When the Acadiana Advocate’s Adam Daigle dropped his report on the old Chili’s building on Ambassador, many in Lafayette barely clicked before assuming the worst in the comments: another Mexican restaurant.
Given Lafayette’s endless cycle of Legends, car washes, Mexican restaurants (and now coffee shops), it’s easy to see why people jumped to conclusions. But this time, those assumptions were wrong.
According to permits filed with Lafayette Consolidated Government, the vacant building at 3905 Ambassador Caffery Parkway, which once housed Chili’s before it moved just down the road, is being transformed into a coffee shop.
A new chapter for the long-empty space
The building has sat empty since Chili’s relocated six years ago. It was purchased in 2020 for $1.4 million by an LLC connected to Ruben Chavez, the owner of the El Paso Mexican Grill chain. And yes, it’s the same Chavez who operates three El Paso locations in Lafayette, one of which sits directly across the street from the old Chili’s…