This could well be one of those, "Be careful what you wish for" scenarios, but you did ask, so here goes. First things first, so before we relate the whole sorry saga of Mamita's demise, here's some back story.
For those of you who haven't ventured downtown for the past 17 years, Mamita's was a Cuban-Mexican restaurant on East Fremont, before it metamorphosed into Fremont East, the hipster 'hood we know and love today, with its ever-growing plethora of cool hangouts. Not so long ago, that neighborhood really wasn't somewhere you'd consider a "destination," especially not for dining (unless your idea of "dinner" was a crack pipe, perhaps.)
Should you happen to find yourself hungry on Fremont Street and didn't want to eat in a casino, aside from some dubious slices of pizza, the only real option was Mamita's, which has an original sister location in California, and was located in the rainbow-painted neon-decorated building at the end of the block at #601 E. Fremont. It was a friendly family-owned joint open late nightly (until 4 a.m. on the weekend, which was also a rarity among Las Vegas eateries until not so long ago). We dined there a few times but usually, we confess, having previously imbibed more than a few beers in a casino bar or three, so we don't really recall the food too well, other than that it did the required job under the circumstances, plus the ambience was suitably fiesta-ish.
Fast forward to 2012 and the news that on April 4, a random inspection by the Southern Nevada Health District had uncovered no less than a staggering 52 violations at the joint, including spoiled and contaminated food, malfunctioning thermometers, improperly sanitized kitchenware and surfaces, and the improper cooling of foods. If an establishment receives in excess of 40 demerits, it's summarily closed by the Health Department, and when inspectors returned the following day they found, shockingly, that nothing much had changed. With the restaurant still managing to clock up a list of 32 demerits, it remained firmly closed.
At some point thereafter, Mamita's was allowed to reopen, but it seems that some people just never learn: An October 30 reinspection found what was by that point a sadly familiar litany of demerit-earning scenarios, including spoiled food, potentially hazardous foods improperly cooled, and food unprotected from potential contamination by chemicals, among other things. As a result, Mamita's was once again shuttered for repeat violations, and has remained closed ever since.
You asked us to look into our crystal ball, and since six months have now elapsed with no signs of life, we'd go out on a limb and predict that we may have seen the end of Mamita's. The restaurant's owners had been among the downtown restaurateurs vocal in their opposition to the food truck brigade, claiming that the mobile eateries were unfair competition and hurting their business by stealing customers away, so they may have just decided to throw in the towel. (If so, let's hope they disposed of it sanitarily.)
