It Looks Like Another Lansing Area Restaurant Has Closed

It seems that so far this year, we've heard about multiple Lansing area restaurant closings.

Lansing Area Restaurants That Have Closed

On June 9th, we learned that cafe PappaRoti in East Lansing had closed. And on June 12th, we learned about two more restaurant closures; YaYa's Flame Broiled Chicken and Lefty's Cheesesteaks.

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We learned about the closure of Arcadia Smokehouse and Brewery on June 19th, although the closure took place before that. And some of the last news we heard was that Champp's in Eastwood Towne Center closed for good, and so had Flap Jack Restaurant in DeWitt.

Now, we have another sad closure to report on.

Atomic Taco in the Meridian Mall has permanently closed

I'm sad to say that Atomic Taco in the Meridian Mall has served its last taco.

I only just found this out when I went to the mall and saw that Atomic Taco's place in the food court was entirely empty.

I'm not sure when it closed, but regardless, it's always so terrible when you hear about the closure of a business. Because it's not just a business that's closing, it typically means that people are out of jobs as well or that someone's business has closed. It's particularly sad to see Atomic Taco closed after knowing what the father and son owners have been through to keep it open.

Atomic Tacos History in Lansing

Atomic Tacos originally started off as a food truck that set up shop at Horrocks on Lansing's westside. They became very popular during that time and decided to open up a "brick-and-mortar" place inside the Meridian Mall food court. Owners Joel (son) and Jeff (father) McGuire opened Atomic Taco in October 2022.

Sadly, just a couple of months after opening their new spot in the mall, the father and son duo ran into some very scary health issues;

Joel underwent open heart surgery to remove an upper aortic aneurysm and to address a detaching valve. Jeff discovered a reoccurrence of rectal cancer. The father and son team say they have no intention of giving up the restaurant.

I'm sad to see the closure of Atomic Taco in the mall. At the least, they served really delicious tacos with an Asian-inspired twist. At the most, a hard-working father and son had to close the restaurant they opened together. I hope we've not heard the last of them on the Lansing foodie scene.