Mexican restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina, closes | Food

A restaurant specializing in sophisticated Mexican cuisine will serve its last customers almost exactly one year after it opened on Johns Island.

Colectivo, owned by Alex Yellan and Chad and Holly Dennis, will close permanently after the dinner on Aug. 31. The decision to close was financial, Yellan said by phone on Aug. 26.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the work we’ve done as a team in this building,” he told The Post and Courier. “I’m especially impressed with the hard work my kitchen staff has done.”

Colectivo’s Mexican cuisine was new to many Charleston diners when it opened on September 6, 2023 at 2901 Maybank Highway.

Inspired by Yellan’s extensive travels to Mexico, Colectivo swapped fried chips for tostadas, serving cócteles, sopes and other classic Mexican dishes not found in many American-Mexican restaurants. Instead of making pre-made, overpriced tacos, Colectivo’s chefs paired homemade tortillas with meats heaped generously on platters and served with a variety of sides—from diced white onions to cucumbers, roasted scallions and chile salsas.

The food was well received by many customers, but not by all, Yellan said. Colectivo simply did not have enough capacity to support a large restaurant with a prime location on Johns Island’s main thoroughfare.

“Restaurants serving queso and small tacos are a dime a dozen in Charleston,” I wrote in a Colectivo restaurant review in May. “Restaurants serving sopes, cócteles and delicious homemade tortillas are nonexistent.”

“The future of the colectivo depends on the willingness of guests to occasionally break away from the former and embrace the latter,” says the last line of the review.

There were more factors in the decision than Charleston diners’ penchant for fancy dishes, Yellan says. Maybe it just wasn’t the right place at the right time. But he wonders how the restaurant’s bold approach to Mexican cuisine has affected sales.

“We never wanted to simplify what we do,” Yellan said. “But I still thought there were some really popular dishes on our menu.”

This doesn’t necessarily have to be the end for Colectivo, whether Yellan continues the concept as another brick-and-mortar restaurant or as an occasional pop-up restaurant.

The chef always wants to cook Mexican food. He hopes he will have another chance to share his vision of how it should be prepared.