It’s been a hard run lately for the Tilford Restaurant Group. Session Taco, the St. Louis restaurant brand that began as Mission Taco Joint, is closing its remaining locations, ending the brand’s run in the city after more than a decade.
The closure was announced Monday, Oct. 12, in a social media post, which identifies Saturday, Oct. 17, as the closing date. The two remaining Session Taco restaurants are in the Delmar Loop and Soulard. In the Central West End, LaPez Mod Mex, which formerly operated as a Session Taco, will also close.
The announcement marks the latest chapter in a series of closures and concept changes for the Tilford Restaurant Group, owned by brothers Adam and Jason Tilford. The group once operated as many as nine restaurants across the St. Louis and Kansas City areas.
The restaurant opened its original location in the Delmar Loop in 2013 as Mission Taco Joint. In 2023, Gruma Corp., parent company of Mission Foods, sued the restaurant group over its use of the Mission name. The parties settled, requiring the restaurant to change its name. The brand became Session Taco in September 2024.
The rebrand was only the beginning of a difficult stretch for the company.
In late 2025 and early 2026, the group closed additional locations, including restaurants in Town & Country and Kirkwood. Its St. Charles restaurant was converted from Session Taco into Sobremesa, a broader Mexican dining concept, in June 2026. Sobremesa closed in September, less than four months after opening.
The group’s Central West End location also transitioned from Session Taco to LaPeZ Mod Mex in December 2025. Those moves left the Delmar Loop and Soulard restaurants as the last locations operating under the Session Taco name.
The closures follow a period of mounting pressure for the restaurant group and the broader dining industry. In previous interviews, co-owner Adam Tilford cited declining sales, rising operating costs and challenges with larger restaurant spaces as factors affecting the group’s locations. The owners also tried changing concepts to better fit individual neighborhoods, but the St. Charles experiment proved short-lived.
The announcement of the remaining Session Taco closures brings an end to the brand’s St. Louis footprint. We sure will miss them.
