After a long wait, Giliberto's Mexican Taco Shop is open in northwest Rochester

Jeff Kiger, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·1 min read

Oct. 19—ROCHESTER — After a long wait, Rochester's first 24-hour Mexican restaurant,

Giliberto's Mexican Taco Shop,

is open for business.

Giliberto's, which is a Minnesota chain owned by St. Cloud restaurateur Aldo Coconi, started cooking at 5550 North U.S. Highway 52 on Thursday, Oct. 19. He has a team of 15 employees on staff.

That building, which housed the

Italian fast food restaurant Fazoli's

from 1996 to 2022, is located between

the Salon Suites at Bandel

and McDonalds along Bandel Road Northwest.

Beyond a fresh menu with a long list of authentic types of tacos, burritos, tamales, gorditas, mulitas and more, Giliberto's sets itself apart by always being ready to serve customers at any time day or night.

It serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Giliberto's also offers a variety of vegetarian options.

"I started looking in Rochester about seven years ago. There are a lot of Mexican places there, but the concept that we have is totally different," said Coconi earlier this year. "Our tacos, burritos and everything we do is different from all of the Mexican places in Rochester."

His menu and the model of being open 24-hours-a-day has been very successful for Coconi. He has a total of 14 Giliberto's restaurants in St. Cloud, Owatonna and Mankato as well as locations in South Dakota and Utah.

Barb Phelps

and Leigh Ann Peltoma of Titan360 Commercial Real Estate lined up the space for Coconi.