Goleta Magazine 2018 - 8

cover story

Los Arroyos Brings
Authentic Flavor to Goleta
Pictured opposite page:
Tony Arroyo pictured at
Los Arroyos' Goleta location
in Calle Real Center.

W H E N T O N Y A R R O Y O, co-founder of Los Arroyos
Mexican Restaurant & Take-Out, moved to California from
his native Mexico as a teen, he had less than $20 in his
pocket and no English skills. He never envisioned staying
for long.
"When I was a kid in Mexico, I was a welder," he said. "My
goal was to go back and open my own welding shop."
Three decades later, with four successful restaurants-
including one in Goleta-under his chef's coat and a fifth
soon to open in the Santa Ynez Valley, Arroyo can't envision
his life any other way.

It didn't take the teen long to make a trip to Santa Barbara,
where his brother was living. He immediately fell in love
with the area, relocated, and got a job washing dishes at
Moby Dick on Stearns Wharf.
Although Arroyo comes from a family that owned restaurants in Mexico, he said that because of his young age while
living there, he was never exposed to cooking in his home
country.
"I learned everything here," he said about getting his start
in the restaurant industry locally, noting by the time he
turned 21 he was Moby Dick's General Manager.

"This is my passion," he said about the family-owned
quartet of Los Arroyos restaurants that include the very
first location in downtown Santa Barbara, which opened
in 1999, one in Montecito that opened five years later, a
Camarillo store and, most recently, the Goleta store that
opened in May 2017 at 5764 Calle Real.

"I always had two or three jobs," he said. "You name it, I did
it. I always worked in the restaurant industry."

"People say to me, 'Don't you have enough already?'" Arroyo
added. "But it's not about the money. It's the customers
and the food. I love the passion of cooking and customer
service."

Arroyo thinks it sounds cliche, but he truly believes his
success is an example of the American dream. "If you work
hard and follow your instincts, this is what happens," he
said. "I'm very lucky. Goleta was looking for us and people
like us. We are a family restaurant."

Arroyo immigrated to California at age 13, from his home
in La Piedad, Michoacán, Mexico, where he was born and
raised. He and his cousin moved to Pasadena, where they
got work with an uncle, who had a gardening business.

During the years Arroyo was working for other restaurateurs, not only was he absorbing all the knowledge he could,
he was also saving money; his dream was to open his own
restaurant.

Goleta is home to many businesses centered around family,
history, and a connection to the community, so Los Arroyos
was welcomed and celebrated when they opened.

B Y A P R I L C H A R LT O N , N O OZ H A W K S TA F F W R I T E R

GOLETA MAGAZINE

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Goleta Magazine 2018