Pablo's To Close Virginia St. Location On XMas

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL – Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant will be moving from its location on Virginia Street to a new location on Route 31. The restaurant’s last day at 230 W. Virginia Street, Suite 300, will be on Christmas Day when owners plan to open to serve up a meal for homeless veterans and others alone for the holidays – a holiday tradition for the popular Mexican restaurant.

Meanwhile, Freddie Falbo, the husband of Pablo’s owner Jennifer Falbo, is hopeful the restaurant will be be able to reopen at 330 N. Route 31 by Feb. 1, the Northwest Herald reports.

The restaurant will need to undergo $40,000 in renovations at its new location, Freddi Falbo told the newspaper. Freddie has been trying to drum up financial support from the community through a GoFundMe page. So far, the page has brought in just over $1,900 in donations.

He said the restaurant got into financial trouble while trying to keep up with the rising food costs and overdue and unpaid bills. The restaurant also needed to update equipment, according to the GoFundMe.

But despite the tough financial times, Pablo’s Christmas Day meal will be offered next Tuesday to “homeless veterans, displaced families and anyone who feels alone and wants to be around people on Christmas,” according to the restaurant’s Facebook page. It will be the final day the restaurant is in business at Virginia Street.

Anyone wanting to drop of a gift that will be handed out to those stopping out to thge restaurant on Christmas can drop it off at Pablo’s.

“We are accepting unwrapped items (if wrapped, please have sticky note identifying what the item is so we can distribute to the right gender or age) we are also accepting food items to prepare for the dinner,” according to a Facebook post.

Freddie and Jennifer Falbo also hosted a free community Thanksgiving dinner this past year. The dinner provided for anyone in need a warm meal.

Pablo's has been located at its Virginia Street location for 34 years.

PHOTO VIA SHUTTERSTOCK