October 14, 2026
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
Mexican bar and restaurant Sancho Pistola's has permanently closed at 19 W. Girard Ave. in Fishtown after 12 years in business.
Sancho Pistola's, the Mexican bar and restaurant in Fishtown, permanently closed this week after a 12-year run at the corner of Girard Avenue and Leopard Street.
A closure notice was posted on the storefront less than two months after Jose Pistola's, the bar's sister concept in Center City, abruptly shut down in late August. Owners Casey Parker and Joe Gunn had said the Center City bar struggled to maintain business after the COVID-19 pandemic and had outstanding debts.
Parker and Gunn could not be reached for comment about the closure of Sancho Pistola's and the bar's social media pages had not been updated with closure information as of Wednesday morning.
In August, the owners said the Fishtown bar and their third concept, Pistola's del Sur in East Passyunk, would both remain open despite the closure of Jose Pistola's. The Center City bar operated for 19 years at 263 S. 15th St. Its lease had been set to expire this month.
In the days after Jose Pistola's closed, Parker and Gunn started a GoFundMe campaign seeking to raise $30,000 to support staff and cover expenses owed to vendors.
"Frankly, we have been struggling to make ends meet since Covid," the owners wrote on the crowdfunding page. "... We're not huge fans of the crowd sourcing thing but we've simply had too many people reach out to us and ask how they can help the staff, and the business."
As of Wednesday morning, the campaign had raised $1,278.
Sancho Pistola's was long led by late chef and business partner Adán Trinidad, who spent his early life in Mexico before moving to the Philly area. Trinidad worked in kitchens at El Vez and Alma de Cuba before co-opening Sancho Pistola's in 2014. He served as a co-operator of all three Pistola's restaurants before his death in 2021. Parker and Gunn said losing Trinidad worsened the struggles at their restaurants.
The closure of Sancho Pistola's will open up a prime restaurant space at 19 W. Girard Avenue on Fishtown's busy commercial corridor. The space was previously occupied by the short-lived Bubba's Texas BBQ, and before that it was the neighborhood grocery store Cornerstone Market.
