almost seven years, we feel like we had a pretty good run and now we’re trying to focus on family,” said Mario. “We’re going to leave the spot for another local restaurant.”
The closure does not come from any financial hardship, says Mario, but simply a desire to move into the next segment of their lives, focused on family and the future of their children. He says he is looking forward to seeing what will come next in the space that has been his place of business and a favourite of so many Hatters for years to come.
With doors closing Nov. 1, Yazmin says hey have already had many longtime customers stop by to wish them well and enjoy one last meal and that they hope to see many more in the remaining week of operation.
However, they hardly plan to leave those who would otherwise miss the Mexican Hat’s signature flavours completely in the cold.
“We want to share our family recipes with all the people of Medicine Hat,” said Yazmin. In the days to come, she has been organizing the opening of an Etsy shop, where those interested will be able to buy the recipes to some of the restaurant’s most well-known dishes.
“We came to Medicine Hat with this dream, we wanted to share part of our culture through food and we’re going to be forever grateful that people came to try it and recommended us and got us all the way to where we are,” said Mario. “Now that we’re leaving, we just want to say thank you to everybody.”
