El Torito Restaurant Closes Abruptly in Santa Barbara

The El Torito restaurant on Cabrillo Blvd. in Santa Barbara has closed down, abruptly. Crews are clearing out the tables, chairs and kitchen equipment.

The workers on site were not able to comment. NewsChannel 3 has been told employees have been assisted with work at the nearby Oxnard restaurant or with other local restaurants.

Long timers in Santa Barbara remember the El Torito as the Espana restaurant. (Dating back to 1970.) It was also a restaurant site known as Hola Amigos!

The restaurant is located in an area that is going through major renovation with a large scale Mission creek project in front of the property, and the La Entrada de Santa Barbara hotel project behind it.

El Torito is owned by Real Mex Restaurants in Cypress.
The company has embarked on a change for more than two years and is reported to have plans to convert the Santa Barbara site to a Las Brisas restaurant. It owns one in Laguna Beach already.

Real Mex owns El Torito, El Torito Grill, Chevys, Who-Song and Larry’s, El Paso Cantina, Acapulco, Sinigual, and Las Brisas.
http://www.lasbrisaslagunabeach.com/

(more details and video will be posted here later today}