After 45 years on Roswell Road, El Azteca is all in on Sandy Springs

This story is from the December issue of Reporter Newspapers marking the th anniversary of the City of Sandy Springs The Sandy Springs location of El Azteca opened in Photo by Cathy Cobbs El Azteca has been a staple in Sandy Springs for more than four decades Victor Macias s parents tethered themselves to the locality more than years ago raising their children in Sandy Springs and opening the first El Azteca there long before the Atlanta bedroom region became a city Sandy Springs is where it all began for El Azteca in the current era a local Mexican restaurant chain with three locations It s become a great source of family pride that the Roswell Road restaurant still exists as Sandy Springs and its burgeoning dining scene grew up around it Now the seventh-largest city in Georgia Sandy Springs and Atlanta combined account for two-thirds of the more than restaurants in the state Macias attended Spalding Drive Elementary and spent majority of his childhood in Sandy Springs His formative years unwittingly paralleled the then-fledgling city which incorporated when Macias was in middle school He remembers his parents talking about the incorporation of Sandy Springs and what it might mean for El Azteca By when Sandy Springs became a city El Azteca had been in business for nearly years I ve seen Sandy Springs and the restaurant scene change so much My parents chose Sandy Springs because there were hardly any restaurants when it opened in The district needed restaurants Macias reported Back then there weren t as a multitude of Mexican restaurants as there are nowadays so El Azteca was a lot of people s introduction to Mexican and Tex-Mex food in Sandy Springs El Azteca-Sandy Springs moved into its present location in Photo by Cathy Cobbs Macias s father Javier moved to Atlanta from Chicago in the late s to work at his uncle s restaurant El Toro on Roswell Road But in Javier and his wife decided to strike out on their own opening El Azteca near present-day Rumi s Kitchen before taking over the property now home to Mellow Mushroom In El Azteca moved again to its present location at the Lowe s complex a half mile south on Roswell Road The Macias family lived and worked in Sandy Springs for years eventually moving to Johns Creek in the early s But El Azteca on Roswell Road served as the family s anchor to Sandy Springs even after the business expanded to multiple metro Atlanta locations Roswell Road is where we see generations of families returning to dine I ve seen people s kids and grandchildren grow up and bring their own families Macias stated who serves as El Azteca s Director of Operations and owns the Perimeter Center location on Peachtree-Dunwoody Road We like to call El Azteca the Mexican Cheers because we know our regulars names and their orders We re part of their lives Family drives everything behind El Azteca It continues to be a family-owned and operated business and where Macias and his sister learned the restaurant industry working as food runners servers and hosts during high school He watched his parents grow the family s lone restaurant into locations They ve since scaled back to just three locations in Buckhead Perimeter Center and the original Roswell Road restaurant Macias s sister holds a degree in hospitality management The plan had inevitably been for her to take over the business When she decided to prioritize raising a family Macias stepped up to help his parents run the restaurants With a degree in business administration and marketing Macias became a manager and shadowed El Azteca s Director of Operations a title he earned in His parents turned over the opening and ownership of the Perimeter Center El Azteca to Macias three years ago where he built the restaurant from the ground up Family-owned businesses don t have as much assistance once founders get older or retire Maybe their children don t want to carry on the business or they never had any children So these businesses close after years in communities because there s no one to keep them going Macias noted My parents were lucky we grew up in the restaurants and yearned to keep being a part of them Provided by El Azteca Provided by El Azteca Provided by El Azteca As a second-generation owner overseeing the daily operations of all three of his family s restaurants Macias knows that for El Azteca to endure it demands to evolve He in the past few days added new dishes like tortas and chiles rellenos to the menu The bar features new non-alcoholic drinks and cocktails like a lychee margarita and Mexican Old Fashioned Margaritas incorporate top-shelf tequilas fresh juices and agave syrup Macias also pared down the combination meal options from to That doesn t mean however someone can t come in and order the number We have cooks who ve been there for decades and can still make a number I may not know what a is but someone in that restaurant does and will make it stated Macias Despite stepping back from the day-to-day running of El Azteca his father keeps a sharp eye on things Macias is glad for his wise counsel but finds his father open to new ideas for keeping El Azteca fresh and current El Azteca still has the majority of the day-one recipes on the menu and certain entrees have never changed As I ve taken over more I m focusing on keeping the original concept but adding to it making it more now he announced In El Azteca will turn on Roswell Road Macias wants to make sure it survives in Sandy Springs for another The family just resigned the lease locking El Azteca in on Roswell Road for at least another decade With the Perimeter Center restaurant humming along Macias can concentrate on shoring up the family s flagship restaurant on Roswell Road which includes a few much-needed updating and a facelift If we needed to leave that space we would unfailingly find a way to be on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs stated Macias of the future It s our home base and reminds us of how far we ve come El Azteca would not be what it is the present day if it wasn t for the people of Sandy Springs This story is from the December issue of Reporter Newspapers marking the th anniversary of the City of Sandy Springs The post After years on Roswell Road El Azteca is all in on Sandy Springs appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta