La Mexicana Restaurant was founded in 1993 by entrepreneur Abraham Velazco, Sabas Gonzalez and (R.I.P.) Mexican chef Ampelio Morales when they purchased the building once called “Hadley House.” They began serving the delicious Tex-Mex food loved by locals and tourists of the City of Tillamook.

In 1996, Juan Carlos Méndez, Ampelio’s brother in law, moved to Tillamook and joined the La Mexicana team as a dishwasher at first, quickly moving on up to line cook, then bus boy, server, manager and eventually bought in as a partner! Carlos has been running La Mexicana for 25 years now and it continues to thrive because of his hard work and dedication to great food and customer service! Carlos just loves being a part of the community of Tillamook and donating to local causes, especially schools and youth programs. He takes great pride in this family run restaurant where all seven of his kids have worked at one point or another.

La Mexicana Restaurant hopes to continue serving the community that great taste of Tex-Mex food for another 30 years!