Chronic Tacos scales back after resident complaints

Chronic Tacos has scaled back plans to expand its West Coast Highway location in hopes of appeasing residents who object to the eatery’s designs on serving beer.

Concerned with what they believe is a glut of bars in West Newport, a group of residents blocked Chronic Tacos’ plans earlier this summer to expand its small take-out taco operation at 4525 W. Coast Hwy. to serve beer and include a sit-down dining area with 15 flat-screen TVs.

The restaurant has since downsized its expansion plans to include only three televisions. Chronic Tacos also has cut plans for a beer bar and scaled back a seating area for customers. The public area of the restaurant has been slashed from 1,065 square feet to 840 square feet in the latest set of plans.

“All we are trying to do, really, is give customers a place to sit down,” said restaurant designer Timothy Johnson, who has been working with Chronic Tacos on its expansion plans.

Chronic Tacos now plans to serve only bottled beer customers can grab while ordering their food at the counter.

“My idea at first was to have a really nice beer bar, but it looks like the residents here don’t want that,” Chronic Tacos founder Daniel Biello said.

The exterior of the taco stand, which is only about 700 square feet now, is covered in stickers, and the tile floor has turned black from foot traffic from the thousands of customers it has served over the past eight years.

A line forms about noon at the taco stand that extends out into the parking lot each day during the summer months.

“Sometimes I watch the people who leave because the line is too long,” Biello said. The restaurant owner estimates he loses as many as 100 customers a day during the summer because the tiny stand is overrun with hungry taco eaters. The expansion would allow him to better serve the community, he said.

Residents say that even with the scaled-back plans, they still aren’t sold on Chronic Tacos’ dreams of expansion.

“The issue is that we’re dealing with a shopping center that already has five businesses that serve alcohol,” Newport Beach resident Drew Wetherholt said. “This is a high concentration of [Alcoholic Beverage Control] licenses, and that’s a problem for the community.”

The shopping center at West Coast Highway and Superior Avenue has three restaurants and two stores that sell alcohol.

“I don’t think there’s a public need for another place to sell alcohol,” Newport Beach resident Joe Reiss said.

The restaurant is appealing the city’s decision to deny its expansion plans to the Newport Beach City Council. The council is tentatively slated to take up the matter Sept. 8.