Olé’s Neighborhood Tex-Mex is located on a small corner near St. Ann Catholic Parish, but on Friday nights it is hard to miss the lines that sometimes snake all the way outside the building.

When Olé’s closed in December, loyal customers across Coppell adamantly shared their discontent across the Coppell Facebook page. Last month, the beloved restaurant reopened to the delight of many customers excited to go back.

“I like Olé’s because it is a convenient Mexican restaurant nearby that always guarantees great food,” CHS junior Nathan Hernandez said. “I was excited to hear it had reopened.”

Customers have wondered why there had been first a change in ownership, and then why the Tex-Mex restaurant had shut down.

“Back in 2016, I sold the restaurant to Laurence Kelly [previous owner] because my dad got sick in Mexico,” said Olegario Herrera, founder and current owner. “I went up there and took care of him for a year, so that’s one of the reasons I sold it. Then, when he recovered and went through rehab, which was about a year ago, I decided to come back and start the business again, so that’s how I got back into it.”

Upon arriving back in the United States and buying back the restaurant of his creation, Herrera took the closed restaurant and took up the challenge of remodeling and expanding it.

Since then, the bar has been redone, a dividing wall has been replaced with glass, and the interior design of the restaurant has been changed so “people feel like they’re in a new place” according to Herrera.

To re-open the restaurant promptly, Herrera hired a morning and evening staff to aid the process. They worked 16-20 hours a day to finish the project between mid-December and late January.

“I haven’t had a day off since I took over,” Herrera said. “In a business like this, you really have to go at it until everyone is trained and they know what they are doing.”

Though a lot of change has been brought to Olé’s, a lot of what has made the restaurant successful remains.

“The menu is still the same, I have my same chef from before who was with me for about 15 years,” Herrera said. “Most of the cooks are still here as well. Overall, I added some dishes and took some out, but the process in the back is the same.”

Many around Coppell are confident the reopening will be successful. Much has been attributed to the staff.

“Olé’s has a very nice staff; much of the staff has known frequent customers for a long time, which has built a great relationship,” said CHS junior Kyler Henderson, former Olés’s employee. “The food is cheap and delicious, which also contributes to so many people going.”

Enthusiastic customers have been the bulk of the advertisement for Olé’s. Facebook posts and word of mouth have been the reason the reopening has become known across Coppell.