Margaritas Mexican Cantina expanding in Armory Square & beyond

SYRACUSE — Just three years after opening, Margaritas Mexican Cantina is expanding its location at 203 Walton St., nearly doubling the restaurant’s space and seating.

Alejandro Gonzalez and his business partner Jose Avalos opened Margaritas in September 2019. Gonzalez worked for years in the restaurant business before venturing out on his own.

While born in the U.S., Gonzalez grew up in Mexico. After he returned to America, much of his restaurant experience was in Mexican restaurants. It was the growing popularity of Mexican cuisine, however, that truly influenced what type of restaurant he wanted to open.

Mexican food is the second or third-most popular restaurant cuisine, he says, and you really can’t go wrong serving good drinks and big portions of tasty food.

“I think I was one of the first ones to revolutionize the Mexican restaurant concept,” Gonzalez says. Instead of having the same old booths and playing the same old music that other restaurants used, he instead chose colorful furniture, vibrant and authentic Mexican dishes, upbeat music, and served margarita towers at his restaurant.

“It makes people not just want to come here for the food but also for the atmosphere,” Gonzalez adds. With wait lists three to four hours long, especially on the

weekends, the concept is working, and it’s the impetus behind the renovations underway to expand the restaurant.

Margaritas can currently seat 142 people and will add another 130 seats in a dining room that’s expanding from 3,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet. The restaurant is expanding into vacant space from which the restaurant’s space was partitioned. “We’re just knocking down the wall,” Gonzalez says. Once complete, Margaritas will occupy just over 10,000 square feet between the dining room, kitchen, and bar.

Remodeling was underway at press time with a projected late August completion. Margaritas worked with Innovation Construction, Inc. of Ohio on the project. The company specializes in working on Mexican restaurants.

“It’s going to change the whole atmosphere,” Gonzalez says. The work also includes a new larger bar, new lighting, and the possibility of bringing late-night food and drink offerings to Margaritas. Currently, the restaurant is open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and closes at earlier times the rest of the week.

Gonzalez expects he needs to add between 15 and 20 employees at Margaritas, bringing the total to nearly 90 people.

Barring construction delays, Gonzalez was expecting to celebrate the newly renovated space in mid-September.

“It’s been a good ride, and we have more to go,” he says of Margaritas Mexican Cantina’s growth. Along with a second location in Rochester, Gonzalez and Avalos are hoping to open a third eatery in Florida soon. They are also looking at taking their restaurant concept overseas as well. 

“I’ve been looking at a place in Luxembourg,” Gonzalez says. He is also considering Bucharest, Romania as a possible site. “They have a really good nightlife there,” he quips.

Gonzalez believes the Margaritas concept with large potions and that Margarita tower would be well received in Europe.

The Armory Square restaurant (www.margaritasmexicancantina.com) enjoys a diverse clientele including office workers for lunch, couples and groups during the dinner hours, college students and people looking for a fun date spot in the evenings, and a lot of families on Saturdays and Sundays.