Chicago's Chicken Shack Opens In Crest Hill

CREST HILL, IL — A new takeout restaurant that opened at noon Friday has a simple menu because the owners of Chicago's Chicken Shack want customers impressed with all their food, not just some of their food.

"Our menu is simple," remarked John Smelser, a North Beverly resident who is one of the co-owners. "It's fish, shrimp and chicken and it's seasoned to perfection."

Chicago's Chicken Shack opened its first restaurant in the Joliet area Friday.

The restaurant is located in Renwick Plaza at 20641 Renwick Road, just east of the Weber Road traffic light. The owners expect to draw people from Crest Hill, Lockport, Joliet, Plainfield, Romeoville and Bolingbrook, they said.

Prior to this, the storefront had been the site of a Papa John's Pizza, one of the owners said.

This marks the third Chicago's Chicken Shack location.

The first one opened in Tempe, Arizona. The second is on Roosevelt Road in Broadview. The operators of the Crest Hill restaurant are Trevor Black along with John and Shatira Smelser.

The new Crest Hill restaurant offers wing dinners from two to 10 wings. A six-piece and 12-piece shrimp dinner. Wing buckets of 25, 50 and 100 wings. And catfish dinners ranging from a small filet, a large filet to a pan of fish. You can see a photo of the entire menu and its prices at the bottom of this article.

Chicago's Chicken Shack will be open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

"We pride ourselves on having a fresh product," Smelser told Joliet Patch's editor. "Customers want consistency. Our food is really good. You can't go wrong with any of our products."

People are encouraged to order online. Chicago's Chicken Shack also uses DoorDash. Walk-in orders are fine, too. The restaurant phone is 815-714-2610.