El Rancho, a popular Mexican restaurant, reopened its doors this week after closing down from a ceiling collapse a couple of weeks prior.

“We had part of the ceiling fall down,” El Rancho owner Faustino Vasquez said. “Then we had to tear the whole ceiling down just in case.”

The temporary closing of the restaurant was met by a wave of disappointment from El Rancho regulars, many of whom are MU students.

“At first I thought it wasn’t going to come back,” sophomore Dylan Barnard said. “I felt really sad because we went there pretty much every weekend. It became an institution to us.”

After its closing, El Rancho immediately began rebuilding. After repairs to the ceiling and remodeling in other parts of the building, the restaurant was inspected so similar occurrences could be avoided in the future.

Following the reopening of El Rancho, Vasquez said business is as good as ever.

“Business is good and I think that business is still going to be good because there are a lot of people that come,” Vasquez said. “I was talking to my employees, and they said that they’re glad that we’re open because they can’t find any food that tastes like El Rancho.”

Freshman Colin Duft said El Rancho is home to the best Mexican food he has had in town.

“I’m a big fan of Mexican food, and El Rancho is the best Mexican food I’ve had in Columbia so far,” Duft said. “There are so many dishes to choose from.”

El Rancho is located at 1014 E. Broadway in downtown Columbia.