Mexican seafood restaurant and bar to fill Solomon’s former downtown Sacramento space

Two seasoned local Mexican restaurateurs are partnering to open a new restaurant and cantina near Sacramento’s Downtown Commons, the high-profile space formerly home to Solomon’s in The Hardin development.

Lisandro “Chando” Madrigal and Jorge Barba plan to open Chando’s Cantina Zazon Del Mar around March 15, Madrigal said. The name fuses together their two businesses: Madrigal’s since-closed cantinas in Sacramento’s Mansion Flats neighborhood and the El Dorado Hills Town Center, and Barba’s mariscos restaurant at 2386 Fruitridge Road.

Chando’s Cantina Zazon Del Mar, at 730 K St., will focus on Mexican seafood too, with housemade tortillas, tableside guacamole and hearty meat options such as steaks as well. Food options will more closely mirror Zazon Del Mar than Chando’s Cantina, though the latter’s bar program will affect cocktail offerings.

The K Street building’s upstairs concert space, formerly known as The Russ Room, will host Latin American musicians’ shows on weekend nights and provide overflow seating as needed during the week.

Madrigal’s son Carlos, who worked at his father’s Sacramento-area restaurants and launched an Atlanta-area expansion, will join Chando and Barba as a partner in Chando’s Cantina Zazon Del Mar. The upcoming opening was first reported by the Sacramento Business Journal.

While Zazon Del Mar recently celebrated its 13th anniversary just south of Hollywood Park, Madrigal’s businesses have been more turbulent. His comparatively casual Chando’s Tacos concept was one of Sacramento’s hottest restaurants in the early 2010s and still has six operating locations, but closed a Citrus Heights outpost in 2023, one in Elk Grove in August and both of its Atlanta efforts within the past six months.

Then there are the Chando’s Cantinas, which closed in October 2022 (El Dorado Hills) and August 2023 (Sacramento). Both were hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic, Madrigal said: the El Dorado Hills location opened in November 2019 just before shutdowns began, and people didn’t flock back to the Mansion Flats restaurant, bar and music venue amid downtown Sacramento’s slow economic recovery.

The business model needed tweaks as well. The musical acts’ varying genres didn’t coalesce in a consistent audience, and full-service dining would have worked better than Chando’s Cantina’s elevated street food, Madrigal said. When Solomon’s former location became available, it was an opportunity for a second chance, this time with his son and Barba.

“I felt like Sacramento needs a place like that, man. There isn’t another place like Chando’s Cantina with that kind of food and atmosphere and environment,” Madrigal said. “I was able to learn a lot from the cantina experience, and I just got nostalgic. I started missing the place, man.”

Solomon’s, then known as Solomon’s Delicatessen, opened in 2019 after years of anticipation and a short-lived Davis test run. Originally a contemporary Jewish deli and bagel shop, it eventually rebranded with a more global menu and different names — first Solomon’s Vinyl Diner, then simply Solomon’s — under a sequences of new chefs, consultants and partners before closing last June.

Chando’s Cantina Zazon Del Mar will be open from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Friday-Sunday, with food available until midnight on weekends, perhaps on a pared-down menu.

This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 1:14 PM.