After over 2 years, beloved South Phoenix restaurant gets ready to reopen

Following a fire in the middle of service and then more than a year of delays, a beloved family-run Mexican restaurant in South Phoenix is set to reopen this fall.

Cocina Madrigal, a popular, award-winning restaurant led by family patriarch and chef Leo Madrigal, is on track to welcome guests again in October. 

Construction setbacks delayed the reopening, but Leo and his sons, Brian and Edson, note there’s action inside and outside the restaurant now. That puts a finish line in sight to this years-long ordeal.

“We just want to open up — for our employees, for our customers and for our own sanity,” Brian says. “We love the restaurant business, and we just want to continue doing what we love.”

Diners come to Cocina Madrigal for its scratch cooking and large enchilada plates and have championed the eatery on Yelp. In 2022, the restaurant took the No. 1 spot on Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat in the entire country.

The restaurant closed indefinitely in March 2024 after a fire broke out at the home-turned-eatery at 16th and Wood streets. In the midst of the Valley’s high season during a busy service, Cocina Madrigal’s kitchen team noticed smoke.

It was a rainy weekend, but what no one knew then was that some of that water had seeped into an electrical panel on the outside of the building. Brian and the staff ushered people out of the restaurant and called the fire department. Luckily, no injuries were reported, but their insurer recommended the family “gut the restaurant completely,” Brian told Phoenix New Times last year. 

From fire to food truck

Just over a year after the closure, the Madrigal family opened a food trailer down the block. It allowed them to keep their staff employed and stay connected to customers, Brian and Edson say.

“The food truck has been great; it’s been tremendous for us,” Brian says. “Unfortunately, what we thought would be very short-term has turned into long-term.”

For the past year, the chefs have cooked from the tiny mobile kitchen in the church parking lot that the restaurant has used for years as overflow parking. The cooks prep most of the brick-and-mortar restaurant’s menu, including fan-favorite tacos on freshly made corn tortillas, burritos, enchiladas and the charred romaine and mango steak salads, along with the Madrigals’ made-to-order guacamole and house aguas frescas.

Diners eat under a covered patio surrounded by planters packed with small palms and cacti. In the heat of the summer, the family opened seating inside the church. 

The temporary Cocina Madrigal has continued serving diners while the family navigated permitting and construction. They’ve upgraded the power transformer, and construction at the restaurant is in full swing. A fence encircles the restaurant, which has fresh sheetrock on the walls. The parking lot will also be repaved to make room for a few more spots, Brian says. 

Inside, the layout will stay the same, but Brian says guests can expect refreshed paint, tiles and art, as well as upgraded areas, such as accessible bathrooms. 

“We didn’t want to change our look and feel too much,” Brian says. “For us, this is our second home, and we welcome everyone into our home and want to show them a good time.”

While the heart of Cocina Madrigal will remain the same, diners will see a few new items on the menu. Leo isn’t sharing all of the new dishes yet, but teases a shrimp tostada and chicken relleno among them.

Though it’s been challenging to be patient, Leo cannot wait to open the doors again and welcome customers from around Phoenix and out of state who have come to the restaurant for years.

“I’m very excited and very grateful,” he says.

Edson notes long-time diners will likewise “see a lot of familiar faces” on the floor and in the kitchen.  

The unexpected downtime hasn’t been all bad for the Madrigal family. Brian and his wife welcomed a daughter. Edson and his wife moved their downtown restaurant, Centrico, to a larger space a block away. They then opened Vicio, a Detroit-style pizzeria that uses Mexican ingredients, in the former Mexican restaurant’s spot inside the Hotel San Carlos.

For now, the family’s focus is on welcoming customers back to Cocina Madrigal.

“We look to hit the ground running,” Brian says. “Just bear with us a few more weeks, and we look forward to seeing everybody.”

Cocina Madrigal

Food truck open now:
1523 E. Wood St.

Reopens this fall:
1530 E. Wood St.