Tu Asador, the family-owned Mexican steakhouse known for its Monterrey-style carne asada, has closed its second location at 1662 Encino Rio in Encino Park after roughly two years in business. The original Castle Hills location, where the family-run concept first opened its doors, remains up and running.
The Encino Park closure was first reported by the San Antonio Current, which noted that Tu Asador's Instagram bio now mentions only the original Castle Hills location. Google also lists the Encino Park address as permanently closed, according to the same report. The satellite location opened in August 2024, per the San Antonio Express-News, meaning it operated for nearly exactly two years before shutting down this month.
A Strip Mall That Couldn't Keep a Tenant
The Encino Rio address has proven to be something of a revolving door for Mexican dining concepts. Before Tu Asador moved in, the space had previously housed a Tink-A-Tako outpost and then Tlahco Mexican Kitchen, which operated there from January 2022 until closing in December 2023, according to CultureMap San Antonio. That turnover suggests the location itself, tucked into a quiet strip mall near U.S. Highway 281, has struggled to hold onto restaurant tenants regardless of concept.
Tu Asador's roots trace back to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when siblings Regina Gonzalez, Emilia, Valentina, and head chef Jose de Jesus lost their hospitality jobs and launched a home delivery carne asada ghost kitchen alongside their parents. The venture grew quickly among family and friends before the siblings opened their first brick-and-mortar location in June 2021 at 8055 West Ave., Suite 125, in Castle Hills, a spot that replaced the former Spoon Eatery.
Monterrey Roots, Not Tex-Mex Staples
The restaurant's recipes trace back to Monterrey, Mexico, where family patriarch Jose Luis Gonzalez worked as a cattle rancher and taught a 6-year-old Jose de Jesus how to grill steaks over charcoal, according to background reported by the San Antonio Report. Mother Sandra Martinez also contributed traditional family recipes to the menu. Tu Asador specializes in Mexican-style steaks and grilled meats alongside flautas, enchiladas, and other traditional fare, and the family has been explicit about steering clear of Tex-Mex staples like yellow cheese enchiladas in favor of Northern Mexican specialties such as tuétanos, or bone marrow with chimichurri, and costillitas al tajín — along with splashier items like a $275 gold leaf-trimmed tomahawk steak.
The closure lands amid a punishing stretch for Texas restaurants generally. The state recorded 1,039 restaurant closures during the first half of 2026, the highest total of any state in the country, with 124 of those closures occurring in the Austin-San Antonio corridor, per WFAA. A statewide survey conducted by the Texas Restaurant Association in late 2025 found that 88% of operators reported rising food costs and 66% reported higher labor costs, pressures severe enough to drop overall operator sentiment to 48 out of 100.
North Side Dining Shifts Continue
Tu Asador's satellite closure isn't an isolated data point on San Antonio's North Side. Zorba's Greek Mediterranean Cuisine, an 18-year Castle Hills staple on NW Military Highway, also permanently closed its doors this month, underscoring how the area's dining landscape is shifting even as new concepts continue to open elsewhere in the state. Texas restaurants remain a massive economic engine despite the closures, supporting nearly 1.5 million jobs and generating $106.8 billion in annual sales across more than 57,000 locations, according to the Texas Restaurant Association.
For now, Tu Asador's story reads less like a company in trouble and more like a consolidation back to its roots. The Castle Hills original, where the family first proved out its Monterrey-style concept in 2021, continues to serve the carne asada and specialty cuts that built its following, even as the Encino Park chapter comes to a close.
