In March the longtime taco shop in Blood Alley went dark “until further notice,” which is the phrase everyone reads as goodbye.
But on July 16 it posted a photo of the entire crew lined up behind the neon-lit bar, one of them holding a baby.
Gringo is officially back at 27 Blood Alley Square, the original Gastown room where the whole thing started in 2013.
“Welcome back to Gringo Gastown,” the post read. “Our doors are officially opening today at 5pm.”
The caption asked people to come say hi to their favourite people, “but most importantly to the new family member,” which is the baby in the photo.
The reaction was immediate.
“I needed some good news, hot damn,” one wrote. “And just like that, all is well in the world,” said another.
To understand why, you have to go back to the spring.
Gringo shut its Davie Street and Lonsdale locations permanently on March 7, then closed Gastown a week later on March 14, that one framed as temporary.
The announcement was blunt about the reason without being specific about it.
“Due to ongoing challenges it is with heavy hearts that Gringo Restaurants has made the difficult decision to dramatically downsize and decrease its operations,” the company said at the time.
Downsizing from three rooms to zero looks a lot like closing, and that is how most people took it.
Then nothing, for three months.
On June 12 the shop posted an image of a television screen reading “please stand by,” with no explanation attached.
That was the only signal until the July 16 reopening post landed.
The Gastown room is the one worth getting back.
Gringo opened there in 2013 as a casual taco counter built on $4.20 tacos and $4.99 beers, with an aesthetic somewhere between a dive cantina and an all-inclusive resort.
That mix, in an alley, under neon, is what made it a Gastown fixture for more than a decade.
The expansion came later, Davie Street in July 2022 and Lonsdale in North Vancouver in May 2024, and it is the expansion that did not survive.
The Davie Village unit has since been taken over by La Quebec Poutine.
That corner of the story is not finished.
The comments under the comeback post are full of people asking whether Gringo will return to Davie, and the shop has not answered any of them.
For now there is one Gringo, in the alley it came from.
Gringo joins other recently opened Vancouver food spots like Bisou Bakehouse on Robson, Krave Kulture at the Coal Harbour marina, and Bloom Bakery and Cafe downtown.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: 27 Blood Alley Square, Vancouver (Gastown)