Popular San Francisco Mexican restaurant closes after 16 years due to crime

Crime, economic hardship and the city's deterioration have forced a popular Mexican vegan restaurant to close its doors in San Francisco's Mission District in California.

The restaurant is Gracias Madre, a popular place that, during the pandemic, generated very long waiting lines and prided itself on preparing traditional Mexican food.

This week, the owners left a note at the premises' entrance, blaming the district's insecurity and deterioration for the closure of the establishment, according to CBS News.

"This is with great sadness that we announce the closing of our doors, after 16 years of serving some of the best plant-based Mexican food ever. Our mission was always to honor the mothers who give so much to serve, care for and live in hope for their families, especially those of Mexico. It has been an honor to work on behalf of their generosity and sacrifice all these years," the farewell note read. "The condition of life in San Francisco has deteriorated and made running a small business nearly impossible."

Former Gracias Madre CEO Joseph Donohue said the business struggled with the pandemic shutdowns and could never fully recover. Also, insecurity problems have scared away many customers who do not want to leave their cars at the mercy of vandals on the street.

"A lot of people would say that it was a little bit too dangerous to come at night, because there wasn't any places to park your car, and if you did park your car you didn't know whether it was going to get broken into or not," Donohue said. "So a lot of customers did say that they wouldn't come at night."

Donohue also said they tried to keep the business open until 10 p.m., but it didn't have enough customers, and the owners didn't have enough money to stay open another month.

"It's just a little shady in the area, the streets are not cleaned on a regular basis. It's almost as if it's like a forgotten side of the city," the former CEO said of the state of the city.

A city resident and former Gracias Madre client commented that he no longer feels safe walking the streets of the Mission District.

"The street conditions in the Mission are very bad right now, at this moment, because not only the garbage, but the homeless, the drugs," the resident said.

Despite the closure in the Mission District, Gracias Madre keeps its doors open in West Hollywood and Newport Beach.