Back in business: Farolito Restaurant reopens after 7 month closure

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – After a seven-month closure, a beloved Abilene restaurant is back in business. Farolito Restaurant has reopened its doors after owner Mark Herrera suffered severe injuries in a motorcycle accident. With Herrera being the only one who knew the restaurant’s cherished family recipes, the closure was unavoidable — but now, with his recovery, Farolito is once again serving up its famous flavors.

Farolito Restaurant has been in business since 1936, and its recipes have been passed down through the family lineage. Mark Herrera, the current owner of the Abilene icon, suffered severe injuries in a motorcycle accident in August 2024. Because Herrera was the only person who knew all the restaurant recipes, they were forced to close until he recovered.

Since then, Herrera has improved and reopened the doors to Farolito. Kendra Gutierrez, the restaurant manager, expressed joy about being back in business.

“We’re happy. I mean, everywhere we’ve all been, you always run into someone, “When are y’all going to open? When are you all going to open?” So, it’s refreshing to be back,” Gutierrez shared.

When reopening the restaurant, it was decided that some prep work needed to be done to address the issue of closing due to a lack of knowledge regarding the famous family recipes.

“We all started coming in last week to get everything ready, and he kind of showed us how to cook everything just in case anything happened,” Gutierrez explained.

With the restaurant officially back open, many in the community are returning to one of their favorite spots. Dedra Terry and her friends were just some of the many patrons eager to sample Farolito’s cuisine once again.

“We’ve been coming here for several years, every Wednesday. We prayed for him, and we helped when they had a fundraiser. We helped with the GoFundMe as well,” Terry said.

Management for Farolito Restaurant went on to outline how the community’s contributions and support were a big factor in helping the owner heal and get this legacy restaurant back on its feet.