What happens when a restaurant goes viral for supporting Trump?

JJ Zarraga and Kirk Rens launched Xolo, a Mexican restaurant in Moon Valley, three years ago. Neon signs and oversized pictures of Frida Kahlo hang around the dining room. Beyonce plays through the speakers and a skull, adorned with mirrored tiles like a disco ball, sits on a bar adorned with vibrant blue tiles. 

The menu is inspired by Zarraga’s Mexican heritage. Xolo draws diners with its taco boards and happy hour specials. The owners, who are engaged, work at the restaurant daily. They’re familiar faces in person and online, regularly appearing in the restaurant’s social media content.

Last month, a different post featuring the owners went viral online. 

The video, posted by the content creator Miggs Of The Valley on Sept. 23, shared the couple’s right-leaning politics. 

The evidence, gleaned from Zarraga and Rens’ online presence, showed the pair follows conservatives like the Trumps. The video includes an image of Rens holding a pro-Trump sign inside the restaurant following President Donald Trump’s win on election night. Snippets from past reviews and online comments appear in the video, too, implying the owners’ politics were hiding in plain sight. The content creator declined to comment for this story.

Online backlash quickly ensued, with commenters expressing confusion and frustration. How can an interracial gay couple who run a Mexican restaurant support Trump? How can they back an administration so openly antagonistic to both Latinos and the LGBTQ+ community?

“Ughh the hypocrisy,” one commenter wrote.

Rens describes himself as someone who “came from the left” and doesn’t agree with all of Trump’s policies.

“When it comes down to my family and the future for America, I agree a lot more with some of his policies than the other side,” he says.

For Zarraga, a first-generation Mexican American, the responses weighed heavily on him. He also feels like his politics have been painted with “one brush stroke.”

“Honestly, if people would just come and have a conversation with me, they could quickly understand I’m a lot more alike than they would probably assume, like I’m not an extremist whatsoever,” Zarraga says. 

‘Blasted on every single platform’

The ire rippled out beyond the post, initially into comments and DMs on the restaurant owners’ business and personal social media accounts. The restaurant received a flood of negative reviews on Yelp and Google – a digital phenomenon called review-bombing. Then came “call after call after call” to the restaurant, accusing the owners of being fascists, racists and homophobes, Rens says.

“We were essentially blasted on every single platform,” Zarraga adds, calling the experience both overwhelming and a gut punch.

The pair, who describe themselves as right-of-center, don’t deny their politics and say they shouldn’t be condemned for their views. 

“We believe in the rights of Americans to choose their own paths and where they lie on the political spectrum,” Zarraga says. “You should never be persecuted for that.”

They don’t want their business to be politicized, “because we aren’t, never have been a political business,” Zarraga adds.

In the immediate aftermath of the video, Zarraga and Rens jumped into the online back-and-forth in the comments. They created posts on their social accounts that implied they were unbothered, even defiant. Then they saw a comment that the restaurant “needs to be shot tf u(p).”

A comment like that, or another that had a casket emoji, “a year ago we would not have taken seriously,” Rens says. “When you take into account this political climate and things that have happened, it’s kind of scary, especially us being dads.”

Following the murder of Charlie Kirk, the threatening comment “quickly became not a joke,” Zarraga says.

The couple contacted Phoenix police, who they say referred them to the FBI. The bureau does not confirm or comment on reports or investigations to protect personal privacy, a spokesperson shared via email.

Diners vote with their wallets

Rens and Zarraga decided to get offline and focus on their business. They wondered, would people boycott Xolo or would they show up?

So far, diners have flooded into the restaurant, located in a strip mall at the southwest corner of Seventh Street and Thunderbird Road. Xolo regulars and past customers from across the political spectrum have stopped in, including one who gifted Zarraga and Rens a pair of American flags. Those now hang over the restaurant’s patio awning. 

The response over the last weekend of September “cleared us out,” Zarraga says, making it Xolo’s busiest weekend ever. September is normally the restaurant’s slowest month. Following the controversy, it became one of their busiest.

An influx of new customers helped buoy their sales. People outside of Arizona have reached out, too, sharing messages of support from states including Florida and New York.

“The communal rallying around us has been beautiful,” Zarraga says.

Not everyone feels the same. Learning about the owners’ politics, and seeing outspoken conservatives show up at Xolo or add their two cents online – “gonna be checking it out this weekend with my red hat!” – has turned off some past and potential guests. 

Their concern: Xolo won’t be safe for them, especially if they are Latino or LGBTQ+.

The owners disagree with that characterization. They also don’t intend to become more outspoken about their politics, especially at Xolo. 

“Everybody is always welcome and I want to keep it that way,” Zarraga says.

Zarraga and Rens don’t support restaurants based on the owner’s politics.

“I don’t go to restaurants and think, I wonder how they voted. I don’t care,” Rens says. “If the food’s good, I’m going to be there. For the most part, I think that’s how the majority of people think.”

However, they can understand if that’s a choice people make.

“This is a free country,” Zarraga says. “You’re able to do whatever you want and spend your money where you are, what you believe in.”