Last Call at Nati’s in Ocean Beach

By Gail Powell

Thursday, June 7 was the last call for the popular Nati’s Mexican Restaurant, once located at 1852 Bacon Street in Ocean Beach.

My daughter and I made sure to be there right when it opened for business at 11 a.m on this final day and the spacious parking lot was already full early on. The vibe felt like you were attending a wake. But things were about to get much more depressing when I made the acquaintance of a fellow lady in mourning.

After trying to sit outside, it was just too hot out so my daughter and I ventured inside to visit with the portrait of beloved former waitress Luisa, one more time. We sat down to some really slow service–the place was so busy, book-keepers and family-members were pitching in to help. However, we slowed down our roll to just try and enjoy the experience.

Next to us sat a poor soul in despair. This older Point Loma High School alumni was torn apart by her favorite restaurant being sold. She had come to dine every single day since a closing date was announced. And seeing the 2 other empty margarita glasses sitting on the table, it seemed she was also drowning her sorrows in tequila.

This woman told us that she was friendly with certain well-connected employees, who are also very upset with how this entire Nati’s ending was mismanaged from the get-go.

The fellow diner told me the new owners also loved Nati’s -or, at least they claimed to, when they dined there earlier this year. They told one of the now- former owners that they lived in Pacific Beach and drove all the way over to come to Nati’s. Perhaps the owner expressed a desire to retire to the Pot Pie capitalist and before you know it, a sale was pending through Tony Franco Realty. An offer had been made that was too hard for owners Marilyn and Dennis to pass up.

When Ponce, the former cook who went on to open his own delicious Mexican eatery named Ponce’s on Adams Avenue in Kensington heard about this sale and closure, he and his family were heartbroken, according to my Nati’s pal. She spoke directly with his son, Ponce Jr., who also manages Ponce’s restaurant.

According to our dining neighbor, Ponce Jr. said Ponce would have been willing and able to buy Nati’s and keep it open as a Mexican eatery, had he known it was for sale.

As you may know from a previous rave of mine here, Ponce’s eatery has many similarities to Nati’s. Ponce opened a Mexican restaurant for his daughter who moved to Oregon so he knows how to do it and is a successful and prosperous businessman. Nati’s had never been offered for sale. The naive ownership immediately fell prey to the charms of the Pot Pie owner and that was that. A deal was made.

But it was too late. Nati’s owners blubbered – when told of the Ponce offer – that a contract had already been signed, as recounted by our fellow diner. She told me the entire Ponce family was devastated over the circumstances of the closing and they also came to dine, sadly, at Nati’s one last time during the final week.

But things were not going along swimmingly here.

A San Diego Reader story by Julie Stalmer detailed how SOHO (Save Our Heritage Organization) wanted to designate a portion of the Nati’s property as historic; thus saving it from the wrecking ball. Well, a disgusted customer took matters into their own hands and filed an ABC complaint against the sale / transfer of the liquor license.

Both the SOHO and ABC problems were holding up escrow completion, my inebriated friend told me, as she heard the ABC complaint was over lack on transparency and the lack of need for another bar in that mixed residential/ retail part of Bacon Street. The “500 foot rule” was cited in the complaint; whereby–if there are 3 or more other bars within 500 feet of a new or transferred liquor license (Noodle House, Raglan and the Mexican place on Bacon & Newport) a community hearing must be held to determine the need for yet another bar in the area.

No matter what, Nati’s is gone. I drove by yesterday and there was a big moving truck in the parking lot loading things up. It felt like another stab to the heart (and stomach).

My drunken friend said the lesson here is greed, pure and simple. All the gushing notes about how much the customers meant to the owners over the years–posted on Facebook and the Nati’s front window – apparently meant nothing.

I feel the closing of Nati’s was mishandled from the get-go. Patrons complained they weren’t told about what was really happening. Marilyn told me directly that the new owners promised her they would keep it Nati’s after the sale. I asked if she had that added to the contract, and all I got was more blubbering.

Sorry to original owner Mr. Lontz–a wonderful man–who is probably rolling over in his grave over what transpired here.

So farewell to this most wonderful place. I wish all employees good luck in securing new jobs. And I know that I will never set foot in whatever new restaurant appears in Nati’s place.