Buy a pizza, support soon-to-be laid off Carpentersville restaurant workers

Pizza may not do your heart any good. But until Sunday night, ordering any pizza from Carpentersville's Village Pizza and Pub will be good for your soul.

After more than 30 years in the same strip mall on Route 25, Mike Sarillo and his wife, Marcie Sarillo, will close their original Village Pizza location. The restaurant owners and landlords failed to renegotiate a lease through the end of the year.

Property broker Terry Donati, of Situs Business Brokers in Elgin, said a new tenant has signed a lease for the location and a family-style restaurant will replace Village Pizza.

Although the Sarillos are working to build a new restaurant next door to the current location at 117 Kennedy Drive, Mike Sarillo says that store will not open before the end of the year, leaving dozens of employees out of work for at least six months. The Sarillo's said they had hoped to remain in the current shop until the new log-style restaurant is built - old pizza ovens included.

To lend a hand, the Sarillos have established a fund for the restaurant's 21 employees. Profits from every pizza sold from now until Sunday night will benefit the fund.

"My employees come first," Mike Sarillo said. "I don't know what I can do. The economy is not so good right now, but everything I get this weekend I will give to them."

Patrons at the restaurant Wednesday said it will be a long wait for a slice of pie from Village Pizza.

"They can't close for six or nine months," said Carlene Gabor, of Hanover Park, a former Village Pizza employee who grew up in Carpentersville and has dined at the restaurant with family for 30 years.

Others have tried to find a replacement. But after trying to find good pizza close to home, Algonquin resident Brian Allen says he came back to the Carpentersville staple for the ambience, staff and menu.

"I come in here probably four days a week," Allen said. "I like to mix it up, there's a good variety. Everything is really good."

Village Pizza opened in 1978 as a carryout restaurant and expanded to include a pub in 1985. A second restaurant opened on Randall Road in Elgin almost two years ago. Mike Sarillo said there's only one or two spots open for employees at the newest location.

"I like it here in Carpentersville," Mike Sarillo said. "This is where I made my bread and butter and raised my family. I am not a big money guy. I am just a small pizza guy."