Yes but hopefully it is authenic mexican food...........

Was hoping for something different, something unusual (for around these parts) like a Korean BBQ. I feel like we have too many overlap types of places, so I can't get excited when I see a new Mexican place or a new pizza place around here. It will just be more of the same. Ho hum.

Bueno-

Have to agree with restaurant overlap comment, especially when the current entities in the Mex food genre consist of places like Margarita's and Las Olas. If that's the closest to "authentic" we can get, then bring on Taco Bell.

I would not mind seeing a Taco Bell... But only because of that special Mtn. Dew they have! :)

Absolutely ridiculous!! Another one? Where is the entrepreneurial spirit in this area? We have no health food store or local grocer that would offer us healthy alternatives to eating heavy foods as well as benefit our local farmers and community. How disappointing!

I guess my comment would be, yes we do have an abundance of Mexican, Chinese and pizza. However, the opportunity was there for anyone who wanted to open a new business at the old Friendly's location. The gentleman that will open the new Mexican restaurant took the opportunity where others had not. I wish him luck!

Here's a sampling of comments from the Exeter Patch Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ExeterPatch):
"Rats. I was hoping for a Panera." —Beth Diamond
"Well I guess it's better than another chinese food restaurant, or gas station, or car dealership." —Lee Fraser Rollick
"That's a switch. Exeter used to (have) all pizza/Italian (eateries). Now it's going Mexican!" —Brad Rice

I also agree with the other commenters that a Panera would have been great at that old Friendly's location although there probably isn't enough parking to support a Panera. Las Olas has a very limited menu and it's quality is frustratingly inconsistent, plus Las Olas and Margaritas aren't really "authentic" so hopefully this new one is, I imagine the owner knows what he's doing.

Yes, an enterprising person is taking on the challenge of opening a new restaurant and the space was there for anyone. What I would like to see is the Exeter taking more control. All this will serve to do for the community is reduce market share for the existing two mexican restaurants and one of the 3 will probably go out of business in the next year or two because of it. I don't like mexican food so I don't much care about losing one, but I do care about business owners struggling to survive, then facing extra hardship due to what appears to be poor planning. How about we get pro-active and a group of us start planning what we would like to see in Exeter, then seeing if we can make that happen together? Maybe a Panera would have been nice - and we might have been able to make that happen.

Would of liked to see an american buffet or like golden corral

Too bad ... Already have two Mexican restaurants. What about a steakhouse, like Longhorn's in Newington, or how about a Trader Joe's like the fabulous one also in Newington.