Bernie's Jerk Kitchen Closes On Black Road, Entrepreneurs Moving

JOLIET, IL — A minority-owned restaurant that began in January 2018 on Joliet's east side before relocating to Black Road in 2019 has called it quits, Joliet Patch has learned.

Bernie's Jerk Kitchen shut down its jerk chicken restaurant, located in the same business plaza as Barolo Ristorante and Fireman Ted's Bar and Grill, which is next door.

On Friday, one of the employees at Fireman Ted's told Joliet Patch that Bernie's Jerk Kitchen closed last week because the people running the restaurant were moving to California.

Bernie's managed to stay in business this past year amid the coronavirus pandemic, but Bernie's had slashed its hours and days open this past winter.

Bernie's also struggled to use social media, and the restaurant was not very active with Brian Bessler's Joliet Area Bar And Restaurant Guide, a group that has 20,000 Facebook followers.

Bernie's only made two Facebook posts of any consequence all of last year.

And for reasons unclear, Bernie's was the only business in the Joliet strip mall that did not have an advertising sign to draw attention to the thousands of passing motorists driving east and west along the busy stretch of Black Road every day.

According to Google Reviews, Bernie's Jerk Kitchen had a total of 98 food reviews averaging 3.9 stars out of 5 stars.

One person posted a 4-star review more than a month ago commenting: "I was pretty impressed with the food here. Turned out to be hidden gem! I will definitely be back! I will upgrade this review if they're consistent!"

One woman posted a 1-star Google Review about Bernie's just four weeks ago stating: " You're gonna get a different experience every time you go ... I’ve been there a total of 3 times. The first time everything tasted sour or like it had a tang to it including the Mac. Next time I went it was a Friday the food was amazing baked Mac, greens, sweet potato was good just perfect not overly sour either. I just went again today on a Sunday and it wasn’t a pleasant experience the Mac tasted like it was stove top box Mac and cheese. What happened to the baked?!? I just think the experience needs to be the same every time. I refuse to eat from here now because I don’t know how their gonna cook my food. Feels like I’m getting a new cook every time."

In January, Joliet Patch produced a food review of Bernie's Jerk Kitchen's family meal deal.

The demise of Bernie's Jerk Kitchen also coincides with news of a new Jamaican style restaurant that is opening on West Jefferson Street right next to the Louis' Family Restaurant.

Joliet Patch broke the news of expansion of Jerk Flavors to Joliet on March 8.

The owners of Jerk Flavors already have a highly regarded restaurant in Markham, so Joliet will mark their second location in the Chicago suburbs featuring authentic food from the island from Jamaica.

Jerk Flavors has not opened for business in Joliet yet, but it's opening is nearing.