Darien Residents Unhappy With Dining Options: Survey

DARIEN, IL — The vast majority of Darien residents are unhappy with the dining and entertainment options in the community, according to a recent survey.

The city survey showed 80 percent of residents were dissatisfied with the dining options in Darien and 86 percent felt the same way with their choices for entertainment. By comparison, 86 percent liked the options for banking and financial services. The survey was done by the city's Economic Development Committee, which presented its annual report to the City Council on Monday.

Alderman Tom Chlystek wondered what the city could do to bring different restaurants.

"I get that quite often that we have too many chain restaurants," he said. "They would like to see things similar to Chuck's and Darien Chop Suey. How do you get the unique restaurants that are maybe not branded to Darien? What does it take? It seems that's what residents are asking for."

Mark Weberling, an Economic Development Committee member, said he and other members were "very much on the same page."

"One of the disadvantages of Darien is that we don't have a downtown on the railroad tracks. I know I'd like to have something where you can dine and entertain in Darien without having to go out of town," Weberling said. "People want the mom-and-pop owners. They want the personality."

Darien, he said, may not get a restaurant on the scale of Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse, but possibly "something more in the upper middle range, white table cloth." Committee members agreed that Darien needed to aim to be "a little more of a destination," he said.

At the same time, Weberling acknowledged that now is not the easiest time to attract new restaurants to Darien.

"With the pandemic, starting a restaurant is a very challenging endeavor," he said.