Return of the Mac: The Restaurant at Point Richmond’s Historic Hotel Is Finally Reopening

The beloved neighborhood restaurant nestled inside Point Richmond’s Hotel Mac is ready for a comeback with two local restaurateurs at its helm. The couple behind Richmond’s Mi Casa Grill on San Pablo Avenue, Blanca Zepedalomeli and Juvenal Magaña, signed a lease with the hotel in late February and will be the operators of the space, Restaurant Realty Company first reported.

Hotel Mac general manager (and innkeeper) Desiree Heveroh shared some details about the new restaurant and bar: The restaurant will be called Biancoverde, and renovations to the dining room are already underway. The historic hotel was originally built in 1911 and the most recent restaurant in place — lovingly referred to as the Mac — closed in June 2020 due to the pandemic, Heveroh says. Since the closure, Heveroh’s been searching for the right restaurant and bar operator to go into the space, knowing it would take a special restaurant to bring the neighborhood back in. “I very much heavily emphasized that this community really wants the Mac back,” she says. “They don’t want a restaurant that’s going to change the name or the look or the menu too much. When you live in a historic district, as Richmond is, people value history a lot more than the average community.”

Zepedalomeli and Magna opened Mi Casa Grill in February 2022, taking over a long-empty restaurant space at San Pablo and Macdonald avenues. Mi Casa’s menu focuses on dishes from Mexico and South America, specifically Southern Mexico. The restaurant is open from breakfast until dinner, serving items such as Apatzingán-style enchiladas from the state of Michoacán in Mexico, as well as chilaquiles and pupusas from El Salvador. Meanwhile, Biancoverde will reportedly serve Italian food. There are also plans to bring back the bar, given that the space included a full liquor license. The restaurant is projected to open in May 2023.

Heveroh says eager neighbors are already inquiring about the upcoming restaurant and bar when they encounter her outside the hotel. Heveroh has nothing but praise for the new proprietors, with high hopes for the space the couple is creating. “They have fantastic energy,” Heveroh says. “They are very kind and connected, and even though they’re young, they’ve got really good ambitions and they’re very family-oriented. I couldn’t like them more.”

Biancoverde at Hotel Mac (10 Cottage Avenue, Point Richmond) is set to open in May 2023.