A new Mexican restaurant will soon open its doors in Gloucester, as Ricardo Perez and Miguel Ayala look to leverage their combined 42 years of service industry experience in what will be their third establishment in the area.

Los Portales will be open by mid-June in the Shoppes at Gloucester shopping center between Ann’s Family Diner and Hibbett Sports on Route 17.

Los Portales, “the doorways” or “the portals” in Spanish, will be the third in a series of restaurants with locations already in Tappahannock and Callao. “We named it Los Portales because each time you are hungry we want you to think of coming in our doorway,” said Ayala, who wanted the name and architecture of the restaurant to reflect the style of the haciendas (plantation style homes) and storefronts of the pair’s home region of Jalisco, Mexico. Inside, tile and archways play heavily into the décor to accomplish this.

Perez, a 28-year veteran of the restaurant indu...