"When you go to some restaurants, you just eat, you leave and life goes on," Jose Flores told KTNV Channel 13 this fall. Most of his customers, he said, are people "we know their whole life. Most of their kids were raised here as babies."
Flores runs Chapala's Mexican Restaurant at 3331 E. Tropicana Ave. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Sept. 21 that the restaurant will close when its lease runs out at the end of November. The Flores family is retiring. No final day of service has been announced. The end of a lease is the latest the restaurant can stay open. It is not a date anyone has picked for a last dinner, and the weeks before it fall over a holiday.
The End of a Lease, Not a Farewell Party
The family describes Chapala's as a business rooted in recipes and hospitality "Since 1965." The family's accounts of where it started differ. Flores told KTNV his parents came from Mexico in the 1960s and began "there on Vermont Street back in 1965," trying a few business ideas, a laundromat and a trash pickup company among them, before they settled on food. KTNV says the family has run the East Tropicana restaurant for more than 30 years. A 2011 Review-Journal story names Antonio Flores, Jose's father, as the founder. Whichever account of the first address is right, the name has fed the east side for six decades.
The 2011 story was about another closing. A second Chapala's on South Decatur Boulevard shut on New Year's Eve that year after 25 years, and Jose Flores chose to focus on the East Tropicana location. For the last 15 years, Tropicana has been the only Chapala's. When it closes, the name is gone from the valley unless someone else takes it on. Flores left that door partly open: "Down the road, maybe somebody will continue to do it, but for the Flores family, we're all gonna retire." No buyer for the space or the name has been reported.
Flores told KTNV that when his parents opened, Mexican restaurants were rare in Las Vegas. He called Chapala's "probably one of the first top three or four restaurants in Las Vegas" and "probably still one of the ones that are around." KTNV's advice is plain: anyone who wants a last meal should go before the end of November.
Counting the Weekends That Are Left
Chapala's is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and until 8 p.m. the rest of the week. Those late weekend hours are the easiest time for a group dinner. From the week this post goes up, the calendar holds six Friday-and-Saturday pairs:
- Oct. 23 and 24
- Oct. 30 and 31, the Halloween weekend
- Nov. 6 and 7, the same Saturday as the Water Lantern Festival at Sunset Park
- Nov. 13 and 14
- Nov. 20 and 21
- Nov. 27 and 28, the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving
Holiday hours haven't been announced, and the lease ends right after Thanksgiving weekend. So the last pair on the list is the least certain one. If you're planning a family table, the November weekends before the holiday are the safer bet, and a phone call ahead costs nothing.
The menu covers enchiladas, chile verde, tacos, chile relleno and carne asada. The restaurant's own site adds house-made sauces, fajitas, chimichangas, beef enchiladas, quesadillas and camarones ranchero.
A New Kitchen Is Getting Ready on Sunset Road
As one long-running kitchen on the east side winds down, another is getting ready to open on the south side of the airport. Significant Other Kitchen & Cocktails is going in at 1725 E. Sunset Road, Suite 150. The Review-Journal described it in August as sitting across the street from Harry Reid International Airport's two parallel east-west runways. It is run by Mike and Kristi Austin with restaurateur Matthew Silverman and chef Matthew Piekarski.
The plan is a restaurant that changes over the course of the day. Mornings bring coffee drinks, pastries and breakfast dishes at the counter. Lunch adds salads, house pastas, nori rolls, sourdough pizzas and a burger served all day with fries cooked in beef tallow. Dinner moves on to vegetable dishes, seafood, wet-aged steaks and prime rib, with wine and cocktails. The design includes a pet-friendly terrace overlooking the airport, a private dining room and a wine room.
The opening is a target, not a date. FOX5 reported in mid-September that the restaurant planned to open in mid-October and was still hiring management and kitchen staff. The restaurant's own site says "Opening October 2026." Check its site before you drive over.
Mike Austin said in the announcement that he hopes the place becomes "part of people's everyday lives." That is a long-term goal. Chapala's has spent decades building exactly that kind of following, and it has a few weeks left.
Paradise's Calendar Through Early December
The rest of the season fits around those Chapala's weekends. Here are the dated events on Paradise's calendar between now and early December:
| Date | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| Fridays and Saturdays through Nov. 28 | Chapala's, 3331 E. Tropicana Ave. | Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; closing when the lease ends at the end of November |
| Saturday, Nov. 7 | Sunset Park, 2601 E. Sunset Road | Las Vegas Water Lantern Festival; gates at 2 p.m. |
| Thursday, Nov. 19 | Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall, UNLV | UNLV Wind Orchestra, "American Celebration 250," 7:30 to 9 p.m. |
| Nov. 27 to 29 | Judy Bayley Theatre, UNLV | "It's a Wonderful Life – A Live Radio Play"; 7:30 p.m. Nov. 27 and 28, 2 p.m. Nov. 29 |
| Saturday, Dec. 5 | Judy Bayley Theatre, UNLV | The same production, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. |
A few pairings make the calendar more useful. The Water Lantern Festival falls on the Saturday of the third weekend on the list. The gates open at 2 p.m. and there are food trucks and music before the lanterns go out. Sunset Park also sits on the same road as Significant Other's address. If that restaurant is open by then, an early meal and an evening at the park make an easy outing along one corridor. Clark County lists the park's hours as 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
The Wind Orchestra concert is on the Thursday before the last full weekend before Thanksgiving. UNLV's radio-play staging of "It's a Wonderful Life" opens the day after Thanksgiving. If your relatives are in town that weekend, you could try to fit in a late Friday dinner on East Tropicana before or after the 7:30 p.m. show. It all depends on Chapala's holiday hours, so call first. If not, the Dec. 5 performances give anyone who misses the first run a second chance.
What Changes on Tropicana After November
No plan for 3331 E. Tropicana Ave. or the Chapala's name has been reported once the lease runs out.
The Flores family has spent about 15 years focused on this one location, and before that ran the South Decatur restaurant alongside it for 25 years. The six Friday-and-Saturday pairs above are the last chance to have dinner there.
The end of a lease sets Chapala's last day. If you own a home in Paradise and a fixed date is setting the timing of your next move, Flat Fee Pros can help you plan it on your schedule, with full-service representation for a flat $1,999 listing fee instead of a percentage of your equity. List for $1999.
