Barolo's Replacement: West Chicago Restaurant Confirms It's Them

JOLIET, IL — Mariscos El Vallartazo, a West Chicago Mexican seafood restaurant that features regular live entertainment, has confirmed it is expanding into Joliet, replacing Barolo's Restaurant on Black Road.

Around 1 p.m. Wednesday, Joliet Patch's editor emailed the restaurant in West Chicago after determining El Vallartazo was probably filling the Barolo's vacancy.

Patch knew the restaurant replacing Barolo's was from the West Chicago area, served Mexican seafood and did lots of live music, but not its name. Based on a spot check of DuPage County area restaurants, Mariscos El Vallartazo seemed the logical candidate to be the one expanding to Joliet.

Nobody from the West Chicago restaurant at 1939 Franciscan Way responded to Joliet Patch's written question on social media. Instead, El Vallartazo subsequently posted on its Facebook page in English and Spanish, "Coming soon to the Joliet area!! We will be opening El Vallartazo #3!

"Thank you to our customers for the support and our employees for their great effort. We will work hard to keep giving them the best! We recommend you stay tuned on our Instagram and Facebook pages for more information about the inauguration!"

The Mariscos El Vallartazo in West Chicago has a total of 526 Google Reviews, averaging 4.1 stars out of 5 stars.

Here are some of the most recent reviews on Google:

• 5 stars: "The crab legs were delicious and so is the fish ceviche. They really only have seafood on the menu and it is distinctly Nayarit style so not like other regular seafood restaurants but a fun change of pace ..."
• 5 stars: "Very good food. Service was nice as well. This place is usually packed so beware of when you go."
• 3 stars: "Great food awesome music in Spanish but the servers take to long to take care my table the management friendly but otherwise great places to eat Seafood absolutely tasty."
• 5 stars: "This was A clean and welcoming place to bring the Family for some good Sea Food."
• 5 stars: "I Only go there for their camarones ala Cora they are amazing."
• 3 stars: "I was less than thrilled with this place ... my fish had a texture that I didn't like. Everything here is so spicy that you literally can't eat it ... The empanadas were very good. You can BYOB here as well if you like. It's also pretty pricey."

This week, Joliet area real estate developer Charles Sharp told Patch it was his understanding the Mexican seafood restaurant replacing Barolo's would spend the next two months remodeling the building on Black Road.

The Barolo's name would also change, Sharp said.