After years of flirting with opening a second location, Rollies Mexican Patio chef-owner Mateo Otero is finally doing it.
On Saturday, July 6, he will cut the ribbon to officially open Rollies West in the MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida del Convento, the second location of his popular south side Mexican restaurant.
“I grew up on the west side so I’m happy that I’m going to be opening up there,” he said on Wednesday, July 3 — the day before the restaurant’s so-called “soft opening.” Otero said that he planned to be open on Thursday, July 4, and Friday, July 5, ahead of Saturday’s official opening.
This is Otero’s second stab at having a presence in the Mercado District, a place he aspired to be a part of long before opening his flagship restaurant at 4573 S. 12th Ave. back in December 2017.
“I had my eye on the Mercado before Seis was there,” he said of Seis Kitchen, the former Mexican food truck that opened its first brick-and-mortar at the Mercado in 2014. “It used to be the (Taqueria El Pueblito). I always said I want to be there, but it wasn’t my time then. Now, 15 years later, I’m here.”
Otero briefly had a food truck at the MSA Annex from November 2022 to May 2023, when, he said, he decided to pull the plug and wait for a container to open up. That happened weeks ago when he learned in June that Decibel Coffee Works was giving up its ancillary container that it used as a commissary kitchen.
Rollies West joins a dining roster that includes the vegan-friendly Beaut Burger and the Japanese restaurant Kukai. Otero said the restaurant’s menu includes birria cheesy tacos, chilaquiles, ribeye tacos, papas loaded with birria or ribeye, Sonoran hot dogs and vegan options, as well as slushies.
Other businesses operating in the six-year-old MSA Annex, a shopping and entertainment center comprised of repurposed shipping containers, include the eclectic boutique Stuff & Things; The Underestimated City clothing store; Transit Cycles bike shop; and the Tucson-centric gift shop Why I Love Where I Live.
Otero had teased a second location as early as August 2018, roughly nine months after he opened the original Rollies. He put up banners with the restaurant’s name on the old Wig-O-Rama store on East Congress Street and behind Safeway on West Grant and North Silverbell roads to gauge people’s reaction.
After a few days, the signs disappeared and Otero posted a message on Rollies’ Instagram letting people know they were testing the waters for a possible second outpost.
“Hopefully in the near future you will see a real Rollies sign downtown,” the 2018 Instagram post stated.
Rollies West will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, until 10 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays.
The original Rollies on South 12th is open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays.
Stay up to date at instagram.com/rolliestucson.
This Sonoran gut buster is the calling card from Percheron Mexican Grill on the south side, but their Sonoran hot dogs topped with avocado are also big draws.
