Coyote’s Express Mexican Grill opening new space in Hiram

The Coyote Mexican Grill & Cantina, a Mexican eatery with locations in Chagrin Falls, Kent and Atwater, will soon have its fourth brick-and-mortar location at the corner of state Route 82 and state Route 700 in Hiram.

The chain of restaurants, which is owned by the Angel family from Guadalajara, Mexico, have been in operation in Northeast Ohio for the past 15 years. The initial Coyote restaurant the family opened was the Chagrin Falls location. They began searching for a building to open a fourth restaurant in the area in 2017, but it wasn’t until six months ago that they found a recently remodeled building adjacent to Hiram College.

Coyote Mexican Grill and Cantina also has a food truck that has been in service for 10 years. Five months ago, it began serving Hiram, and in that short time has become a well-received addition to the village.   

“From the village’s standpoint, we’re really thrilled to have them coming in. This has got great appeal and support, not only for the college students, but the residents,” Mayor Anne Haynam said. “We’ve been able to sample off of their food truck, and when there’s a good product, people go. Right now in the village, we don’t have a gathering place, a place to go in the evening and hang out, so there’s a real need for this and we’re looking forward to it. They have a growth plan that is really going to add a dimension to the village that we didn’t have before.”

The Hiram building is much smaller than the other Coyote locations and, as a result, the menu will be a downsized version of its typical one. The focus will be on easier dishes that cater to the grab-and-go nature of college students. And they’ve also chosen a shorter name for the eatery: Coyote’s Express Mexican Grill. 

The ordering process will be similar to Chipotle’s, where patrons can choose entrees and toppings in a linear style, although Coyote’s offerings are more traditional Mexican food. 

“You can pick your bowl. You can make a salad. You can make a taco, burritos; you can see the food right there and say, I want this, I want this,” co-owner of the Hiram, Kent and Atwater Coyote’s locations Andreas Rocha said. “It will be more traditional. We have homemade hot sauce, birria consome, which is a specialty, really good.”

Rocha said the team is also working on getting a liquor license, and, if approved, the restaurant will be serving flavored margaritas, mojitos and other drinks. 
  
The restaurant should be open for business in January, pending final inspections by the Portage County Building Department and the manufacturing and delivery of the dining booths. There will be a dining area with 24 two-people tables. 

Between traffic from the college, nearby residents from Garrettsville and beyond, and commuters passing through, Rocha and Haynam believe the restaurant will be a success.

“According to ODOT, just on Route 82 alone, there’s 5,000 cars a day that come through Hiram,” Haynam said. “That’s just on 82, so never mind coming in from 700, 422 and 305. That’s a lot of traffic, and then you add in the amount of traffic we get through athletic teams and various other groups. This is not their first location; they’ve got a formula and I think he’s already plugging in pretty well.”