Saturday final day to dine at the old Mr. G's

Saturday will be the final day to dine at Mr. G's in its old building at 501 S. 4th Ave.

The building is scheduled to be demolished next week to make way for a parking lot to serve the just-completed replacement restaurant next door.

It's a project that manager John Gutierrez has been looking forward to for years, acknowledging the Mexican restaurant has suffered growing pains for some time.

But it's still a sad day, he said, to see the old place go. "It's been very successful for us. There's a lot of memories there."

For old times sake, he is offering "a mind-blowing" thank you to old and new patrons. Today and Friday, he is offering bean and cheese burritos for 50 cents and hamburgers for a dollar.

"That's the prices when we first opened the restaurant," Gutierrez said of the establishment his mother founded some 50 years ago in a building that had first been Taco Lita. Gutierrez estimates that the building is more than 70 years old.

It is being replaced by a much-larger new building Gutierrez hopes to have open by mid-February.

In the meantime, he invites everyone to come by Saturday for one final meal in the old restaurant and share their stories about their experiences there before it closes it doors for good at 9 p.m.