Las Cuatro Milpas restaurant in Barrio Logan on Oct. 25, 2024.
After failing two health inspections in recent weeks, a historic San Diego Mexican food restaurant has been cleared to reopen.
Las Cuatro Milpas, which has been in business in Barrio Logan for 91 years, passed its third health inspection on Jan. 17, earning an A rating and clearing the way for the restaurant to reopen.
Videos posted to the restaurant's Instagram stories on Monday showed a DJ outside the restaurant to celebrate the reopening.
Las Cuatro Milpas was first ordered closed after a Dec. 30 inspection found cockroaches and other issues that according to county health records included:
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- Vermin - Major
- Plumbing - Out of Compliance
- Premises, Vermin-proofing, Personal/Cleaning Items - Out of Compliance
- Floors, Walls and Ceilings - Out of Compliance
- Nonfood Contact Surfaces Clean - Out of Compliance
- Equipment, Utensils, Linens Storage and Use - Out of Compliance
A county spokesperson, in a statement, said the inspectors provided education materials and recommended the business contact pest control. Once the issues were addressed, the restaurant could schedule a re-inspection.
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While the restaurant was cleared from some violations during its re-inspection on January 10, some of the most egregious, including its vermin issue remained. The violation was removed during the inspection a week later and the restaurant was cleared to reopen.
Las Cuatro Milpas was founded by Petra and Natividad Estudillo in 1933, and it's still owned by members of the family.
The family-owned restaurant is famous for simple, delicious Mexican food with its beans, rice, chorizo and homemade chorizo consistently being hailed for its authenticity. With nearly 3,0000 reviews, the restaurant has a four-and-a-half star rating on Yelp.
The closure was the latest in a string of problems for Las Cuatro Milpas.
The restaurant 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.
Many speculated the restaurant was closing but in October of 2024, Sophia Estudillo, a sister of the one of the owners, told NBC 7 that speculation about the restaurant's sale were not true.
"Everybody thinks it’s going to sell. But no, not yet, for years,” Estudillo said.
