The iconic family owned Las Cuatro Milpas restaurant in San Diego’s Barrio Logan neighborhood has been sold, the business’s real-estate agent confirmed to NBC 7 on Tuesday.
Las Cuatro Milpas, which has operated on the same site since 1933, battled through a variety of challenges in the past few years, legal and health-wise. The family owned restaurant is famous for simple, delicious Mexican food with its beans, rice and homemade chorizo consistently being hailed for authenticity.
Owners of the restaurant say the rumors are false. They are here to stay, but it has expensive challenges ahead. NBC 7’s Jeanette Quezada reports.
“After almost 100 years of family ownership, Las Cuatro Milpas … has officially sold,” agent Voltaire Lepe posted on Instagram over the weekend. “A few months back, Las Cuatro Milpas’ family hired us to exclusively represent it in the marketing and sale of their property.”
Lepe said that the property drew multiple bids, with the price rising as negotiators bid against one another. Eventually, he told NBC 7, a winning bid of $2,210,000 was accepted — up from just below $2 million — and the sale was finalized Friday.
The long line (a daily occurrence) at Las Cuatro Milpas. (Candice Nguyen)
“We are very proud, grateful and honored to be part of such a monumental real-estate transaction here in our city of San Diego,” Lepe added
For now, at least, the restaurant is operational, according to Lepe, who demurred when asked about the eatery’s future. Possibly significant for Las Cuatro Milpas’s fans: Lepe’s IG post specifically said that the sale entailed the property held by the business, not the restaurant itself.
Las Cuatro Milpas
Las Cuatro Milpas
The original owners of Las Cuatro Milpas, Petra and Natividad Estudillo. Photo by Candice Nguyen.
“I believe the sellers will announce their future plans for the business and who the buyers are,” Lepe said on Monday. “I can just speak on the marketing and sale of the property itself.”
A call to Las Cuatro Milpas on Tuesday was not returned.
Las Cuatro Milpas was founded by Petra and Natividad Estudillo nearly a century ago, and it’s still owned by members of the family.
Candice Nguyen
Candice Nguyen
Las Cuatro Milpas in Barrio Logan is known for its fresh, handmade tortillas. Photo by Candice Nguyen.
A closure for health violations in January of this year was the latest in a long line of problems for the business. It was ordered closed for two days in January 2022 for similar violations, health records show. Despite some minor violations during its next inspections, the restaurant passed in October 2022, December 2023 and August 2023, only once dropping below a grade of A.
More recently, according to a spokesperson for the city of San Diego, the owners of Las Cuatro Milpas owed sales tax to the state and were delinquent on their property taxes. In July, NBC 7 reported that the restaurant was on the hook for $160,000 in county, state and federal taxes.
In October 2024, Sophia Estudillo, a sister of the one of the owners, told NBC 7 that speculation about the restaurant’s sale was unfounded.
“Everybody thinks it’s going to sell, but, no, not yet, for years,” said Estudillo, who, sadly, turns out to have been wrong.