Warm dining room at Javier's Mexican Food

Our Story

Freshness in every bite — serving you for over 30 years.

Plate of freshly prepared enchiladas

Freshness In Every Bite

Serving you for over 30 years, Javier's is an award winning family owned business cooking the best Mexican food in Utah!

Rural ranch landscape near Zacatecas, Mexico

Javier's Story

Javier's story is the American Dream. Javier Chavez was born and raised in a poor village near Zacatecas, Mexico. Javier grew up on a small ranch and at a very young age learned the values of hard work and overcoming challenges, values he would use to build Javier's Authentic Mexican Food restaurants.

Server greeting a family dining at a restaurant

The Secret

Javier's secret to success has always been to provide his guests with excellent Mexican food and friendly service. Javier wants to make sure everyone feels at home, he treats everyone like family. Javier has put his heart and soul into creating a family environment where everybody feels welcome and everybody can enjoy great enchiladas and tacos.

Runner on an athletics track

Javier - Athletic Champ

As a young adult, Javier developed a talent for sports, particularly track. At the height of his track career, Javier was the national champion of Mexico in the 1500 meter run. Track scouts for Weber State University were very impressed by Javier's performance and offered him a scholarship.

Without a penny to his name and an uncertain future ahead, Javier decided to take the risk to come to America to seek his dreams. He arrived in Ogden, Utah in 1977. Javier was successful at Weber State, setting track records and winning competitions. He graduated in 1984 and in 2001 was inducted into the Weber State Athletic Hall of Fame.

Chefs cooking together in a restaurant kitchen

Family

All of Javier's family have worked together to build the restaurants. Whether it was his sons Javier Jr. and Manuel as waiters, daughter Amada as a hostess, wife Amada as cook, or even Andrea, his youngest daughter, as a busgirl, the entire family has contributed to the restaurants success. Javier's Authentic Mexican Food restaurant is and always will be a family owned and operated business - that is what makes Javier's so special.

Exterior of a small Mexican restaurant

Restaurant Beginnings

Javier always loved the restaurant business, and dreamed of starting his own. After years of working as a dishwasher, cook, and managing restaurants for others his big moment came. Javier and his family saved enough money to rent a little building near the railroad tracks.

Javier's Authentic Mexican Food restaurant on 29th street in Ogden officially opened for business February 4, 1991. From almost the beginning, Javier's Restaurant was extremely popular - with lunch and dinner lines every day. The word spread fast that the best Mexican food in town was at Javier's. In the following years, Javier opened six more restaurants because of the large demand for his delicious Mexican food.