WEATHERFORD — It should have the perfect day to stage a quiet restaurant opening in Weatherford on Friday, with the city pretty well closed down because of a freak snowstorm, school canceled and very few people out and about.
“We were pretty well slammed for lunch anyway,” restaurant co-owner Randy Garcia said. “It’s nice that despite the weather, we had so many customers, but we didn’t expect it. I hope everyone was happy. They’ve all seemed happy, so far.”
Garcia’s Restaurant, located at 809 South Main St., represents a family tradition for Randy Garcia and a life-long dream for his wife Delia Garcia.
Delia Garcia went to work for Southwestern Bell (Now AT&T) right out of high school and worked for the company for more than 30 years.
“I had a wonderful career with the phone company but I always wanted to have my own restaurant,” Garcia said. “I retired last July from the phone company and took some time off while we were building our house in Brock. That kept me busy for a little while but when the house was finished, we started looking for a location for our restaurant.”
Garcia is not exactly new to the food service business, having owned a catering business for more than a decade.
“I ended up catering by accident,” Garcia said. “At the phone company someone was always having a party or a birthday or getting married. Someone said, ‘Could you bring a Mexican dish?’ Pretty soon they were asking me to cater their parties. Eventually they were telling friends, family and neighbors. Before I knew what was happening, I was the owner of a catering business.”
The Garcias married three years ago and moved to a piece of land in Brock that has been in Randy’s family since 1970s.
“I was born in Odessa but we moved to Fort Worth when I was a teenager,” Randy Garcia said. “My parents bought the place just as a weekend getaway. I inherited it. I’ve always loved Parker County. I have a lot of great memories here.”
Randy Garcia’s family has been in the food service business for three generations.
“My grandfather owned a tortilla company in Del Rio,” Garcia said. “He started out in a small metal building with a tortilla machine. When I was a little kid I’d just watch him make tortillas on that thing for hours at a time. I was fascinated with it and with the business.”
Garcia’s opened for business this past Friday, at 7 a.m. and surprisingly, had a number of customers and had a busy first day despite Mother Nature’s best efforts to put a damper on the new eatery’s business.
The blizzard outside resulted in an avalanche of business inside for Garcia’s.
“I think a lot of people were off work because of the weather,” Randy Garcia said. “That meant we were busier than we expected to be.”
The Dent family had an early dinner together because Erin Dent, a paralegal with Rattikin Title Company in Fort Worth, didn’t have to go in to work on Friday.
“I had the chicken enchiladas,” Erin Dent said. “They were awesome.” Her husband Troy also gave the restaurant a thumbs up. “I used to come here and eat under a different owner and we noticed it was open again and decided to try it. We’re glad we did.”
According to the Garcias, plans for the near future include adding patio dining, offering catering and opening more restaurants.
“Let’s get through our grand opening in March,” Delia Garcia said.
Her husband has bigger plans, “In the near future, I’d like us to have a great reputation throughout the county for serving great Mexican food,” he said. “In the next five years I’d like us to have a reputation for serving great Mexican food throughout the state.”
Garcia’s is opened from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. For now it’s BYOB, but Randy Garcia plans to apply for a license to serve beer at the restaurant.
Business
Garcia's opening slowed by snowstorm, sort of
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