Mexican House makes its debut in Rangely

RANGELY I These days, restaurant owners Alberto Vieyra and Arturo Rodriguez have more on their plates than just food.
Over the last seven weeks, they’ve expanded their business into the west end of the county, turning the former Los Tres Potrillos Mexican restaurant into the Mexican House.
A sister restaurant of the same name has been in business for nearly three years now in Meeker. Rangely restaurant manager Cesar Delgado said the philosophy behind both places is the same.
“We do our best every day to be clean, to be fast, to make delicious food,” Delgado said. “That’s our first commitment to our customers.”
Vieyra and Rodriguez first came to Rangely to explore leasing the Los Tres Potrillos building from owners Victor and Shari Saenz in March. Since July 21, when the lease went into effect, Mexican House employees have worked to ready the building for the restaurant’s opening on Aug. 28. It was a “roller coaster” for five weeks, Delgado said, from painting the building’s interior to building a bar in the restaurant’s northeast corner to deep-cleaning the kitchen and eating areas.
Vieyra and Rodriguez wanted to ensure that the Rangely restaurant could meet the same standards as Meeker’s Mexican House.
“We tried to have the same food and service as in Meeker,” Delgado said. “We’ve had to research to find the same quality, to be able to offer the same food.”
Finding a staff with a commitment to customer service has come a bit more easily, Delgado said. Most of the employees are either related to or friends of the owners, which gives the crew “something in common and makes things happen more easily.”
Delgado himself is a close friend of Rodriguez’s wife Tanea. A native of Guadalajara, Mexico, he came to the United States in July, leaving a job he’d had for eight years to try something different.
“I was looking for a radical change,” Delgado said. “I was living in Mexico City, which was so crowded, and in Tijuana. I was working and traveling a lot. I got tired of the people, of the airplanes. I’ve found what I want here.”
For those who want a range of prices and food choices, the Mexican House may fit the bill. A less expensive lunch menu offers many of the same options as the dinner menu, from combo plates and fajitas to American plates and vegetarian options.
“We have a lot of prices because we know that there are a lot of people who don’t want to pay a lot for a dinner,” Delgado said. “We can give you the best service, whether you buy a soda or the carne asada. It’s the first commitment for me and for everybody here.”