Astorga’s is well-established family-owned and operated business, 17 years and counting, and a true family operation: Lee and his wife Ramona are the owners. Lee manages the kitchen with sons Gustavo, Jose and Amado cooking. Anna and Mandi are waitresses. Manuel is the restaurant General Manager.
No one would take more pride than us in making sure our business is successful in all ways possible. Our family has lived in Bishop — a small town where everybody knows one another — for over 40 years. Us siblings grew up, went to school, graduated, and live in Bishop. We try to be involved in the community as much as possible: we participate in fundraisers, donation drives, and many community events. We as a family strongly believe that if the community has been wonderful to us and has supported our business though thick and thin, the least we can do is give back to them. Still, we feel our labor will never compare to the grand support we have received. So we keep trying!
In 2001, owning a restaurant was only a dream for our father, Lee Astorga. He always felt that one day we would have an opportunity to own our own business. His perseverance has been the reason why we are here today. His dream began in a small hole-in-the-wall in one of our local strip malls. A hard-to-see, hard-to-find location, with a small, narrow dining area, maximum capacity of 27. We as a family have worked hard to keep that business alive. Now proudly we say, “We have accomplished so much!”
We are well aware that we are not yet at the top, but we have big goals. We have re-located to a much more easily seen and found location. We can now seat up to 150 persons, not including a fairly-new remodeled outdoor seating patio and an area with enough potential to add a full bar. We like to keep our customers interested, so we offer daily week lunch specials we call “Pronto Lunch” designed to offer quality and to be served as quick as possible for our lunch hour customers. We also offer Taco Tuesdays where prices are accommodated to fit the budgets of our customers. During the summer days we do an Outside Taco Tuesday so our customers can enjoy the warm evenings along side of our taco cart. Although we have not stopped here… we now look forward to soon be able to serve our customers fine real tequila margaritas!
Not only is Tuesday “Taco Tuesday,” but during lunch it’s also Tuesday Rotary. We accommodate for our fellow Rotarians. For the past three years Bishop Rotary meets in our banquet room for their weekly meetings. You may think Rotary would be our only large group that meets here at Astorga’s… but no…. we also have the pleasure to serve the Ladies Of Altrusa, Republican women of Bishop, The Daughters Of the American Revolution and other smaller groups different days during the month.
Cinco de Mayo is another way we like to remind our customers of a Hispanic Event that is celebrated. Every year we make it an event to remember. We hire a Mariachi Band to come out from Bakersfield and entertain our customers for the evening while they enjoy their meals. We have so many customers who look forward to Cinco de Mayo, and even some who join the Mariachi with a song or two.
As you can see, we as a family have worked extremely hard and have gone above and beyond to be a well-known and successful business.
This is just a little information we wanted to share with you. If one day you happen to stumble across the Eastern Sierra and ask anyone where you can find good Mexican food with an outside dog friendly patio or a place to have a family/work event in a private banquet room and also be able to enjoy a margarita, we are sure the words you will hear are “Astorga’s Restaurant!” A hard working, family-owned restaurant!