What Local Means at Gustavo’s: One Family, Five Louisville-Area Locations

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People write a lot about supporting local restaurants. Here is what local looks like from the inside at Gustavo’s Mexican Grill: one family, five addresses in Louisville and Oldham County, and a sixth on the way. If you are trying to decide which Gustavo’s to walk into tonight, the addresses, hours and phone numbers are all below.

Where Gustavo’s came from

Gustavo Reyes came to Kentucky from Guadalajara in 1999 and started as a dishwasher in Nicholasville. He worked the line, waited tables, and in 2010 opened the first Gustavo’s in Crestwood. Five locations later he still owns every one of them, still eats in them, and still has opinions about the salsa. The recipes have not changed on the way from Crestwood to Hurstbourne, and neither has the rule that the queso gets made in house every morning.

The five locations, and which one to pick

  • Crestwood, 6402 Westwind Way, Crestwood, KY 40014, (502) 243-6950. The original, open since 2010. If you want to see where it started, this is the door.
  • LaGrange, 1226 Market Street, LaGrange, KY 40031, (502) 610-2403. On Market Street in downtown LaGrange, in Oldham County like Crestwood.
  • Prospect Village, 8909 US Hwy 42, Prospect, KY 40059, (502) 434-7266. Right on Highway 42, the easy stop on the way home.
  • Norton Commons, 10701 Meeting St, Prospect, KY 40059, (502) 690-7070. The newest of the five, in the Norton Commons town center.
  • Hurstbourne, 401 S Hurstbourne Pkwy, Louisville, KY 40222, (502) 420-1100. The Louisville location on Hurstbourne Parkway, handy for office lunches. Email hurstbourne@gustavosmexgrill.com.

Hours at every Gustavo’s

Monday through Thursday, 11 am to 10 pm. Friday and Saturday, 11 am to 10:30 pm. Sunday, 11 am to 9 pm. If you show up at 9:55 on a Tuesday, you will get fed, and you will get a look, but you will get fed.

What is the same at every door

The menu. Tacos Al Pastor are $18.99 in Crestwood and $18.99 in Hurstbourne. Every location has a full bar with draft, domestic and imported beer, wine and margaritas, plus Vida De Reyes, the Mexican lager with a hint of jalapeno that Gustavo launched in 2020. Every location has the kids menu for children under 12, with a drink included. Every location takes online pickup orders through Toast, sends delivery through DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats, and honors the same gift cards, which come in any amount from $10 to $500. Buy one in LaGrange, spend it in Prospect. We do not mind.

What local actually costs, and why we pay it

Making salsa and queso at each restaurant every morning costs more in labor than buying it in a bag from a commissary. Training and promoting his own staff costs more time than hiring from outside. Gustavo does both anyway, because the first thing on most tables is the salsa and the first person you see is the manager, and both of them should be ours. He also makes regular donations to local schools, churches and nonprofits in the neighborhoods where the restaurants sit. That is not a marketing line. It is how a restaurant in Crestwood ended up with four siblings.

What is next: Old Henry Road

A sixth Gustavo’s is coming to Old Henry Road in Louisville in 2027. It will run on the same recipes, the same suppliers and the same morning routine as the other five. When it opens, the gift card in your wallet will work there too.

How to support a local restaurant without making it weird

  • Order pickup straight from our site through Toast when you can. The $1.25 takeout charge is the same either way, and the order goes directly to the kitchen that will cook it.
  • Bring the kids. The corn dog on the kids menu has started more lifelong Gustavo’s customers than any ad we have ever run.
  • Leave a review at the location you visited and name the server if they were good. The manager reads them.
  • Book your office lunch or family party with our catering team. Twenty-four hours notice, 30 percent down, $25 delivery within 10 miles of any location.
  • Try the Vida De Reyes. If you like it, ask your local retailer to carry it.

That is the whole list. Come in, sit down, and let us feed you. The salsa was made this morning, and it would be a shame to waste it.