Agave Mexican restaurant closes

Story by Ashley Traylor, Staff writer

Nicole Ely/The News Agave, a local Mexican restaurant, closed unexpectedly Jan. 31, and Don Sol will be opening soon in its location.
Nicole Ely/The News
Agave, a local Mexican restaurant, closed unexpectedly Jan. 31, and Don Sol will be opening soon in its location.

Agave unexpectedly shut its doors on Jan. 31, after 16 months of business.

“I believe it has to do with money issues,” said Courtney Jackson, manager of Agave.

“Taxes were due. If she would have asked if we wanted to put more money in, we would have,” Jackson said. “We definitely got blindsided by the whole situation.”

Courtney and her husband, Pablo, both managers of Agave, received a call around 9:30 a.m. Jan. 31 to come into Agave for a meeting, when they usually do not go in until 11 a.m. Courtney Jackson said they knew something was wrong. The owner of Agave announced the restaurant was permanently closed.

A post announcing the closure on the restaurant’s Facebook page stated, “We the managers of Agave (Pablo and Courtney) regret to inform you that Agave has been closed permanently. We would love to say thank you to everyone that have supported us and allowed us to create some wonderful friendships with some amazing people. To anyone that wants to keep in touch add me Courtney Jackson on Facebook. This was a shock to us all. Thanks again Agave fans.”

“Agave always had great customer service. I was surprised to hear they closed so suddenly,” Elizabeth Goodin, sophomore from Paducah, Kentucky, said.

The restaurant will be opening again, but not as Agave. Don Sol will be the newest Mexican restaurant expected to open in a few months. There will be new management, new staff and menu and drink specials will not be the same, but it will be under the same ownership.

“I do not think Don Sol will get as much business as Los Portales, so I am interested to see if it will stay open,” Hannah Ryan, freshman from Calloway County, said.

Jackson said she does not think the owner will be around for this restaurant either. She has seven restaurants: Four Don Sols, two Don Tacos and one other Agave.

“Toward the end, she was like ‘Did you pay these taxes?’ ‘Did you pay that tax?’” Jackson said. “And as soon as we said, ‘No,’ we would not hear from her again.”

Taxes were handled through the owner and Jackson would send a check.

“She would send me the paper. I would send off the check,” Jackson said. “If I did not get that paper, then it did not get paid.”

Loyal Agave customers took to Facebook to express their condolences. Regulars of Agave were upset about the sudden closing, but customers have had nothing but love to give, Jackson said.

“I feel worse for my customers,” Jackson said. “I really want everybody to know that this was not our call.”

Pablo and Courtney are enjoying their time off and figuring out what they are going to do next.

“Thank you to everybody who supported us in the 16 months we were open,” Jackson said. “Hopefully, we will back.”

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