‘This is where we wanted to be’: Patina Wine Bar closing Mount Prospect location, shifting its prospects to Park Ridge

Mount Prospect has enjoyed a Renaissance in downtown dining, with a big part of the growth along the Prospect Avenue corridor.

But a restaurant meant to be a major player in that revival, Patina Wine Bar, is leaving the downtown after a year and half, shifting its attention to a sister restaurant on another Prospect Avenue, this time in Park Ridge.

The Mount Prospect restaurant at 133 W. Prospect Ave. will serve its last customers Thursday. Beginning Monday, Patina Wine Bar at 112 S. Prospect Ave., Park Ridge, will be open seven days a week.

It’s a blow to Mount Prospect, which tried to help out by carving out an outdoor dining space.

“We never want to see a business close permanently, especially here in our downtown,” Village Community Development Director Jason Shallcross said.

But it’s a bittersweet outcome for co-owners Carissa Shaffer and Tim Arifi.

“I grew up in Arlington Heights. I went to school in Mount Prospect,” she said. “I have a partner who lives in Mount Prospect. This is where we wanted to be. We are definitely devastated that this didn’t work out.”

Shaffer said the village, which wanted a wine bar, courted Patina. The owners were excited by the village’s plans to fill the block with restaurants and create an outdoor dining environment.

The outdoor dining space met with opposition when it was introduced in 2024 from neighbors who complained about lost parking spaces. Shaffer added she was never sure if outdoor dining would continue the following year.

“We kept trying to make it work,” Shaffer said.

It worked on the weekends, with healthy foot traffic. But the weekdays were quiet.

The extended patio boosted business in the summer, especially since potential customers could see the restaurant from the Metra trains and across the tracks from Northwest Highway.

But winter came, and the struggles continued. Ultimately the owners decided to shift their sights to Park Ridge. There is also a Patina Wine Shop in McHenry.

Shallcross said even with the loss, “It doesn't deter us from continuing to pursue fantastic places to shop, eat, dine and have unique experiences in the village, not just in the downtown, but throughout the village.”

He said the village still believes a similar concept to Patina Wine Bar can be successful in Mount Prospect. He pointed out the village has added nearly 10 dining experiences in the downtown in the past 18 months.