After three years of planning, Red Mesa’s new restaurant is finally ready to open.
The St. Pete Mexican restaurant chain’s “Mercado West” location debuts this fall, according to a press release. The spot was first announced in 2022.
The first Red Mesa Mercado is located in the Edge District at 1100 1st Ave N—and the new location is at 6001 Central Ave., just a 10-minute drive away.
The release adds that the new Mercado location will have a similar menu—Cali-Mex tacos, bow.s and “not-your-basic burritos”—while offering a new fast-casual sit-down option complete with wait staff.
“Mercado West has been a dream for a long-long time, and it’s incredibly rewarding to finally see it come to life,” Pete Veytia III, COO of Red Mesa Group, wrote in the release, expressing pride at how his team navigated the process of building the service model, menu and design of the new spot.
Red Mesa Restaurant Group has a long history in St. Petersburg that dates back to 1995. Other concepts in the chain include the group’s cantina (128 3rd St. S) and sit-down restaurant (4912 4th St. N) both famous for Latin American cuisine like ceviches, tacos and small plates.
St. Pete’s new Red Mesa Mercado West is set to open in October 2025, according to the release.
Previous tenants at 6001 Central Ave. include Two Graces, which closed in 2022, and Reading Room before that.
A rep for the chain told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that St. Pete’s Red Mesa Mercado West will not be open for breakfast.
Openings hours starting this weekend are Sunday-Thursday 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. and Friday-Saturday 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.
Stay up to date by following Red Mesa Mercado through Instagram and Facebook.
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St. Pete’s Red Mesa will open second ‘Mercado’ location at the old Two Graces
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 3, 2025.