Hibachi-style restaurant Wu's House a step closer to building Naperville location

Wu's House, a hibachi-style restaurant, is one step closer to opening a Naperville location after clearing a hurdle for parking variances.

Members of the city's planning and zoning commission at Wednesday's meeting voted unanimously to recommend allowing the restaurant chain to operate with fewer parking spaces than required by city code in a vacant lot at the corner of Beebe and Fitness drives just south of 75th Street.

To accommodate potential parking shortages for the 16,000-square-foot restaurant, the operators secured access to 50 additional spaces from neighboring businesses, including X-Sport Fitness and KLA Schools of Naperville West.

The Naperville location would be the sixth for Wu's House, which also has restaurants in Evergreen Park, Merrillville, Ind., Mokena, Orland Park and Palos Park. Marcia Owens, the attorney representing Wu's House, did not provide a timeline for construction or the opening of the Naperville location.

Wu's House is a family-oriented restaurant offering Japanese hibachi, Chinese, Thai and sushi menu items while dining around a grill.

The commission recommendation heads to the city council for final approval at a future meeting.

"I think it looks great," said Anthony Losurdo, the commission chairman. "It's a big restaurant ... pretty amazing."

City code for restaurants requires 10 parking spaces for every 1,000 square feet of gross floor area. With 146 spaces, the Naperville restaurant would be 17 short of the 163 requirement.

According to a projected parking count at the Palos Park location, which is 10% smaller than Naperville's planned footprint, 197 cars were anticipated during the peak time of 7 p.m. in the winter.

"The total capacity will be, if all tables were to be filled, about 400 seats in the restaurant," Owens said. "This is the type of restaurant where people come together and dine communally. There's typically more than one person in a car."