SOUTHINGTON — The first few days of business have been brisk for the new location of Tacos Mi Nacho on Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike.

“We’ve been busy since day one,” said owner Luis Lemus, adding that customers of his original Meriden restaurant have told him they’ve eagerly awaited his second location in a building at 1796 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike that used to be home to a Blimpie sandwich shop.

The new location is starting with the same menu, but additional kitchen space offers the opportunity to bring in equipment to expand the menu.

He spent five months preparing for the opening doing kitchen upgrades and renovations to the dining area, which has five tables he crafted himself. The building also has a dedicated parking lot.

“With this place it’s a standalone building with its own parking lot. In Meriden, it’s a plaza that we have to share with two other businesses,” Lemus said.

Tacos Mi Nacho has been a Meriden staple for the past 14 years, building a reputation that drew customers from across the area. Lemus has been considering expanding for over a year, but deals fell through until the owner of the Southington property called and asked if he’d be interested.

“It was kind of lucky he opened the place to us,” he said.

Town Economic Development Director Louis Perillo said Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike has been seeing a surge of interest lately.

“I think there are many homes around the area that support the businesses there. There's enough traffic that supports retail, but there's also only limited area to build which keeps out a lot of the national franchises from mass developing in the area,” Perillo said. “ … It’s probably one of the best kept secrets in town. A lot of people focus on Queen Street, but the Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike does a great job servicing our town.”

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