Mourning Luna del Mar...

**katie blue** · 04-05-2005, 09:47 PM

Just read in the Walton Sun Online that we're losing one of our favorite restaurants...ANYWHERE-- Luna del Mar. Not sure why, it said they just couldnt make a go of it. They had the best tortilla soup and green salsa i've ever had... and i'm a texas girl. what i'd give for those recipes!! The consolation is that a good seafood place will be going in in its place, but I will always miss Luna.

**landlord** · 04-05-2005, 10:06 PM

Darn it... disappointed to hear the news. We enjoyed Luna as well. It was a nice change of pace at the beach.

**Smiling JOe** · 04-05-2005, 10:57 PM

I guess that more of you will be frequenting CoCo's. I've said for a while now, that we are losing restaurants left and right, and within the next 5 years, we will have to drive to Freeport to eat out.

**Paula** · 04-06-2005, 05:33 AM

The restaurant had a fantastic location. however, there was a lot of construction going on around it for several months and that may have taken business away (since the location, as well as the food, was a big part of it's strength).

I think a big part of the way to keep businesses in business along 30A is to get more people to visit the area all year round which means enticing snowbirds to the area. I think the area will be busy when all of us boomers retire and move to the area or spend more time visiting the area, but that's about a decade away so creative ways to get people in the area Sept - March (esp. Nov - end of Feb) will be important to our businesses.

I do my part by eating out regularly when I'm there, going to my old favorites and trying at least 1-2 new places each time.

**RiverOtter** · 04-06-2005, 06:11 AM

Originally Posted by Smiling JOe

and within the next 5 years, we will have to drive to Freeport to eat out.

What's good in Freeport?

**Smiling JOe** · 04-06-2005, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by RiverOtter

What's good in Freeport?

At the moment, Freeport does not have much to offer. The Corner Cafe has good breakfast (except pancakes), great burgers for lunch, fried shrimp for dinner. Did I mention it is cheap -- I guess they are cutting cost by not upgrading the decor. Oh, you may get some stares from the locals -- some of them don't take kindly to strangers.

On another note, one of the tough parts about keeping restaurants in SoWal is the cost to lease space (around $30/sf), but as important, is the lack of staff to operate the place. With those two negatives, and a new restaurant failure rate of 90% in the first year, who wants to spend $250,000 to get two full time jobs that may or may not pay anything after all is said and done? Most people would rather sink that $250,000 into buying investment land, and they would probably be better off, and have plenty of free time to enjoy life.

**Camp Creek Kid** · 04-06-2005, 08:45 AM

I was told that Luna del Mar closed because the company was having financial problems with its Dallas restaurant which made it difficult for them to cover their mortgage here. It appears that the problem was with the company itself, not necessarily the Eastern Lake location.

Luna del Mar had good food--except for the time I got food poisoning from their shredded beef tacos. They were always so understaffed that on a busy night we had to wait an hour, after being seated, just to get our order taken. I wasn't too impressed with the place.

**chrisv** · 04-06-2005, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by Smiling JOe

I guess that more of you will be frequenting CoCo's. I've said for a while now, that we are losing restaurants left and right, and within the next 5 years, we will have to drive to Freeport to eat out.

Hey, that's progress! We have to drive over the bridge to eat out now!

**katie blue** · 04-06-2005, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by Camp Creek Kid

... They were always so understaffed that on a busy night we had to wait an hour, after being seated, just to get our order taken. I wasn't too impressed with the place.

Interesting..never had that experience, and we ate there at least a dozen times. I was always rather impressed with the professionalism myself. But, most importantly, although some of their fare was just average, certain specialty dishes were *over the top* delicious!

I hear that the new place will be called Old Florida seafood or something like that, and will be similar to Harbor Docks, which rumor has is quite good. wonder if they'll have bands playing there as well...

**STL Don** · 04-06-2005, 10:06 AM

Originally Posted by Camp Creek Kid

I was told that Luna del Mar closed because the company was having financial problems with its Dallas restaurant which made it difficult for them to cover their mortgage here. It appears that the problem was with the company itself, not necessarily the Eastern Lake location.

Luna del Mar had good food--except for the time I got food poisoning from their shredded beef tacos. They were always so understaffed that on a busy night we had to wait an hour, after being seated, just to get our order taken. I wasn't too impressed with the place.

Two weeks ago I had the same experience with poor service and running out of the types of food that we had ordered. Nevertheless, it is sad to see the only "close" Texmex place disappear.

**Smiling JOe** · 04-06-2005, 12:42 PM

If someone wants to give me 1/2 million bucks, I will open up a walk-up taco stand in Freeport.

