Don Pablo's owner laments what could have been

The Loft Ristobar, a high-end restaurant and nightclub that opened in Sarasota in 2010, could never get away from its past — from 1998-2006, it was a Don Pablo's Mexican restaurant.

“Every time we would tell someone directions, we would tell them the old Don Pablo's,” says Loft owner Steve Rinehart, also a local homebuilder. “People would instantly know where that was.”

Rinehart adds that he would hear from people regularly how much they missed Don Pablo's, which left the region in 2006. “Don Pablo's had a cult following that's still kind of strong,” Rinehart tells Coffee Talk.