Dos Mezclas Restaurant and Bar in Aubrey has experienced rapid changes, including an expansion just months after the business's first anniversary in May.
Owners Abigail Parra Patel and Mit Patel expanded it in August to add more dining room space.
“People are enjoying the new space,” Abigail said. “They're able to bring family groups, and they're able to enjoy a little bit more time with one another, and that was our main goal: to bring people downtown.”
The journey started a few years ago, when the couple moved to the area and looked for food as tasty as Abigail’s dad’s cooking.
Mit asked his father-inlaw, who has three restaurants, to bring one to Aubrey, but he declined and instead encouraged his son-in-law to open one.
As a data engineer by trade, the idea had never crossed Mit’s mind.
“I have no background in restaurants; I have no workers, I have no menu, I have no recipes, I have nothing basically, even if I want to, and he was like, ‘I will give you everything; you just put your money in,’” Mit said.
With her father’s 15 years of experience, Abigail said he provided them with an outline, and the couple decided to go for it.
The couple worked on the business while Abigail was deployed in Kuwait.
“Deployment was hard, but I think that little development kept me motivated,” Abigail said. “I have something whenever I get back, because it was really hard being away from family. … And the restaurant also connects me to my dad.”
Owning a business comes with its challenges, but above it all, the couple enjoys what they do.
“I love it,” Mit said. “… I know it's more work, but at the end of the day, I'm satisfi ed because I'm working for myself and the response that I get from the customers makes … me satisfied.”
Christine Gossett, Director of Municipal Development, remembers when the Patels were looking for a building back in the summer of 2024.
The restaurant received the Targeted Improvement Grant from the MDD to help renovate the kitchen and complete other work. By May 2025, it was open for business.
“The spirit of the grant is obviously to help grow business or help improve a building so that business can go into a space and improve it so that it's here for another hundred years,” Gossett said.
After the neighboring building, Casey & Co. Boutique, closed its brick-andmortar store, the couple decided to expand into that space and applied for and received another grant.
The restaurant closed temporarily for the remodel and reopened last month.
The expansion allowed them to seat over 60 more people, bringing their max capacity to around 100 occupants, Abigail shared.
This will allow them to host private events like baby showers, birthday parties and family gatherings more comfortably.
However, the goal remains the same: to offer good food and quick service to their customers, Abigail said.
“They did a great job and we were very happy to help them with that project,” Gossett said. “It's been great for Aubrey and great for downtown Aubrey.”
When they reopened, it was supposed to be a typical Thursday, but it was anything but that when the doors opened to the public; it was clear to the Patels how much their business meant to the community.
“Our sales [have] never been that high, even on weekends in a year, that we sold on Thursday,” Mit said. “And we were not prepared for it.”
Families came out in droves; even some students came, patiently waiting for the reopening to get one last taste before heading off to college the next day, and the rush carried over to the weekend, Mit shared.
Since then, the initial worries, doubts and whatifs have vanished because of the community support, the city's support, support from the Goin Family and many others.
“We are here to stay forever,” Mit said. “This is our town. We are not leaving this place [to go] anywhere else.”
