Matt’s Rancho Martinez. Photo by Renee Umsted.

Update (11:35 a.m.): This story has been updated with more information about Matt’s Rancho Martinez’s history in Lakewood. 

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Matt’s Rancho Martinez is closing in Lakewood after 35 years.

Nick Martinez, an owner of the restaurant, said the company has been moving the operation to the Allen store, which is almost twice as large as the one in Lakewood. They want to invest in the Allen property, which the restaurant owns, and get out of their leases.

“We loved our stint here in Lakewood,” Martinez said.

Matt’s is open this weekend at 1904 Skillman St. but will no longer be open as of April 3, a note on the website said.

The company opened in our neighborhood in 1989. It used to be on La Vista, where Mi Cocina is now, and before then, it was at the corner of La Vista and Gaston, at the current Starbucks space. In 2012, it opened at Skillman and La Vista.

Matt Martinez Sr. and his wife, Janie, opened Matt’s El Rancho in Austin in 1952. His son, Matt Jr., and wife Estella moved to Dallas and opened Matt’s Rancho Martinez. The father and son, along with Estella, have all been inducted into the Texas Restaurant Hall of Fame, according to the company website.

“The Martinez family, management and staff want to thank you for the many years, meals, celebrations and memories we have shared with each one of you, your family and friends,” Estella Martinez, Matt Martinez III and Nick Martinez wrote in a message on the restaurant’s website. “It is with a heavy heart that we leave the Lakewood area.”