Exclusive | This little-known NJ restaurant broke a world record — for tequila: ‘It’s pretty surreal’

There’s nothing to be salty about here.

When Saurabh Abrol first came up with the concept for his restaurant Meximodo, he knew aiming big was worth a shot — but breaking a world record wasn’t on his bingo card. 

“It’s pretty surreal,” Abrol told The Post of his Metuchen, New Jersey eatery. “It just feels great that we were able to achieve such a feat that only one out of a million restaurants can achieve.”

In late July, Meximodo Cocina Mexicana & Tequila Bar in downtown Metuchen — population 15,000 — was awarded the Guinness World Records title for “most varieties of agave spirits commercially available” in a restaurant with over 1,000 bottles in the collection — 1,033 to be exact.

But they never thought this would be the accolade they accepted — especially so soon after opening in November 2023.

“Even before opening, we knew that we wanted to have the largest collection of tequila and mezcals in New Jersey. It really started with that,” shared Abrol, CEO & founder of the restaurant’s parent company Le Malt Hospitality Group.

“We wanted a large collection of the bottles, but I had no idea that Guinness Book would take notice and would come and certify and give us such an honor.”

Ever since Meximodo broke the world record, people from all over the country have been traveling to this lesser-known New Jersey town in Middlesex County to get a taste for themselves.

“As soon as we got this buzz, people are flocking from all over, different states. We’re getting people from New York, Connecticut, Virginia, Maryland,” Abrol shared, adding that they even had a customer all the way from Canada come with their family to visit Meximodo and look at the entire Tequila library.

Abrol and his team — including Puerto Vallarta native and chef Antonio Carballo and mixologist Carlos Ruiz — traveled to Mexico to source tequilas and mezcals that weren’t easily available, reaching out to all kinds of local suppliers and distilleries to purchase unique bottles.

“It was important for me to really understand what’s really out there other than what’s only available in the local liquor stores or local restaurants and bars,” he shared.

As a lover of agave spirits himself, Abrol has tried “hundreds” of tequilas during his 25 years in the restaurant industry. And with the tequila category growing immensely over the past few years, he wanted to provide his customers with something different.

Luckily for the customers of Meximodo, all 1,033 bottles in the record-breaking collection are available, with the cheapest bottle starting at $10 and ranging up to a $4,000 bottle of tequila: the Clase Azul Tequila Día de Muertos Limited Edition bottle, which the restaurant gets once per year.

Their most expensive offering by the glass is the Clase Azul Ultra Tequila, which costs the customer $575.

Meximodo officials shared that just about two customers per month order the coveted spirit — which is probably for the better, since according to Surface magazine, each batch of this tequila takes more than 11 years to make.

According to Hard to Find Whiskey, only 100 bottles of this tequila are released each year — making it one of the most exclusive in the world — let alone a rarity in New Jersey.

And the road to a world record was no easy one for the team at Meximodo. It wasn’t until February of this year that they realized they were on the brink of making history.

“It really grew into the thought process of, ‘We’re really trying our best to get these tequilas and mezcals from all over the world, specifically from Mexico. Why don’t we try to break the world record?’ “

The collection of agave spirits, which ranges from small, family-owned and locally sourced brands to larger well-known brands, took about 10 to 11 months to gather, Abrol said — and the process to officially become Guinness World Record holders took nearly just as long.

For about six to eight months, the Meximodo team had to put together video and photo proof of their collection and provide Guinness with their entire list of spirits for cross-referencing. A few weeks later, they got confirmation that they achieved the title.

“Out of 1.1 million bars in the world, it was great to bring home a world record like this and grab the No.1 spot for Metuchen and NJ,” TJ Pingitore, senior vice president of growth and development at Le Malt, shared with The Post.

While the 8,000-square-foot restaurant’s exterior is nondescript, visitors who enter are met with an array of colors, a beautiful ambience and a Day of the Dead mural of La Catrina behind the bar.

The spirits at Meximodo are organized like a library in the restaurant, categorized by brand, expression, region and taste.

Customers can order any bottle of tequila, mezcal or sotol off the shelf — or they can browse Meximodo’s “Tequila Bible” for their perfect match. Patrons can also opt for one of five tequila flight offerings that will give them “a nice overview of different flavors and different regions of Mexico.”

Abrol revealed that Meximodo’s second location in Jersey City is currently in the works and will be twice the size of the current location — which is great news for NJ residents, since New Jersey Monthly magazine named Meximodo one of the best new restaurants in the state to try.

They’re also hoping to expand outside of the Garden State, specifically in New York, Florida and the West Coast.

After the public celebration where they claimed their world record title, the “hardworking team” at Meximodo had a private dinner to celebrate their success.

“To really run an authentic Mexican restaurant with a large tequila collection, it was a crowning achievement,” Abrol said.