![\"Maricela](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790239810_804_19566258-50fb-4e3a-945e-0f88c72a1328_1618183236.jpg\")
<\/a>SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014<\/p>\nAzul, a beloved Mexican restaurant in Midtown Sacramento, will close its doors this Saturday after serving the community for 19 years, with the owners citing economic challenges, parking costs, and local insecurity as reasons for the closure. <\/p>\n
“It’s hard for us to close our doors when we have some very loyal clients,” said co-owner Jose Luis Ulloa. <\/p>\n
Ulloa explained that several factors contributed to the decision. <\/p>\n
“The situation with the economy is tougher right now, the insecurity around Midtown, it has something to do also, and the fact that they have to pay for parking now. They charge you to park on the street, just to get out of their car and come and pick up a few tacos or burrito or whatever, so I think that has to do, I heard it from clients,” Ulloa said. <\/p>\n
Longtime customers are reflecting on their memories at Azul and expressing sadness over the closure. <\/p>\n
“We got an email yesterday and all our team members were saying, ‘Oh, we’ve got to try it for at least one last time,'” said Leslie Jacques, a customer. <\/p>\n
“I’ve been coming here for 10 to 15 years,” said Nina Phillips, another customer. <\/p>\n
“In 2007, we worked just a half block away, so really excited when they came in, and I’ve had many Azul burritos, the al pastor,” said Nathan Pingle. <\/p>\n
“Azul is one of the few places I tried out right after I moved to Sacramento about 10 years ago, and it’s become part and parcel of my husband’s sort of Tuesday night taco routines,” said Sugra Panvelwala. <\/p>\n
“It’s just really sad that it’s just kind of like definitely the end of an era, and so my coworker and I came back and we had to have one last meal,” Pingle added. <\/p>\n
The city of Sacramento has responded to some of the concerns raised by Ulloa. Council Member Phil Pluckebaum, who represents the area, said police have increased patrols and the mayor has provided supplemental private security. Regarding parking, Pluckebaum said the message from businesses that parking is too expensive has been “loud and clear” and added that the city is exploring ways to improve it. <\/p>\n
The city clarified that parking meter rates did not increase this year, though charges for meters on Sundays and holidays were introduced to improve parking turnover and make spaces more available for customers visiting local businesses. <\/p>\n
For many longtime patrons, the closure marks a significant loss for Sacramento’s food scene. <\/p>\n
“It’s difficult to hear that, and I wish that some of the other businesses that have been impacted by COVID could sort of sustain longer because it’s become such a part and parcel of Sacramento’s food scene,” Panvelwala said. <\/p>\n
See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Midtown Sacramento restaurant Azul to close after 19 years SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 Azul, a beloved Mexican restaurant in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[86691,186470,387,1409,186478,186471,7862,182536,3798,186472,186474,186482,186476,49757,186479,21738,186484,186486,178703,186481,186473,1459,28214,164859,22687,121,108135,186480,186475,123,122,88696,186485,186477,186483,72],"class_list":["post-474032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-al-pastor","tag-azul-restaurant","tag-business","tag-city","tag-city-parking","tag-close-after-19-years","tag-closure","tag-economic-challenges","tag-food-scene","tag-jose-luis-ulloa","tag-local-insecurity","tag-longtime-customer","tag-longtime-customers","tag-mexican-restaurant","tag-midtown-businesses","tag-midtown-sacramento","tag-midtown-sacramento-restaurant-azul","tag-nathan-pingle","tag-parcel","tag-parking-cost","tag-parking-costs","tag-part","tag-phil-pluckebaum","tag-private-security","tag-restaurant-closure","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-businesses","tag-sacramento-california","tag-sacramento-food-scene","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-sacramento-restaurant","tag-sugra-panvelwala","tag-tuesday-night-tacos","tag-ulloa","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}