La Mesa Mexican restaurant Por Favor to close after 50 years

A La Mesa Mexican restaurant that locals have loved for 50 years is closing. Por Favor announced it will close one of its two locations on Sunday.

Por Favor is switching ownership to the same group that owns Farmers Table, Farmers Bottega and Limoncello.

A notice from management thanks the loyal customers and reads: “We loved serving you our margaritas and great Mexican food.”

To those customers, this is the corner for comfort food.

“You can sit outside,” one customer said. “It's nice and open. It's a good experience. That’s why we do it.”

For nearly 30 years, Barbara Oesterling, a regular at Por Favor, said she and her friend Sally Ingles asked for the same waiter every time they dined there.

“As soon as we sit down, he’d brings our teas. He'd bring our lunch,” she said. “He knows us, we know him and we know the place.”

Customers wish the restaurant well but still wish it could stay.

“It just won't be the same because we've always walked this area,” Oesterling said. “Sally and I have walked up here for the Octoberfest at lunch time. We walked up here by lunchtime for almost everything we do. This is where we always loved to eat.”

Your last chance to get a plate from this location is Sunday, but the El Cajon location will stay open for business.

After closing, the new owners will remodel the space into a new, yet-to-be-named restaurant.