A Mexican eatery in Salt Lake City’s 9th and 9th neighborhood abruptly closed last weekend after serving burritos and bowls for nearly two decades.
Barbacoa Mexican Grill‘s last day there was Saturday, according to a notice posted on its door at 859 E. 900 South, across the street from the Tower Theatre. The owners also announced the closure late last week on Instagram.
The restaurant is shutting down, the notice read, because of “upcoming building renovations.” The building is more than a century old and once housed a grocery store in the 1930s; a bakery through the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s; a craft shop in the ‘70s and early ‘80s; and an Einstein Bros. bagel bakery in the ’90s.
The closing coincided with the end of Barbacoa’s 20-year lease, owner Ed Garcia told The Salt Lake Tribune. The landlord communicated that the building would need major structural and mechanical work before potentially renewing, Garcia said.
For instance, Garcia said, “People like to come in and connect their devices to the wall, to recharge. The building is not set up for that. There’s no electrical outlets.”
Barbacoa’s catering business and three other locations are thriving, Garcia said. Those locations include 3927 S. Wasatch Blvd. (in Salt Lake City’s Olympus Hills neighborhood); 1953 E. Ft. Union Blvd. (in Cottonwood Heights); and 10662 S. River Front Parkway (in South Jordan).
The company is “actively seeking” a new location in Salt Lake City, Garcia said. That could be back at 9th and 9th or anywhere between downtown and Sugar House.
Garcia said he’s grateful to the 9th and 9th neighborhood. Some customers told employees that they had been regulars since they were in their teens and 20s, “and now they’re in their 40s,” he said.
“There’s been a transformation of [9th and 9th] over the years, where it’s more commercial and more vibrant,” Garcia said. “There’s more to come, I suppose, but it’s been wonderful. We’ve enjoyed our time there.”
(Rachel Crosby | The Salt Lake Tribune) A notice posted on the door of the Barbacoa Mexican Grill in Salt Lake City's 9th and 9th neighborhood, announcing the restaurant's closure after Nov. 29, 2025.
Fans of the 9th and 9th location responded with sadness and disbelief in Instagram comments.
“I’m gutted,” one wrote, adding “it’s not just a restaurant. … It’s a family. It’s a culture and it will forever be missed.”
Another commenter recalled going “with friends, laughing, eating amazing burritos and running to get the first order.”
The building, called the Lefler-Woodman Building, began life as the Lefler Flour Mill in 1878, according to an application submitted in 1992 to put the building on the National Register of Historic Places.
The front part of the structure, the Woodman Building, was added in 1911.
Before the era of shopping malls, the Woodman Building was “architecturally significant as a well-preserved example of moderate-sized, late-Victorian commercial architecture” in Salt Lake City, according to the registry application.
The flour mill, the applicants wrote, marked the first major development at the intersection of 900 South and 900 East, which has grown into the popular 9th and 9th district.