Eatery Owner Supports 25% Capacity Rule For Will Co. Restaurants

PLAINFIELD, IL — The owner of a popular Plainfield restaurant is pleased with the new orders from state health officials regarding the pandemic mitigations. Wesam Doleh, owner of Savino's Beef & Gyros, can now start welcoming guests for indoor dining after Gov. J.B. Pritzker lifted some coronavirus restrictions last week and allowed Will County restaurants and bars to resume indoor service at 25 percent capacity.

"I'm very excited to start having my customers dine in, I miss the interaction with my customers and reactions when they eat my food," Doleh said. "I feel that this will have a positive effect on the business. When you eat my food hot out of the kitchen, it is a different experience than taking it home."

The eatery opened its door Monday, and Doleh said it will continue to provide a safe place for guests and staff by providing hand sanitizer stations, socially distanced tables, and asking everyone to wear masks.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker had imposed Tier 3 restrictions across the state last fall when coronavirus cases were surging. Doleh said he "felt exhausted by the opening and closings overnight."

"But I had to adapt to stay alive in the industry by coming up with new menu items and family packs to keep everything interesting and innovative," he said. "It's very challenging because in the beginning it was hard to find product, meat prices soared, and everything was so hard to get."

However, even though prices went up, he ever raised the prices on his menu, so he could be affordable "for my customers during these hard times," he said.

"I go shopping every day to provide the freshest ingredients, there were days that I had to wait hours outside in line in the cold, so I can buy meat and produce for the restaurant because stores were only letting a limited amount of people in at a time."

Doleh has owned Savino's for a little over a year now, and he has always tried to find ways to give back to the Plainfield community. A few days before last Thanksgiving on Nov. 23, he spent the entire day giving out free frozen turkeys to those in need. He also donated to Edward ER in Plainfield to first responders and nurses and provided free lunch for students that were at home during the school closures from March-June.

Since there is no space for heat lamps outside, the restaurant continued with curbside pickup only and even now, it has to operate at a limited capacity.

"I agree in part with this restriction because 25 percent is better than 0 percent and if this is a solution to continue to slow the spread of COVID-19, then I’m all for it," Doleh said.

For more news and information like this, subscribe to the Plainfield Patch for free. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here. Don't forget to like us on Facebook!