The owners of Kimpton Palomar in San Diego set out to reimagine the existing restaurant within the hotel into a purveyor of the city’s most popular cuisine, Mexican. Unifying and activating the two levels while still maintaining clear access from both the hotel and the street was the team’s first priority in functional problem solving. Meanwhile, the goal aesthetically was to reinvigorate what had been a very dark and nightclub-like experience into a bright, warm and inviting taqueria on the ground floor coupled with a fun dining and lounge experience on the mezzanine.