If you've walked around the Mall of America for more than ten minutes, you know how draining the place can be. Packs of teenagers mill about, large families push and pull around their screaming children, and salespeople jump out at you from kiosks in the walkways.
The only quiet in all the mayhem is on the mall's empty fourth floor, the spot that once housed several bars and restaurants to help you refuel for your shopping excursion and now only has a Hooters and the AMC movie theater.
For Cantina #1, the Corona-themed restaurant that opens today with a celebration in the Mall rotunda, it's the perfect setting.
"We chose the mall because we thought there was a great opportunity to be on the fourth floor, which hasn't been alive in many years and actually help usher in their revitalization," says Cantina #1's Darren Mark.
The new venue plans to to be the flagship for a resurgence of restaurants by giving visitors to the mall a much-needed rest.
A vacation spot in the mall is a great idea, and Cantina #1 does a good job of addressing need for a more relaxed atmosphere in the big building. There's a modern interior decorated with high-backed booths, candle arrangements on the wall, and and entry way accentuated with beach-themed ornaments and surf boards—think Chino Latino meets Señor Frogs. The menu also matches commercial dishes like Corona-battered fish tacos and Tex-Mex staples like chimichangas with more authentic Mexican dishes like
achiote-rubbed mahi mahi tuna.
And since it's a Corona-themed restuarant, they ownership has gone all out on the cabana-inspired bar. Bartenders working under a thatched roof and serve up beers and frozen concoctions in fresh coconuts. There's also a small dedicated space for music, with a DJ scheduled spin music on Fridays and Saturdays.
Mark says, "The idea here is give people the kind of things you would get in Mexico that gives you the feeling that you've escaped for an hour or two."
And for how crazy it gets at the Mall of America, if you can't escape entirely, you can now at least get a break and a bit of the beach in the middle of your hectic day of shopping.
