“It was the busiest day we’ve had since opening,” said Adelina’s Owner Antonio Palacios. “We ran out of food by 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m. We even had a lot of people waiting outside.”

Beyond having enough ingredients on hand for a large amount of customers, Palacios was also short of employees. He recently had to let some people go because of the lack of business over the last few months. Fortunately, he was able to get a couple more people to help on Thursday, and was trying to find some extra hands before opening Friday.

“If people keep coming like this, I will need more help,” Palacios said.

The struggle Adelina’s faces is due in part, at least, to the latest phase of the State Street reconstruction project, which began in March. Palacios said that after the road work began, his business slowed down at least 50 percent.

T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY A happy group of women — Megan Lanfier, Janet Fienup, Lisa Naig, Jacki Brown and Genessa Ridout — enjoyed a lunch from Adelina’s Grill, located at 101 N. Center St., on Thursday afternoon. The Mexican restaurant saw a surge in business after a flurry of social media posts about its possible closure due to the ongoing disruption caused by the State Street reconstruction project.

“Before the construction, we were doing good, but not great,” he said. “Now I’m struggling to pay bills and employees. At the end of the month, we’ve been using money from our own pockets. We are close to shutting the place down.”

When the project was announced, Palacios had some funds saved and took the opportunity to build a patio at Adelina’s to give his patrons the option of outside dining. Unfortunately, he said that money would have come in handy now to help sustain his restaurant during this tough time.

“I could have used that to pay bills and keep it open,” Palacios said. “It has been bad the last few years — the tornado, the derecho, insurance not paying for damage, COVID and now this. It’s been really tough.”

After the 2018 tornado, Adelina’s closed its doors because of damage. The derecho and the pandemic caused further delays in reopening, but Palacios was finally able to do so in May 2022. However, due to the large hurdles Adelina’s has faced, he is not confident he will be able to reopen if he is forced to close again.

“I used all of the money for the patio,” Palacios said.

Despite overcoming the troubles caused by natural disasters, he was not prepared for the construction. Since March, there were days Palacios had to close Adelina’s early because no customers came. Occasionally people would order take-out, but he would lose out on that money for the freshly-prepared food because the customers could not figure out how to get to the restaurant.

“Some people think we are closed or would try to avoid construction,” Palacios said.

He did not post about the restaurant’s struggles on social media but did say he had conversations with some Marshalltown residents about. That’s how he believes the word got out.

Unfortunately, Palacios knows some of Thursday’s customers might not come back, even though patrons have expressed enthusiasm for his culinary creations. Adelina’s Grill has 4.6 stars based on 82 Google reviews, and 4.3 stars on Yelp with six reviews.

“People like our food,” he said. “People really like our fajitas, quesadillas, enchiladas, chimichangas — people order those a lot. We cook from scratch, and prepare and cook fresh everyday. People also like our margaritas. Sometimes they order those to go. Everybody really likes those, and we have different flavors like strawberry, mango and blueberry.”

Mayor Joel Greer is one of the fans of Adelina’s cuisine. Whenever he has eaten there, the food has always been delicious. He said it is encouraging to see Marshalltown residents stepping up to support a local business in a time of need. Greer added that it is regretful the necessary State Street repairs are causing inconvenience to business owners and their customers.

“It’s nice to see us getting back to ‘Iowa nice,'” he said. “The road repairs are required and the city and contractor are doing everything they can to get it finished as quickly as possible.”

Numerous challenges

According to Palacios, he was informed of the project by a city employee before it began and was told work was only supposed to last two months.

“It does not look like it will be done soon,” he said.

Public Works Director Heather Thomas said construction has been delayed due to the large amounts of rain. While she would love to give a hard date as to when it will be finished, she said that is something she cannot do.

“We have a contract completion date of Aug. 31,” Thomas said. “It has been a wet year. A [completion] extension was asked for, and the city did not agree. There are multiple crews on site to get as much done as they can. I am hopeful all of the street work will be done by [Aug. 31].”

Because things change and unexpected weather occurs, she said it is reasonable to infer that sidewalk and landscaping work will not be finished by the expected completion date.

Since the project began in March, Thomas said the crew has also encountered numerous challenges, such as old infrastructure like the water mains.

“They have handled what they have uncovered in an appropriate manner,” she said.

Thomas was aware of the struggle Adelina’s is facing and urged people to support the restaurant in a social media post from the city’s page. She said they can find access to the business by taking a short one-block detour.

“We ask the public to support all of the businesses which have been impacted,” Thomas said. “All of them have access available. I hope they take the one-block detour to support the businesses.”

ADELINA’S GRILL INFORMATION:

Besides indoor seating and dining, Adelina’s Grill also offers take-out and delivery. The menu can be viewed on the website.

Address: 101 N. Center St.

Phone: 641-752-2997

Hours of operation: 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Wednesday-Thursday and Sunday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday-Saturday

Website: adelinasgrilliowa.com

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.