See inside this new Mexican restaurant in Perry with a sophisticated vibe

Yuliana and Fernando Barradas are gearing up to open their fourth Mexican restaurant, but this one in Perry will be different from the rest.

The husband and wife team expect to open El Metate Cantina Mexicana at 1904 Houston Lake Road, Suite 106 & 107, the last week of May.

The Barradas own and operate three El Metate Mexican Restaurants in the area: one in Tifton, the second in Sylvester and the third in Warner Robins.

The lively restaurants with handcrafted, colorful furniture offer an extensive menu of traditional Mexican fare and a full bar with mixed drinks, margaritas, daiquiris, beer, tequila and more.

Naming their new restaurant El Metate Cantina Mexicana reflects the couple’s aim to create a more sophisticated, upscale and relaxed atmosphere to blend in with its home in the new The Encore shopping center and the surrounding area.

“If anybody wants to be loud and colorful and happy, you go to the Warner Robins location,” Yuliana Barradas said. “But if you want something more luxurious, a little more top-notch, a little more anniversary situation or something more special, you come to the Perry location ... Same quality of the food, just a little more modern.”

The owners wanted to differentiate the two locations given the Perry restaurant is less than 12 miles from the Warner Robins spot at 2624 Watson Blvd.

The new restaurant’s menu will feature many of the same Mexican food offerings as their other restaurants, but will also offer more steak and burger options.

Take a look inside El Metate Cantina Mexicana

Step inside the new restaurant to a welcoming environment with comfortable seating for individuals, couples, and small and large groups at various sized tables, booths, and tall bar seats and tables. The restaurant can seat 186 people.

The restaurant’s large circular bar with bar seating is something Fernando Barradas has wanted for a long time. It became possible because the new commercial space had no prior tenants — allowing the couple to customize the space from scratch.

“That was his dream to have a restaurant with a bar like that in the middle,” Yuliana Barradas said.

Faux flowers hanging from the ceiling and hanging lights with brown wicker shades brighten the restaurant.

El Metate translates to English as “the metate,” which is a grinding stone. The metate is used to grind corn and spices to prepare masa for tortillas, tamales and other dishes.

The couple chose El Metate as a part of their restaurants’ names as a nod to their Mexican heritage, traditions and family gatherings in the kitchen. It’s also spotlighted in a painting on one side of the dining area that depicts a Mexican scene with a woman in the background using a grinding stone.

Family matters to Yuliana and Fernando Barradas

Another wall in the dining area features a mural of David Gonzalez and Rosa Hernandez, the late grandparents of Yuliana Barradas, and a city scene from their hometown of Guadalajara Jalisco. Nancy Eubank, an artist in Cordele, created the mural.

“Since we made this restaurant from the bottom, I wanted to have something special of my family, like something that really touched my heart, and I really love them,” Yuliana Barradas said. “So, I was like, I’ll honor my parents and my grandparents.”

Ricardo Gonzalez and Hilda Garcia, the parents of Yuliana Barradas, moved to Tifton to live with her and husband and their four children, Richard, Arleene, Fernando Jr. and Alondra, about two years ago.

“They moved in with us to help us out with the kids,” Yuliana Barradas said. “We’re very blessed. We have a lot of help.”

The family plans to relocate to Kathleen, which will provide a more central location for them to travel to and from their restaurants. That’s expected to include a fifth restaurant they are planning to open in Stone Mountain next year.

The couple likes to be hands-on at their restaurants, rotating among them while also employing general managers at each.

“ (Fernando) goes to one, I go to another one, and then in the afternoon, we go to a different one,” Yulianna Barradas said.

Fernando Barradas enjoys working in the kitchen. “I love to feel the pressure when it’s full house,” said Barradas, who work the grill.

Yuliana Barradas likes to work at the bar and enjoys going around to the tables to speak with customers. Their eldest child, Alondra, 17, works alongside them and plans to go to college and return to the family business afterward, her mom said.

Fernando Barradas is a native of Mexico. Yuliana Barradas was born and raised in California. Both have worked in Mexican restaurants before opening their own.

Their first El Metate Mexican Restaurant opened in Tifton on May 20, 2014, on Fernando Barradas’ birthday. Their second opened in April 2017 in Sylvester, and the third in Warner Robins on July 1, 2025. Alondra’s birthday is on July 1.

The Perry restaurant was expected to open ahead of the Warner Robins location, which is why customers see a #4 on the menus, Facebook and Google pages for the Warner Robins restaurant.

Here’s a quick look at the menu at El Metate Cantina Mexicana

All of their food is prepared fresh daily.

The menu for El Metate Cantina Mexicana includes appetizers, nacho platters, tortas, taco plates, burgers, soups, salads, chimichanga, burrito and steaks plates, house specials, fajitas, chicken, enchilada and seafood plates.

The restaurant also offers lunch specials, combo plates, a kids menu, desserts, Jarritos, soft drinks, tea, coffee, Mexican Horchata and a wide selection of alcoholic drinks.

Popular dishes across their restaurants include the barria pizza, their “Mexican guacamole” made fresh when ordered, loco enchiladas, huge burritos and the quesabirria plate, to name a few.

The new location features a “Perry Burrito,” which is a flour tortilla with tilapia, shrimp, rice, beans, topped with chipotle sauce and served with a guacamole salad. The Barradas customarily create a burrito named after their restaurant location.

Steaks include rib-eyes, a boneless Angus beef strip loin, a 20 ounce bone-in rib eye, grilled pork chop and New York steak. The steak and shrimp includes rib-eye steak and shrimp covered in cheese. These dishes are served with a choice of rice, beans, fries, spring mixed salad, mashed potatoes or black beans.

Too many Mexican restaurants close by? Couple says each unique

El Metate Cantina Mexicana is near a Surcheros Tex Mex expected to open this summer and the new, already-open Meridian Brunch & Bar, which offers a fusion of Mexican and American dishes.

Yuliana and Fernando Barradas said each restaurant is unique, complementing each other. Each offers its customers a different dining experience with distinct flavors, the couple said.

El Metate Cantina Mexican offers dine-in with traditional Mexican fare, while Surcheros is a fast casual restaurant with Tex Mex food ordered assembly-line style, and Meridian focuses mostly on fusion brunch fare and dinner plates at its dine-in restaurant.

“It makes me happy to see restaurants full,” Yuliana Barradas said. “It don’t matter it’s not mine.

“It makes my heart happy for the owners and for the customers that like what they’re going for.”

“I don’t see it like competition,” Fernando Barradas added. “I see it like everybody have an opportunity to do a business and there’s many, many people for all the restaurants.”

The couple is excited about their new restaurant opening.

“We’re ready for Perry,” Yuliana Barradas said. “Hopefully, they give us a good welcome like Warner Robins did. We put all our dreams, everything in this restaurant. We’re ready for it because we went through a lot of bumps to get this ... But we’re here, right?”

El Metate Cantina Mexicana’s hours will be 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. The restaurant will offer dine-in, takeout and third-party delivery.