New Juliet's Owner Promises 'Very Tasty And Inexpensive Menu'

JOLIET, IL — In less than one week, Juliet's Tavern, which has remained an empty building since early October, will spring back to life as the owners of Joliet's Hamburgerseria, CUT 158 Chophouse and Rosemary Cafe take it over.

On Wednesday evening, new Juliet's owner Bill Dimitroulas hosted an invitation-only special event to give people a chance to sample food, enjoy drinks and take in the ambiance of 205 N. Chicago St.

"This is to test our bar, our kitchen and our employees to do our fine-tuning for our opening Tuesday," he said.

Come Tuesday, June 8, Juliet's Tavern reopens for real.

The new owners of Juliet's plan to keep it open this summer from 11 a.m. to midnight, Tuesday through Saturday, and then expand to Sundays beginning in September — coinciding with the NFL schedule.

"It's a very beautiful and well-done restaurant," Dimitroulas told Joliet Patch's editor on Wednesday evening. "It's amazing inside and outside. All you need is great food and great management to bring it up to a glorious stage."

In January 2019, he opened CUT 158 Chophouse about a block away. He told Joliet Patch that CUT 158 is Joliet's best restaurant. It currently shows 4.6 stars out of 5 stars with 166 Google Reviews. CUT 158 is best known for its rib-eye steaks and its tomahawk steak.

The menu, prices and atmosphere for Juliet's Tavern will be drastically different, he said.

"It will be a very tasty and inexpensive menu," Dimitroulas told Joliet Patch on Wednesday night. "There will be appetizers, salads, pastas, sandwiches, a little bit of seafood and a couple of Italian dishes. We have a variety of food items."

Because the new menu only features a couple of Italian selections, "We cannot promote ourselves as an Italian restaurant anymore," Dimitroulas said.

How should people dress if they plan to check out the new Juliet's?

"Casual. It's a casual place, an environment for people to come after work," Dimitroulas said. "They can relax, grab food and a great drink. We have a big variety of drought beers, a lot of craft beer and a lot of cocktails."

On Wednesday night, Joliet Patch interviewed the new chef for Juliet's Tavern, Rich Kiedro, a Plainfield resident who has 20 years in the restaurant industry.

Patch asked if he had a favorite meal to make for his future customers.

"I'm hoping everyone loves everything," he said. "It's like saying, 'What's your favorite child?' They are all my favorites.

"We're doing a modern twist on American food," Kiedro continued. "Something for everybody."

He also said that the new menu for Juliet's will include selections to take into consideration the dietary needs of customers. "I want to make good food and have fun doing it," he said. "I enjoy myself and I want you to enjoy yourself. That's why everybody comes out to eat."

Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, a Democrat from Shorewood, attended Wednesday evening's event at the new Juliet's Tavern.

"I'm a fan of all Bill's restaurants," Bertino-Tarrant said. "His staff is always very pleasant and his food is top-notch. We're excited about them opening, and we're excited that Bill is so invested in downtown Joliet. He's committed to everything he does."

Mike Paone, Joliet Chamber of Commerce vice president, also attended Wednesday evening's special event at Juliet's.

Paone said that Dimitroulas' continued restaurant expansion into downtown Joliet should send a strong positive message to other potential investors. For most of 2020, the previous owners of Juliet's Tavern kept the restaurant closed as they dealt with the governor's continued orders of shutting down Illinois indoor restaurants and bars for months at a time.

In March, when Dimitroulas acquired Juliet's Tavern, he said he planned to change the menu from Italian to American cuisine but would keep the name of the restauarant.

"It's nice that it reopened so quickly," Paone said. "Obviously, the family has got a quality track record of running restaurants. It should be a fixture in the downtown for quite some time. It's not a start-up taking a chance. Hopefully, it will lead to more investment and other places following suit. Others should jump on board and invest as well."

To learn more about the new lunch and dinner menu for Juliet's, visit its website here.