Mad Cactus Closing after 28 Years

A starring role on a TV makeover show failed to bring a once-popular Strongsville restaurant back to life.

The Mad Cactus, which has offered Tex-Mex meals at the corner of Whitney and Pearl roads for 28 years, will close Sunday, July 21.

"It's just time to move on," owner Tom Krukemeyer said.

The restaurant attracted national attention in 2011, when TV chef Robert Irvine filmed a Restaurant:Impossible episode for the Food Network at the restaurant, giving the tired eatery new decor and a new menu.

It worked for a while, but not for long, said Krukemeyer, who acknowledged a year later that he'd abandoned most of the TV's chef's ideas and returned to his old menu. 

"The cameras and lights and the national TV were fun, but the reality is we know what our customers want," Krukemeyer said in a September 2012 interview with Strongsville Patch. "It's been a real eye-opener."

Business bounced back, but not enough. About 30 employees, most part-time, will be laid off this week.

Krukemeyer said he plans to keep the property and redevelop it in a new, as-yet-unnamed venture that will mesh with the other development in the Whitney-Pearl area, which includes an O'Charley's restaurant, a Sheetz gas station and McDonald's.

"I'm getting the ball rolling," he said. "We're investigating an opportunity to develop the corner."

Krukemeyer said he decided that rather than try to integrate the Mad Cactus part of the new retail and food development in that section of Pearl Road, he would launch a different venture.

"We decided to just stop and start down a whole new path," he said.