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New owner of La Hacienda building to reopen restaurant as ‘Fairfield Diner’
FAIRFIELD – La Hacienda on the west edge of Fairfield served its final meal on Sunday, March 31.
The building will not remain vacant, however, since it has been sold to a new owner, who plans to open his own restaurant in the building next month. Shefki Mehmedi has operated Riverside Family Restaurant in Fairfield for the past seven years, but he had to move the restaurant out of its former location at 605 W. Burlington Ave.
Ramon Gonzalez had run La Hacienda for 21 years before deciding to close the restaurant this year. He approached Mehmedi to see if he would like to rent or purchase La Hacienda’s building, and Mehmedi agreed to buy it. Mehmedi took ownership of the building on April 1, and has been hard at work since then renovating the interior to reflect his own style.
Mehmedi said customers can expect the same menu items they’ve grown to love at Riverside Family Restaurant, though it will no longer be part of the Riverside chain of restaurants. In fact, Mehmedi is changing the name of the restaurant to “Fairfield Diner.”
“I believe this town deserves to have a restaurant named after it,” he said.
Abigail Nicholas, who works at the restaurant, said a lot of patrons already refer to it as “the diner.”
Mehmedi said the new building is a little bit bigger than his old location, and he’ll plan to seat roughly the same number of customers as before. He estimated the new restaurant will be able to seat between 120-140 people.
Mehmedi said he’s glad he was able to connect with Gonzalez and bring new life to his building, because Mehmedi badly wanted to keep his restaurant in Fairfield. Mehmedi and a team of helpers are painting the interior, installing new booths and changing the atmosphere of the store so it will feel like a unique experience.
Gonzalez sold his equipment to Mehmedi, but Mehmedi said a lot of that equipment is specific to Mexican food, and that’s not what Mehmedi is going to serve at Fairfield Diner. The most popular dishes at Riverside Family Restaurant, which Mehmedi will continue offering at Fairfield Diner, include breakfast skillets, omelets, walleye and beer battered cod.
“We’re planning on coming up with some new items as well,” Mehmedi said.
Nicholas said they hope to open Fairfield Diner in early May.
“We’re trying to make this transition as easy as possible,” she said. “There aren’t many options like our restaurant in town.”
Fairfield Diner will be open seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
