A restaurant set to open in Park Ridge in the first half of July will offer diners three options, according to an owner and its liquor license application: a full-service, sit-down restaurant serving Mediterranean and American food, a fast food-style restaurant offering gyros, and an area with two golf simulators, as well as a bar area.
Athan “Tom” Sotos, the majority owner of the incoming Social 18/Mully’s Grill restaurant at 24 Main Street, Park Ridge, received a liquor license from the city of Park Ridge after the City Council approved it on June 17.
Sotos said the casual gyros part of the restaurant will be much like the former Wally’s Restaurant in Park Ridge, which has been closed for a few years. The sit-down restaurant will offer gyros, chicken, skirt steak, ribs, pork kabobs, fried shrimp and other dishes, according to the liquor license application.
Sotos previously was a co-owner at the Tilted Kilt restaurant in Chicago’s Loop and in 2012, a group of employees brought a civil lawsuit against him and the ownership group for creating a “sexually hostile” atmosphere there. According to the complaint, the ownership group consisted of Sotos, Chris Tomaras and TI Management Group, LLC.
Sotos said last week he would not comment on the lawsuit from 12 years ago but that he would take steps to avoid creating a sexually hostile environment at Mully’s Grill.
“I realized what happened in 2012,” Sotos said. “And there’s no chance I would allow something like that to happen again in any of my businesses. We are taking that portion of the restaurant business very seriously.”
The 28-point lawsuit accuses a manager and an unnamed co-owner of creating a “sexually hostile, offensive, humiliating and degrading work environment.” It said the manager and unnamed co-owner touched plaintiffs inappropriately, made inappropriate comments to them, attempted to kiss one of the plaintiffs, made lewd comments such as speaking about pornography, and expressed other unwelcome, unseemly behavior.
The attorney who represented the plaintiffs at that time, Mark Roth, said last week he did not wish to comment on the 12-year-old case.
Both Roth and Sotos declined to comment on the ultimate disposition of the case. Court records indicate a judge ruled the case cannot be re-filed, but do not indicate whether there was a settlement.
Sotos said he plans to have a human resources department and sexual harassment training for all employees, managers and owners at Mully’s Grill. He said he took those same precautions when he became aware of the harassment in 2012.
Mully’s Grill will hire female and male employees, and while there won’t be a specific uniform, Sotos said there will be a dress code. Sotos will be a full-time onsite manager at Mully’s Grill for the beginning phase.
Tilted Kilt employees wore a uniform that consisted of a low-cut, bikini-type top and miniskirt, leaving the midriff bare.
Park Ridge’s municipal code restricts anyone who has been found guilty of a crime “opposed to decency or morality” from receiving a liquor license.
When asked if the liquor commission knew of or discussed Sotos’s previous lawsuit, Park Ridge Mayor Marty Maloney said the matter did not come up during the Liquor License Review Board meetings, nor at the City Council.
When asked whether the commission had the discretion to deny someone a liquor license if they were sued for a crime that opposed decency or morality, Maloney responded, “Mr. Sotos has been a resident of town for many years, and has positively contributed to our community in a number of ways, not the least of which was while serving as a School District 64 Board Member for eight years. I am excited and grateful that he has decided to invest in the community in which he grew up.
“(Sotos) is working to bring his ideas and this restaurant to that section of Main Street, which is important to the city, as we seek to extend the energy of Main Street that is further east of his location. This is an exciting opportunity and I am looking forward to his success.”
The liquor license lists Athan “Tom” Sotos, John Sotos and Bobby Giotakis as owners of the new establishment.
