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Business & Tech

Charhouse Putting Finishing Touches on Newest Location

Sun City Survey brings familiar name, familiar food and jobs to Huntley.

To those working in the restaurant business, getting a request or suggestion from a customer is nothing new. Side dishes get swapped here, burgers without the buns are served there. Who knows, wink at your waitress and you may get an extra French Fry or two. But as far as requests go, George Arsoniadis, the general manager of Jameson’s Charhouses and Joe’s American Kitchen and Tavern in Carpentersville, says this request was like no others.

“The Board of Directors did a survey of (its) residents here at Sun City and asked them what they wanted, and they said they wanted the ‘Jameson’s’ name but the ‘Joe’s’ menu,” said Arsoniadis, whose company operates Charhouses in Crystal Lake, Skokie, Bloomingdale, Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, and Woodridge. “So we’re giving them both.”

While the survey was the first step to Jameson’s taking over the Prairie Lodge space formerly occupied by the Walleye Grill, the deal wasn’t finalized until the Sun City Community Association of Huntley (SCCAH) approved it last February. Now the restaurant with the Jameson’s name and Joe’s menu (steaks, burgers, pasta and salads) is on schedule to open April 13.

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“It’s no different than any other challenge of moving into a new facility,” said Arsoniadis of the transition process. “We’re just making sure the equipment functions properly, the phone lines are up and running, the computers are ready to go, and the staff is trained.”

Well, maybe there are a few differences. For starters, very few customers will arrive at Jameson’s other restaurants via golf carts. Especially for carry out. Also, unlike other Jameson’s locations, guests at the 175-seat Huntley restaurant will be able to choose soup or salad.

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 Jameson’s will also be managing the adjoining sports pub, which seats 60 patrons, The Solarium, a small banquet room that accompanies about 40 guests, and the Drendel Ballroom, which seats up to 300.

“We will be catering wedding and anniversaries,” said Arsoniadis, who emphasized the facilities have no restrictions. “We are open to the public. We want to make sure that the public knows that. It’s been rumored from the past that it’s only an exclusive restaurant for the residents and that’s not true. We are open to the public just like the golf course is.”

Overall, it’s been quite a change for Arsoniadis who acknowledged that Jameson’s had no intentions of expanding into Huntley and only pursued it after the Sun City survey was conducted.

“When (the Walleye Grill) went by the wayside, it was our customers, our patrons that kept saying. ‘What are you waiting for? You need to make a bid for the Walleye Grill,’” he said.

Jameson’s arrival has also benefited the town of Huntley where Arsoniadis estimates that 50 to 75 jobs have been added as a result of the agreement with Sun City.

“We have to staff the pub. We have to staff the restaurant. We have to staff the ballroom, the banquet facility,” he said. “With a seating capacity of 300 in the banquet facility, it almost like having a separate entity or another restaurant on the premises except everybody comes at the same time. And they’re already pre-ordered their food so it’s a little bit easier on the kitchen.”

Anchoring a residential community is a first for Jameson’s with, Arsoniadis says, the Sun City request being the “best compliment” his restaurant group has ever received.

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