“I feel like we’re slowly expanding the palate of Cleveland and what it means to try different foods from around the world,” Sandro said.
Sandro was born in Mexico City, and said the raid on the restaurant was a hit to all of them. However, they felt supported and loved by the community.
“It made news all over the city, and the community just came out in support of us. They really rallied around us,” he told palabra.
At publication time, Sandro said they were able to get back five of their employees after they had been detained for 12 days in the Geauga County Safety Center, an ICE detention center in Chardon, Ohio, about 30 miles northeast of Cleveland.
“A lot of hard work by a lot of people made that happen,” he said. “Whenever we fell down or that this was a tough road, tough fight, we just saw the notes and the flowers from little kids. The community helped us continue to want to get our guy out. They inspire us to keep going.”
Sandro said not all responses and reactions were positive, however.
“The day they released our five guys, we got a couple of phone calls, people calling and hanging up saying, ‘F you, go back to Mexico,’” he said. “There was that, and there were Facebook messages like that, too.”
Even so, Sandro said the positives outweigh the negatives, and patrons still came out to support them and their business.
“At the same time, January is every restaurant’s slowest month, and it was a record January and February for us. Sales were great, so many people came out, and the tips people left helped support our staff. We’re very lucky. We’re grateful.”
