A Park Ridge restaurant is set to close after a 30-year run in the Uptown area, according to a letter from the restaurant’s owners.
In a May 15 letter to its customers, the owner of Venus Szechuan & Mandarin Restaurant thanked them for their years of dining at the restaurant but said that running a restaurant had become less profitable after the pandemic.
“Things have changed now: inflation has brought us high food and labor costs; high interest rates are forcing people to cut their spending; skyrocketing rents and property taxes have put tremendous burdens on small businesses,” the letter says.
Lori Boukos of Chicago’s Edison Park neighborhood, a restaurant customer, said she received a letter in the mail from the owners saying they had decided to close. Boukos said she thought she received it because she was on their customer database. She shared the letter with Pioneer Press.
“We will miss you, the good times we were together. We want to thank you for your caring and support. We wish you and your families all the best. So long,” the letter concludes.
Francesca Sanders, owner of The House of Beauty, a salon upstairs from the Venus Restaurant space, confirmed that the owners had told her they were closing.
The restaurant’s specialties included Szechuan Chicken, Teriyaki Beef, Fried Garlic Prawns, Mongolian Beef, Crispy Duck and other dishes.