The long-awaited Jose Tejas restaurant in Mt Laurel has significant final construction activity taking place with a goal to open in late fall of this year. They are hoping to be open ahead of the holidays!
I stopped at the site today and literally walked right inside the building and spoke to representatives!
For the upcoming Mt Laurel location, Jose Tejas is taking over a building on Rt 73 at Crawford Place directly in front of the Hampton Inn. The building was the original Rt 73 Chili’s location (before Chili’s relocated a mile away).
So Jose Tejas Mt Laurel NJ for 2022 is a real deal thing. There are real construction workers there. Well honestly activity has been happening all year long!
And of course a lot of factors are at play with any development project completing and getting final inspection approvals, but Jose Tejas definitely seems to have a solid game plan to close out the remodeling.
I currently see job positions for Mt Laurel posted at Glassdoor; Restaurant Manager and Kitchen Manager/Sous Chef
Jose Tejas and Border Cafe
For those of you not aware, Jose Tejas is a Northeast based Tex-Mex style restaurant which started in Massachusetts’ Harvard Square as Border Cafe. They have developed a very loyal following.
Today they have 5 locations of Jose Tejas and Border Cafe, with 2 of them in North Jersey and one in Christiana Delaware.
One of the “Radio Station” sites, 94.3 The Point lists the Woodbridge NJ location of Jose Tejas on it’s list of Hidden Gems!
The Jose Tejas menu and atmosphere were carefully designed to appeal to all age groups. Jose Tejas added exceptional margaritas and cold cervezas to create a casual, fun-oriented establishment.
94.3 The Point on Jose Tejas Woodbridge NJ
…careful attention to detail, use of the finest ingredients, & preparing every item in the kitchen from scratch. The adoption of these qualities make Jose Tejas an immediate success.
And yes the new Mt Laurel location will have a full liquor license!
People love Jose Tejas so much there is even a fan Facebook group to try and get them to open one in Staten Island!
We broke the news on the plans for Jose Tejas back in January 2020, and at the time we estimated the building they were taking over was empty for almost 10 years!
From the initial 2020 announcement, it will be close to three years that it took for the Mt Laurel restaurant location to open.
If you didn’t connect-the-dots on the date, January 2020 was right at the start of the global pandemic and shutdowns. This severally impacted Jose Tejas’ ability to get the remodeling project fully on track.
42Freeway Secrets – The Details I Know and How I Get Them
Guys I’ll let you in on a few secrets about how I go after some of my stories, particularly for construction updates.
You know how I mentioned I stopped at Jose Tejas today to get an update?
Well that is definitely true. But the full truth is I’ve been to that site maybe 6 times over this year in hopes of catching someone I could get some information from.
Just old fashioned gumshoe “putting rubber soles on pavement” to get the answers technique! Ha!
So I’ve known they were serious about opening for most of the year, as over my visits I saw piles of lumber outside, pallets of sidewalk pavers get delivered, and then in subsequent visits I saw them installed.
And a few times I did notice some workers in the building. But I let them do their work.
But today when I stopped over for the 6th time.. things were definitely “different” at the site. More lively. More cars, maybe a half dozen?
A worker in a bobcat construction equipment vehicle was cleaning up the parking lot.
I caught up with a sub-contractor outside who just happened to be walking to his truck as I pulled up who told me “yea this thing is happening!”
So I sat there in my car a few minutes and thought to myself “this isn’t enough. I need more info”
Now I haven’t mentioned that I tracked down emails for the Company’s owner and an area Vice President… but those emails were not returned.
So I am determined to get the story.
Well I parked the car and walked into the restaurant. Just went right through the front door.
My goal was to catch someone in charge and ask a few questions. What’s the worst that can happen?
So yeah I was inside. I saw the interior brick work. The bar being built on the right side of the entrance.
And I talked to people. Actual people seemingly in charge of things.
I am polite of course. I even say “look I don’t want to put you in a bad spot…. absolutely you can tell me you have nothing to share and I’ll roll. But this is my thing, commercial news with an unbiased to positive take. And I can see things are looking close… Are you gonna be open for the holidays”.
And the politely gave me an answer. “Yes.”
We chatted a little bit more than that… but no need for those other details.
Not much more to say on the inside. It looks awesome. Some work to be done but I would say it’s finish-work. There is a bar being constructed. Not sure about utility work.
Outside you can see the dug out areas of the parking lot where upgraded utilities were brought in.
As mentioned they put in red paver sidewalks, and it needs landscaping.
I imagine the parking lot is being recoated and panted soon.
Oh and the new signage isn’t in. That truly will be a sign that good things are coming soon!
Links and Location
Jose Tejas – Mt Laurel (Under Development)
1310 Route 73
Mt Laurel NJ 08054
Website