Baja Fresh Closes its Doors in Wesley Chapel

By Ashley Reams

Baja Fresh Mexican Grill, which opened for business about a year ago, has closed.

“Hello friends and valued customers,” a June 23 post on the restaurant’s Facebook page reads, “we regret to inform you that we are closing our doors permanently effective Monday 6/24/13. We appreciate the past support from our customers and the local community.”

The Wesley Chapel restaurant, located at 2653 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., was a franchise of the Irvine, Calif.-based chain known for fresh, Mexican-style ingredients. It opened June 5, 2012 and was operated by Kush Vallabh, according to a Baja Fresh press release from May 14, 2012.

The 3,300-square-foot restaurant encompassed Baja Fresh’s latest contemporary restaurant design, the release stated. The location had 110 seats, big screen TVs and free Wifi. It sold beer, wine and margaritas in addition to its regular menu.

A phone call to the company’s marketing department seeking further information about the closing was not immediately returned.

Fans of the Wesley Chapel restaurant expressed their disappointment about the closing on Facebook.

“Oh no,” commented Kellye Dash on Baja Fresh’s original post. “Thanks for bringing the Shrimp Diablo Burrito to W.C. You will be missed!”

“Oh no!” wrote Carlos Hernandez. “I loved you guys.”

Mike McGinnis only used an emoticon to convey his feelings. He summed them up with a sad face.

Did you like Baja Fresh? What was your favorite menu item? What would you like to see move into the now-vacant space? Tell us in the comments.