A popular Mexican restaurant in Macon has temporarily closed due to an overnight fire inside the building.
Guitarras Mexican Grill announced the closure Sunday morning via social media. The business, which has more than one location, said the fire happened at the Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard restaurant.
“We wanted to inform you that we experienced a fire overnight, and our restaurant is currently deemed non-functional. As much as we would have loved to open our doors today, we cannot,” the post read.
Co-owner Giovanna Pina told The Telegraph Monday that the electrical fire started in the kitchen.
“When we arrived that morning there was a lot of water at the entrance and in the kitchen and the sprinklers were on,” she said. “We then found the fire in the kitchen.”
She said the staff immediately got to work on throwing away all the damaged items to be able to open. She said she thought customers would be showing up for lunch and they wanted to be ready. She did not think the damage was as bad as it was, she said.
The Health Department was called by the Fire Department which is when the staff realized how badly the restaurant had been damaged.
“That’s when it hit us how much bigger the damage was,” she said. “Our electricity was affected, which ruined a lot of produce and a lot of items.”
A second post followed a few hours later expressing gratitude for the outpouring of support the community has shown.
“We want to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for all the supportive calls and messages we’ve received today,” the post read. “Your encouragement truly lifts our spirits and reminds us of the wonderful community we are a part of.”
Pina said the Thomaston Road location is currently open along with the Spring Street restaurant location downtown. She said their food truck was also open.
Pina said the Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard restaurant location cannot reopen until it is approved by the Health Department.
“We don’t know how long it will take,” she said. “But we are working as fast as we can because this restaurant and our customers are very important to us.”
Source Agencies
