Food and Drink

To diners’ dismay, Lake Norman family restaurant closes without notice

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Key Takeaways

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  • Pacheco’s Tortilleria & Grill in Lake Norman closed without public notice in June.
  • Owner cited health concerns and poor visibility from N.C. 150 as key factors.
  • New ownership will continue operating a Mexican restaurant at the same location.

A Lake Norman family restaurant that featured its matriarch’s homemade recipes from southern Mexico has closed without notice after about a year in business.

Pacheco’s Tortilleria & Grill stopped posting on social media in mid-June, prompting messages of dismay from diners. Management announced nothing about the closing on social media or on the locked front doors at the restaurant, across from the Walmart Supercenter off Interstate 77/N.C. 150, Exit 36.

In an email Wednesday, owner Youbie Holder told CharlotteFive that he sold the restaurant and that it will remain a Mexican restaurant. Details about the new owners and their plans weren’t immediately available.

“Health issues and location were the biggest factors,” Holder said about the closing.

Pacheco’s, a Lake Norman family restaurant that featured its matriarch’s homemade recipes from southern Mexico, has closed without notice.
Pacheco’s, a Lake Norman family restaurant that featured its matriarch’s homemade recipes from southern Mexico, has closed without notice. JOE MARUSAK jmarusak@charlotteobserver.com

Holder previously told CharlotteFive that he had difficulty drawing business because drivers couldn’t see the restaurant as they headed to Walmart and the AmStar Mooresville by Santikos movie theaters on Norman Station Boulevard off N.C. 150.

A tree canopy masks that end of the strip mall center that’s located across Norman Station Boulevard from the Walmart, and Pacheco’s and other businesses are set back from the road.

Last summer, Holder said he crossed the road to let Walmart employees know his restaurant existed and that it offered lunch and dinner specials.

Pictured at Pachecos Tortilleria & Grill in Mooresville on Friday, July 5, 2024, are, from left, owners Yoube and Rosi Holder; daughter-in-law, Juliam Ramos; in-laws Aristea and Abel Rivera; cousin Jose Jesus de Maria; daughter Maria Holder; son-in-law Jake Rivera; daughter May Holder.
Pictured at Pachecos Tortilleria & Grill in Mooresville on Friday, July 5, 2024, are, from left, owners Yoube and Rosi Holder; daughter-in-law, Juliam Ramos; in-laws Aristea and Abel Rivera; cousin Jose Jesus de Maria; daughter Maria Holder; son-in-law Jake Rivera; daughter May Holder. JOE MARUSAK jmarusak@charlotteobserver.com

Holder and his wife, Rosalva “Rosi” Holder, opened the restaurant in May 2024. It featured the recipes her mom made in the Pacific Coast town of San Jose de la Flores, population about 1,000, in the state of Guerrero in southern Mexico.

“Her love, skill and dedication were always displayed in the wonderful meals she served her family,” Rosi Holder, formerly Castillo Pacheco, told CharlotteFive last year about her mom, Maria Pacheco, who died in 2009.

“The best, most flavorful, colorful and all-natural meals you could have ever tasted, all from a simple wood-fire-style pit” using fresh natural herbs and spices, Rosi Holder said in Spanish.

[DIG DEEPER: Amid rising concerns of ICE raids nationally, Charlotte restaurants are warily on watch]

Pacheco’s

Location: 168 Consumer Square Drive, Mooresville, NC 28117

Cuisine: Mexican

Instagram: @pachecos4tacos

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Joe Marusak
The Charlotte Observer
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
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