Dec. 19, 2023

Northeast Sioux Falls gained a Mexican restaurant today.

Hacienda Jalisco opened at 1309 E. Benson Road in a retail center on Cliff Avenue that includes three other restaurants.

“Most of the dishes are from Jalisco, but some of them are a little bit from everywhere, what people like,” said Arturo Olivares, who owns the business with his brother-in-law Jose Gutierrez.

Olivares’ wife, Marvella Mercado, has restaurant experience and is doing the cooking with her sister-in-law Gloria Olivares. The couples are from Jalisco, a Mexican state that includes Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta.

The menu features traditional sandwiches from Jalisco such as torta ahogada and lonches de pierna. There’s also pozole, a soup made with hominy and pork.

The pupusas on the menu are a Salvadoran dish, “but we made them because she had a good recipe,” Olivares said of his wife.

Customers, who order at the counter, can look at the large electronic menu board and see the 10 meat choices and the prices for each option: tacos, burritos, quesadillas, tortas, sopes and tostadas.

Hacienda Jalisco also serves Mexican hot dogs, carne asada and tamales with chicken, cheese and jalapeno steamed in either a corn husk or banana leaf.

There’s a kids menu with tacos, quesadillas, and rice and beans.

The restaurant opens at 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday and at 9 a.m. Sunday, so it also serves breakfast. Customers can choose from three breakfast burritos for $6.50.

On the weekend, it serves menudo and caldo de res.

Drink choices include Mexican sodas, Pepsi products and agua frescas. It has applied for a beer and wine license.

There is seating for more than 40 people in the restaurant, which was home to a Puerto Rican restaurant until it closed in January 2022.

Hacienda Jalisco closes at 4 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. every other day, “but depending on how busy we are, we’ll probably want to extend it,” Olivares said.