The sign for the recently close Molina's Midway Mexican Food, 1138 N. Belvedere, with the Santa Catalinas in the background.
The Molina family in early May closed their Molina’s Midway Mexican Food restaurant, ending a 64-year, three-generation run. The Molina siblings, ranging in age from the early 80s to early 90s, had decided they were too old to continue running the restaurant at 1138 N. Belvedere Road.
In October, after making $200,000 in improvements including electrical and plumbing upgrades, Riad Altoubal opened Zayna Mediterranean in the 5,000-square-foot building that he bought from the Molinas last spring.
“It’s doing very, very well, much better than the other location because we had the parking problem over there,” Altoubal said just ahead of the restaurant’s lunch rush last Tuesday. “It’s much better than before.”
Altoubal opened Zayna six years ago at 4122 E. Speedway, a 2,500-square-foot space that quickly became too small for the popular Mediterranean restaurant.
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Molina’s sibling Las Margaritas, which Tillie Valle — a daughter of Louisa and Elias Molina — and her husband opened nearly 40 years ago, closed one of its two locations on Dec. 24. Valle’s daughter, Terry Morse, said she sold the property at 3602 E. Grant Road to the neighbors, Precision Inc., an automotive sales and repair business.
