Triny’s Tex-Mex Grill is closed, but renovations are underway inside. Photo by Fallon Forbush.
Great Falls — Triny’s Tex-Mex Grill at Great Falls Center recently closed, but another will take its place. El Tio Tex-Mex Grill will open its fifth restaurant at the location.
Though Triny’s went out of business, Armondo Mejia says he thinks El Tio will do well in the same spot.
“I am very positive we can do it,” he says.
Mejia opened his first El Tio restaurant in Gainesville in 2004, Falls Church in 2009; McLean in 2013; and Washington, D.C. in 2014. His newest location will be hiring new employees once it opens.
“We will put a sign on the door and will see people in person,” he says.
Mejia, who immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador to Texas in 1983, says his restaurant’s most popular dishes are the fajitas and fish tacos. It was in Texas where he picked up his Tex-Mex recipes, which he says is “less spicy and less fried” than traditional Mexican food.
“We also sell a lot of margaritas,” he says.
He made it clear that his restaurant has its own recipes for margaritas, which differ from Triny’s recipes. According to Mejia, his margaritas have a good balance of sour and sweet and use a lot of tequila.
Before the owner of Triny’s opened his own restaurant, he worked as a manager at one of the El Tio restaurants, Mejia says. The two men are also cousins who have some bad blood.
Mejia’s cousin, Porfino Mejia, could not be reached for comment.
Right now, workers are painting and re-flooring his cousin’s old restaurant and will be updating the bar. There are plans to revamp the outdoor patio as well.
Mejia expects the restaurant will be ready for business in late March.