Does anyone know what happened at Tia's to shut it down? I drove by it on a morning a few years ago and the place was swarming with police and surrounded with yellow tape. It looked like something awful happened there but I never found out. I hasn't re-opened since and there's nothing new in it's place. Wtf.

It closed when the over priced mexican place in Fairfax Corner opened.

There was actually a sign at Tia's directing you to eat at the other place.

I'm assuming the same company owned both places, and that it made no sense to have two restaurants so close to each other.

I'm sure it had nothing to do with the cops being there.

A PNC bank is in the works for that space in the lot and has been for awhile now. It's taking awhile for PNC to go in because it's having problems getting approval from the county for its entrance sign.

I believe the other poster is right that the same company owned both Tia's and Rio Grande cafe.

Is Tia's the restaurant behind Macaroni Grill near the old CompUSA and Barnes & Noble? We only ate there a couple of times and it seemed to just shut down overnight. I never heard what happened, but I don't think that it had anything to do with Rio Grande opening since they really serve different markets. Tia's was a family dining restaurant like Olive Garden or Red Lobster on the lower end of the market with Rio Grande and the GAR (Sweetwater, Coastal Flats, Mike's) and PF Changs being on the upper end.

You can read more on their website at http://www.tiastexmex.com/, but it looks like the chain was mismanaged, essentially went out of business and is now trying to get going again.

MBF Wrote:
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> I believe the other poster is right that the same
> company owned both Tia's and Rio Grande cafe.


This was news to me, but a quick Google search confirms it. It appears that Tia's was a small chain and Uncle Julio's (the parent company of Rio Grande) took over and made some changes to cut costs which did not go over well. It may not have been a big deal with the Fairfax location, but it really seemed to kill business in more established areas.

I am not sure that they did this to eliminate competition since Tia's was much closer to Chevy's with a lower average dinner check. I would think that given how busy Rio Grande can be that they might want to cooperate in order to keep the guest check revenue in house instead of with a competitor restaurant.

I liked both, although my preference is Rio Grande. It helps, however that my daughter tends bar and can help us get a table faster along with a discount on our meals.

It's been gone for awhile. The only time I remember police involvement in the area was when the whole shopping center was shut down because of a hostage situation across the street at the suites/hotel.

BTW, It looks like Don Pablos over at Fair Lakes just bit the dust too.

what was that place over by FairOaks Mall. Its in the shopping center with the Barnes and noble and the old navy. The Facade was of a dilapidated mine shed now it just looks like a real abandoned mine shed that its closed. Is that the place you guys are talking about?

Don Pablos is gone from Dulles Town Center too.

Driving in Loudoun County was like driving on the opposite side of the solar system...

ferfux Wrote:
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> what was that place over by FairOaks Mall. Its in
> the shopping center with the Barnes and noble and
> the old navy. The Facade was of a dilapidated
> mine shed now it just looks like a real abandoned
> mine shed that its closed. Is that the place you
> guys are talking about?

Yup..That was Tia's

Nobody knows what happened the day all the cops and crime scene tape were up? There were so many police people there that they were parking on Monument Drive. That was the day they closed down for good. Seems odd that it's not related to the closing, unless it was the final straw for the owners.

Maeve Wrote:
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> Nobody knows what happened the day all the cops
> and crime scene tape were up? There were so many
> police people there that they were parking on
> Monument Drive. That was the day they closed down
> for good. Seems odd that it's not related to the
> closing, unless it was the final straw for the
> owners.

I think you're remembering the hostage situation at Homestead suites. The police shut down Monument lane (actually, it was sort of jammed up with police vehicles and SWAT). This was right across the street from Tia's.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/20/AR2006122001820.html

Actually the hostage issue and the closing of Tia's were two separate actions that both involved police response. As I understand it, the police were at Tia's that morning at the restaurant owner's request. They literally kept employees out of the restaurant and chained the doors shut to prevent theft as Tia's was in financial troubles and the owners were seeking to preserve anything of value on the premises. Must have been real nice to show up to work to be greeted by police officers and chains on the doors.

and then they later came due to the hostages?

Maybe Tia2 can fll us it. I bet it was named after her.I love the name Tia.

Trickie

Tricki Wrote:
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> Maybe Tia2 can fll us it. I bet it was named
> after her.I love the name Tia.
>
> Trickie


Tia means "Aunt" in Spanish, right?

I used to work in that shopping center, we could see from the window the police response. They had dogs and were searching the surrounding area. A co-worker of mine had a friend at the police dept, he found out that the closing manager (a young woman) the night before was missing. The opening manager came in to unlocked doors, money still in the register, none of the closing paperwork done, and no sign of the closing manager. He called her house and her family reported that she never came home the night before.

I don't know what happended, if they ever found her. Tia's never opened again after that. I found this thread after googling to see if there's another location. It's been five years but I miss Tias, it was my favorite restaurant.

It's a little ridiculous to say that the owner had the police there because he didn't want to deal with the employees. If you saw the response that day, literally more than 50 officers were present and several search dogs combing what little bit of woods were there (gone now though) up and down monument and along I66 that runs underneath the bridge. They were in and out of Tias and all around the immediate area for at least 6 hours. The doors were definately not chained, I could see them clearly from my office window and police were going in and out all day.

My comment is probably irrelevant since it's been over five years, but there's no way that police presence was just because the owner called and asked.

ITRADE Wrote:
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> Don Pablos is gone from Dulles Town Center too.
>
> Driving in Loudoun County was like driving on the
> opposite side of the solar system...

Don Pablos was never at Dulles Town Center. You're thinking of Chevy's.

Don Pablos is a mile down the road on Route 7 next to the Outback in the Target shopping center. Still in business as of last week.

actually it's been 8 years. I can do math, really. This happened in 2005.