SoCal in New Kensington closes indefinitely; owner seeks new restaurant partner

SoCal Mexicali Grill in New Kensington has closed, but the owner said he’s looking for a new business partner in hopes of reopening.

“The volume didn’t come through,” said owner Sean Watson. “We had a great products and people loved it, but traffic wasn’t there to keep it going.”

SoCal opened nearly two years ago with Watson at the helm and partner Jeff Cieslewicz of Latrobe in the kitchen cooking a variety of Southern California-themed dishes at 700 Fifth Ave.

Watson bought the building in November 2018. It also houses a vape/smoke shop and a hair salon.

He said Cieslewicz left the business about seven months ago. It has been tough maintaining operations, particularly the past two months.

“I didn’t set it up for me to run it,” Watson said. “I just wanted to get to Christmas having employees and wanting to make sure we got through the end of the year. Everybody got paid and kept their hours the best we could so I didn’t have to lose anybody. That’s why I kept it afloat. But if it’s not growing, it’s shrinking.”

Rising food prices also played a role in the decision. SoCal employed six people.

Watson said he is “moving them around” to ensure they have new jobs.

“I’m taking care of all my employees,” he said. “I’ll be working with all of them. None of them are going anywhere else. That was also very important to me, to have the right situation where I wasn’t leaving anyone out in the cold.”

He is a partner in botL, the bar/restaurant in New Kensington, and National Public House restaurant in Leechburg.

Watson thanked the city and surrounding communities for their support of SoCal.

He said he made it a quick closing instead of drawing things out for customers to get one last meal due to a lot of emotions and having to explain why over and over again.

“We have so many loyal and great regulars,” Watson said. “I didn’t want to have to go through having to explain it and having people saying they didn’t want us to close. The most popular (Facebook) post we had was me saying we’re closing. Bigger and better things will come.

“I’m very, very grateful for the love and support that we got, and we got a lot of it.”

The hope is to find a new restaurant partner and have a sort of grand reopening.

“My feet are dug into New Kensington, and they’re not going anywhere,” Watson said. “I’m going to be part of something there.”