**RiverOtter** · 04-06-2005, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by Smiling JOe

If someone wants to give me 1/2 million bucks, I will open up a walk-up taco stand in Freeport.

Carne Asada

**seagrovelover** · 04-06-2005, 01:40 PM

oh we are really sorry to hear that, loved the location and the food. We go every year

I guess we will try coco's.....good margaritas hmmmmmmmm :wink:

**Smiling JOe** · 04-06-2005, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by seagrovelover

I guess we will try coco's.....good margaritas hmmmmmmmm :wink:

BIG Margaritas (Jumbo size = 64 oz, and it's not the first one that gets you.)

**seagrovelover** · 04-06-2005, 07:36 PM

NOW YOUR TALKING SJ

**Beach Girl** · 04-06-2005, 09:51 PM

When will the new restaurant open? Where is Coco's? I've never heard of that and we've been coming to Seagrove for years.

**RiverOtter** · 04-07-2005, 06:20 AM

Originally Posted by Beach Girl

When will the new restaurant open? Where is Coco's? I've never heard of that and we've been coming to Seagrove for years.

Same here. Where is Coco's?

**Smiling JOe** · 04-07-2005, 08:55 AM

Last time, for the record, CoCo's is located on the north side of Hwy 98, about 1 mile west of Hwy 393. It is in the same strip mall with the US Post Office.

**UofL** · 04-07-2005, 09:00 AM

Where was/is Luna del Mar located? Agree with post about hang in there a few more years. We are looking forward to the time when we can stay a month or two in the winter - now it is one week per year in early June. Counting down.

**Smiling JOe** · 04-07-2005, 09:04 AM

Fa-get-a-bout-it, it is gone.

**Beach Girl** · 04-07-2005, 09:16 AM

Thanks Smiling Joe. My husband and I will be spending the last week of April in Seagrove and it's always good to know where a new restaurant is.

**FoX** · 04-09-2005, 09:06 AM

Here's the Sun article. Sounds like the ending was not so sweet.

The staff at Luna del Mar, a popular Tex-Mex restaurant on County Road 30A, dished out the last of the enchiladas Friday night in a farewell to the community.
It was the end of a nearly two-year run, for the restaurant that offered a change from the usual seafood fare that was popular with both locals and tourists.
When asked why it didn�t work here, local restaurateur and investor George Hartley said, "It did. Luna was successful. The company that maintained the restaurant, Night Moon Inc. never, quite frankly, paid the rent.
"The other two guys, Scott Bumpas and Worth Williams, finally took off their restaurant investor hats and put on their landlord hats and kicked them out," Hartley said.
However, Lisa Galvan, owner of Night Moon, the managing company of Luna del Mar, said Tuesday as she drove back to Dallas in a convoy of six cars filled with her displaced workers, the investors were not as supportive as she had hoped.
And though Hartley said he lost money, Galvan cited her own contributions to complete the renovations before Luna del Mar opened, "and still we missed the high season that first year.
"Though we owed everybody and struggled to pay our bills, people loved the restaurant and we got through the first season," she said.
The next year was better.
"By the time the restaurant closed (for the season) on Dec. 22, 2004, we had paid off our debt and stayed current with our bills, but I couldn�t pay the rent," she said.
"This has been the weirdest thing. These are my partners and this is what they do to me?" she said of the notice she received 11 days after she reopened in 2005.
"They wanted the rent," Galvan said.
When she did not pay up, she got notification on March 31 that she had to be out by Saturday.
"This was the first year we had been debt free and were ready to go, then they pulled the rug out from under me," Galvan said.
"I wish we had known before we opened for another season that this was what they planned to do," she said.
The investors have already found a new tenant � well known local businessmen Charles Morgan and Carey Shahid � will open the Old Florida Fish House on May 10, said Bumpas.
"We had to make a business decision and we wanted locals to run it," he continued.

**Smiling JOe** · 04-09-2005, 09:11 AM

... and stayed current with our bills, but I couldn�t pay the rent...

What? I thought rent was a bill. Maybe she needs a new accountant.

**FoX** · 04-09-2005, 09:54 AM

It sounds like she expected her "investors" who owned the building to give her a break and not have to pay the rent.

It sounds like the investors got a better idea on how to mkae money at that location.

**Philip_Atlanta** · 04-12-2005, 12:53 PM

My understanding from a neighbor of mine who is an investor in the Dallas area restaurants, is the owner of the land and building was asking Luna to invest another 100k in the building, even after Luna had already invested quite a bit in bringing the structure up to code. This was not a case of landlord/tenant or investor/business owner. It was a little mix of both and led to the demise. Contrary to above, Luna is in great financial shape - just a bad business relationship.