Chando’s Cantina in the works for former Solomon’s space on K Street

A landmark building on K Street most recently occupied by Solomon’s Vinyl Diner is being taken over by a familiar figure in the local restaurant scene.

Lisandro “Chando” Madrigal, founder of local chain Chando’s Tacos, is in the process of reopening his former restaurant and entertainment concept, Chando’s Cantina, in the two-story space at 730 K St. The cantina concept, which specialized in Mexican street food, previously operated at 805 15th St. from 2017 to 2023.

For the latest iteration, Madrigal is teaming up with Jorge Barba, who runs South Sacramento Mexican restaurant Zazon Del Mar, which specializes in seafood. Combining their brands and specialties, Madrigal said the planned K Street restaurant will be called Chando’s Cantina Zazon Del Mar. Madrigal’s son, Carlos Madrigal, will also be a partner in the business.
“The current economic climate is not easy and costs of goods are super high, so it is a big risk but we have a lot of faith in our abilities to market the business correctly and create a great experience for Sacramento,” Madrigal told the Business Journal. “The location is awesome and the historic building has an amazing kitchen, so we are both excited to geek out in there.”

The building was previously the location of Jewish deli Solomon’s Delicatessen, which opened in 2019. In 2023, the restaurant rebranded and was reconfigured into an American diner called Solomon’s Vinyl Diner — both named after Tower Records founder Russ Solomon. The restaurant and bar, which also featured a live entertainment venue upstairs called the Russ Room, closed last year.

Madrigal said the downstairs space will be used for the full-service restaurant’s main dining area, offering a menu of traditional Mexican cuisine with various cuts of meat and seafood options, handmade tortillas and tableside service for cocktails, salsa and guacamole.

The K Street space’s upstairs area will be used as overflow seating and a lounge area for most of the day but will transition to an entertainment venue after 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Madrigal said the plan is to target the Hispanic and Latin markets for their live entertainment offerings.

“One of the biggest things I learned at the former cantina location, from an entertainment standpoint, is that we were spending a lot of time and resources on bringing in bands every weekend that were different genres, so it ended up feeling like it was a different business every weekend because we had to market to different audiences,” Madrigal said. “This time around, we want to focus on consistency and keeping things simple and accessible.”

The partners signed a lease within the last month for the space, which Madrigal described as turnkey. They plan to make some minor aesthetic changes to the interior and fine-tune a menu. At this point, he anticipates the restaurant and venue will be ready for operations in mid-March.

The 5,730-square-foot space is located in The Hardin near Golden 1 Center. The mixed-use project was completed in 2018 and features 137 apartment units and more than a dozen ground-floor retail spaces. Some of the retail tenants include Koja Kitchen, Ruhstaller, Tiger, Kodaiko Ramen & Bar, Darling Aviary and Townie.

“Chando’s at The Hardin heralds a vibrant new era for Sacramento’s downtown, revitalizing the community with authentic dining and entertainment,” said Bay Miry, who is part of the development team and ownership group for The Hardin, in an email. “Their seasoned team promises economic and cultural enhancement, and after a decade of friendship, I’m excited to welcome them.”

Madrigal said his Chando’s Tacos chain will continue to operate as normal following the opening of the cantina. The chain, which also operates food trucks, has six brick-and-mortar sites in the area and an operation at California State University Sacramento. Its East Sacramento location recently closed due to a fire, but Madrigal said they plan to reopen the site once they fix up the space — a food truck is currently stationed at the site.