Popular Berkeley Mexican Restaurant Moves to Jefferson Park

Santo Remedio, a Mexican restaurant that opened in February 2024 on the corner of West 39th Avenue on the hip stretch of Tennyson Street, suddenly shut its doors in June with a cryptic note that simply read, “Sorry, we are CLOSED due to technical issues.” At the time, general manager Luis Enrique Rios explained that some structural issues had been found during a liquor license inspection.

Rios said that he and the staff were prepared to move to a new space, if necessary, in as little as a month. Actually, it’s taken more than three months, but Santo Remedio is about to reopen at last — in a different neighborhood. Instead of Berkeley, where it had built a loyal clientele over a year and a half in business, the restaurant will now be in the former Red Tops Rendezvous space in Jefferson Park, just a half a block off Federal Boulevard on West 25th Avenue.

The previous tenant, a Detroit-style pizzeria from the Culinary Creative Group, closed, in part, because street construction had blocked its entrance. But today, the street is clear, and the neighborhood has an up-and-coming vibe. Rios says the residents and businesses have been welcoming and are looking forward to the eatery’s opening.

Also new on the street is JP Restaurant and Lounge, which is now open in space once occupied by Sarto’s, a popular brunch and dinner spot that closed in late 2020, during the worst of the pandemic. But Santo Remedio isn’t ready to welcome guests just yet. “Right now, the only thing holding us back is the license,” Rios says. “Once we get that sent over, I’ll open the doors right away.”

Inside those doors, the place is ready and waiting. The furniture is set for a full house, and the kitchen and equipment are primed for the green light. Because the space had recently been built out for a restaurant, Rios and his crew didn’t have to do much besides redecorate and repaint. “We did construction for like a month,” he explains. “We did some kitchen repairs as well.”

The building was constructed in 2022, and the renovated first floor is open and spacious, with stairs along one wall to a second floor of seating and a small outdoor patio that overlooks the block. The restaurant can accommodate 250 diners, more than the former location. There’s a bar under the stairs along the main dining area; nineteen television screens are spread throughout the eatery.

“We want to bring the community here, you know. We’re going to make something like Tennyson,” says Rios, adding that he appreciates the loyal fan base that the business had built in Berkeley.

Beyond changing location, Santo Remedio is changing its menu as well. “We’re gonna be more into tacos,” he says. But don’t expect a “taqueria” with street tacos and a fast-casual feel. “It’ll be better,” he explains. “More like a full-service taqueria,” with some other entrees and apps for full dinner service, and reasonable price points too.

“One of our goals is not just to offer service. We’re going to offer hospitality. So our service is going to be more elevated. We want to have customers that come back all the time,” Rios notes.

Best of all for fans of the original Santo Remedio, the entire staff will return to the new location — a promise Rios made when he closed the doors on Tennyson in June. “Everybody is returning. I gave them a courtesy call the other day, and everybody, everybody’s on board. I think they’re all excited,” he concludes.

Santo Remedio is now located at 2917 West 25th Avenue. For more information and updates on its opening, visit santoremediorestaurant.com or follow @srdenver on Instagram.