Mexican restaurants in Crystal Lake, Woodstock take over old Pizza Hut buildings

The two restaurants look familiar enough on the outside – the uniform, trapezoidal windows that line the perimeter of the building, the red brick siding and, of course, the trademark Pizza Hut cap on top.

Inside these food establishments, however, is not what some customers expect.

Green carpeting has been replaced by tan, clay flooring, brand-new tables and upholstered chairs fill the middle of the restaurants, and the framed sports memorabilia that decorated the Pizza Hut walls has been swapped for colorful sombreros and traditional Mexican paintings.

But the biggest change isn't in the interior design – it's in the restaurants' menus.

Carlos Mexican Grill 3 in Crystal Lake and La Trinidad in Woodstock have taken over old Pizza Hut restaurants. Both restaurants specialize in authentic Mexican cuisine, serving anything from gorditas and burritos to fajitas and chimichangas.

Although not related, both establishments opened their doors to the public four months apart, with La Trinidad opening April 3, 2017, and Carlos Mexican Grill 3 on Aug. 30.

Before moving to its 2085 S. Eastwood Drive location, La Trinidad spent 12 years less than a quarter-mile away on Davis Road as a grocery store and butcher shop with a small restaurant attached to the side. Business at that location wasn't very good, so they moved, owner Simon Ortiz said.

"There was no traffic there," Ortiz said. "It was harder for people who were driving to see us."

He wanted to move locations but stay in the area, so Ortiz and co-owners Aurelio Ortiz, his brother, and Zenaida Carbajal, his sister, enlisted the help of a real estate agent. Simon Ortiz and Carbajal remember how excited they were when they got the call about a nearby Pizza Hut shutting down.

"We are right by a [main road that has a lot of] traffic, and it’s almost the same spot," Simon Ortiz said. "The people who have been coming to our old restaurant for the last 12 years aren’t too far from the new location."

Carlos Mexican Grill 3 owner Cecilio Soto-Marin also has seen the benefits of having a strategically located restaurant. A lifelong Crystal Lake resident, Soto-Marin worked at Riverview Restaurant in Algonquin for 15 years before he teamed up with his friend, Carlos Pulido, to open another grill in a more central location.

"Pulido was looking to change," Soto-Marin said. "He's the owner of [Carlos Mexican Grill and Seafood 4] in Lake Zurich, and that restaurant's a bit small. We decided to work together."

Now the co-owners of the location at 282 W. Virginia St., Soto-Marin and Pulido are happy with the positive reception the restaurant has received. Soto-Marin said one customer in Marengo would drive all the way to Chicago for Mexican food before he found out about the Crystal Lake location.

"He comes here two to three times a week now," Soto-Marin said. "It makes me happy every time he tell us how glad he was when we opened up here."

Whether it's Carlos Mexican Grill 3 customers jokingly ordering pizza or confused customers sitting down to eat after discovering La Trinidad isn't a Pizza Hut anymore, the owners said they owe their respective restaurants' popularity to its authentic Mexican experience.

Even the chairs and bar stools were imported from Mexico, Soto-Marin said.

“Everything we make is according to Mexican tradition and what’s popular with the Mexican people,” Carbajal said. "I try cooking how they cook in Las Vueltas.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the name of the Lake Zurich restaurant.