Lalo’s Cocina Bar & Grill open for business

Lower prices and Mexican fare are what the new owners are betting on.

November 18, 2014; 12:25 PM • by Richard Hayes

Update #1 — November 18, 2014; 12:14 PM

Where once there was pasta now there is tacos. Lalo’s Cocina Bar & Grill (2617 W. Broad Street) opened last week and will be hosting their grand opening on Saturday.

The menu appears to be your standard Tex-Mex with most lunch entrees in the $7 – $9 range and the steak and seafood dinner options more in the $14 – $16 range.

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Original — October 29, 2014

In Richmond if you blink a new restaurant is gone in a flash and a new one is taking it’s place. Such is the case with Pan e Vino which opened earlier this year at 2617 W. Broad Street. Pan e Vino was a higher end Italian restaurant that failed to catch on in the area. That combined with health problems for the owner Joe Lo Presti has resulted in a sale.

Details from Richmond BizSense.com.

“I had a couple of heart problems, so I couldn’t be there,” Lo Presti said. “I was trusting other people and it didn’t work, so I had to let it go.”

Lo Presti said he sold the business to Mario Contreras and Eduardo “Lalo” Macia, who plan to open Lalo’s Cocina Bar & Grill in the space next month. Lo Presti said he and his brothers also recently sold Maldini’s Ristorante Italiano on Forest Hill Avenue to Marcello Armetta, one of Maldini’s managers.

Pane e Vino’s closure was first reported on Richmond.com.

Contreras said he and Macia have a 10-year lease for the West Broad Street property. They plan to cater Lalo’s to students and young couples in the area with a menu that ranges in price from $5.95 to $19.95.