My Big Fat Greek Restaurant closes in Rosemont

After less than a year in operation, My Big Fat Greek Restaurant in Rosemont’s entertainment district has closed.

Officials say the restaurant opened last December to a slow start, and it wasn’t able to fully recover despite increased business this summer.

Restaurant owner Boomtown Entertainment sold back its lease to the Village of Rosemont, which owns and operates the 200,000-square-foot MB Financial Park on the east side of the Tri-State Tollway near Balmoral Avenue.

“The food was quite good, but not accepted quite well by the guests,” said Larry Vanni, general manager of Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill, the neighboring business that also is run by Boomtown. “(Then) business picked up over the course of the summer and they were doing rather well. Numbers were good throughout the summer.”

The restaurant officially closed Oct. 5, and the village took possession of the building Oct. 9, Vanni said.

It’s the first business to close its doors at Rosemont’s MB Financial Park since the entertainment district opened in April 2012.

Rosemont Mayor Bradley Stephens said it’s still possible to get another Greek restaurant in the now-empty space. He believes in the concept of a Greek restaurant, but one that is run “more efficiently.”

“I don’t want to speak for them, but maybe it just wasn’t in their wheelhouse,” Stephens said of the restaurant owners. “There’s a couple other Greek restaurants looking at it. We figured the best position for the village is we take it back and vet the next person or group.”

Stephens said village officials are interviewing restaurant owners who are interested in the location.

It’s expected the village will announce its selection by the end of the month, and possible the new restaurant could open by the spring, Stephens said.

“There’s been at least a half-dozen inquiries, from Greek to Chinese, and a couple other different American-faire restaurants,” Stephens said. “I’m thinking from who we have inquiring, that it’s going to be a pretty cool and neat concept.”

All employees of the former restaurant were offered a job with Toby Keith’s bar, and about two-thirds of them accepted the offer, Vanni said.

A representative for Phoenix-based Boomtown Entertainment couldn’t be reached for comment.