The beginning
The restaurant’s history dates back to 1966, when NCR brought Herman Castro to its headquarters in Dayton. Castro had worked as a computer tech instructor in South and Central America, where he was transferred every three years to different countries.
The family ultimately stayed in the Dayton area, and in the late 1970s, Herman and his wife, Gloria, bought what was then The Pizza Queen in West Carrollton. The Castros had never even eaten pizza until they purchased the Pizza Queen.
Herman left NCR in 1989 to devote all of his time to the restaurant.
Eventually, the Castros started branching out from pizza and subs and began serving Hispanic food on the weekends.
Due in part to the new menu’s popularity, the name of Pizza Queen was changed to PQ International.
PQ International
In addition to serving Hispanic food on weekends, the Castros began serving ethnic food from various Spanish-speaking countries once a month.
The name of the restaurant changed. It started to be known as “Pizza Queen ‘N’ International Snacks” and then “PQ International.”
A 1991 Dayton Daily News article said: “The sign outside says PQ International. It also said Pizza Queen. Inside, is the most schizophrenic restaurant in town.”
It was Pizza Queen on weekdays, serving a mixture of Italian and Mexican items. On the weekends, the menu rotated towards tapas and paella, black beans and fried plantains. The weekend menu could even change nightly, depending on the whims of kitchen staff.
The entrance resembled a small Latin market, where the pizzas and rotisserie chickens were prepared. The dining room had plastic patio furniture covered in tablecloths. The decor included South American posters and potted plants.
In December 1992 a Dayton Daily News article mentions that PQ International was “gradually introducing a more appropriate name of El Meson. The change reflects the continuing evolution of the restaurant that two years ago was just a pizza restaurant serving occasional Spanish meals.” Both names appeared on advertising in the newspaper.
El Meson
By 1993, El Meson had taken the lead in the dual naming of the restaurant, and the PQ was labeled as “Pride and Quality” instead of “Pizza Queen.”
In late 1993, the first advertisement with the solo name of El Meson appeared in the DDN. Stories about the restaurant also started using “El Meson, formerly known as PQ International.”
El Meson is named after a type of restaurant in Spain that serves a complete dinning menu.
There have been five major additions over the years, and the restaurant’s owners reinvest in remodels and upgrades frequently.
In 1997, El Meson purchased adjacent properties, which included a barbershop and a bar called Pett’s Place to expand. This is the era where the property became a complex of three buildings that looked like a little Spanish village with the buildings connected.
The kitchen moved to the barbershop and the seating was expanded from 120 to about 200.
The bar area of El Meson became a margarita and tapas bar called Macarena, which was designed to appeal to pre-dinner patrons as well as late-night customers. The focus was on high-end tequilas and margaritas and imported beer and wines.
Whether it was an expanding gift shop, creating a larger lounge area, adding a fountain surrounded by flowers and plants by the front entrance, doubling the size of the patio, adding high-tech business conference rooms or adding wood-burning fire pits for ambiance, the restaurant was always changing, just like the menu.
What started as a three table, one-employee restaurant grew into five dining rooms, 450 seats, a fleet of food trucks, culinary excursions, catering operations and more.
Credit: Lisa Powell
Credit: Lisa Powell
The food
El Meson is known for its world fusion menus.
El Meson spotlights dishes from countries in Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Spain and Mexico. Bill Castro likes to point out that while all of these areas have cultural similarities, all of these areas also offer something unique.
Some of the most popular items on the menu are the Chilean salmon stack, Manchego cheese puffs and chicken tortilla soup.
They make all of their soups, bread and desserts in-house.
El Meson’s house brand tequila is Doebel and is specially bottled for the restaurant. They carry up to 20 different brands of tequila at any given time.
Patrons can expect unique food and drinks and often hold special events to celebrate them.
Their signature events include a low country boil and their Cinco de Mayo celebrations.
Credit: Tom Gilliam
Credit: Tom Gilliam
A family business
The Castro family hails from Bogota, Colombia in South America.
Their family motto is “Si, se puede” — “Yes, we can.”
El Meson’s team of 25 employees plus family members look toward Herman, 88, and Gloria, 87, as ambassadors of the restaurant.
In 2021, Bill Castro was asked about the secret of their longevity.
“There’s no secret to success,” he said. “It’s called show up and do the best you can, and that has never changed. We are always 100 percent on. I hope our customers see that.”
Credit: Submitted Photo
Credit: Submitted Photo
