Cherry Hill Cafe: 'A Lot Of People Like The Hercules'

JOLIET, IL — Cherry Hill Cafe has been fixture along Route 30 since 2000. These days, the city's east side restaurant is counting on the loyalty of its long-time customers. Like other sit-down restaurants, Cherry Hill Cafe has been forced to keep its dining room off-limits to customers during the past month to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus.

For the time being, Cherry Hill Cafe is staying open daily 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Cherry Hill Cafe is also utilizing delivery services such as DoorDash and UberEats. Most of Cherry Hill Cafe's core customers live in Joliet, New Lenox and Lockport, its staff told Joliet Patch.

"We are offering a free coffee with every meal," remarked one of the restaurant managers.

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Many customers are still coming to Cherry Hill Cafe for curbside pickup.

A large banner draped across the building's facade alerts travelers along Route 30: "BREAKFAST AND LUNCH. OPEN FOR CARRYOUT."

"A lot of people like the cinnamon french toast and the farmers skillet," one of the employees said. "And the biscuits and gravy is very popular. It's a homemade gravy. A lot of our food is made from scratch. As far as soups, we have a homemade soup everyday."

This week, Cherry Hill Cafe is serving up chicken noodle soup.

Because Cherry Hill Cafe has so many loyal customers accustomed to dining inside the restaurant regularly, the separation during the ongoing health crisis has been difficult.

"We miss them, and we're hoping that everybody is staying safe," one of the waitresses told Patch. "We offer good food and a lot of specials. It's a good-portioned meal, and we always like seeing new people."

Patch asked the employees for any recommendations for a first-time customer.

"A lot of people like the Hercules," one of the workers answered.

The Hercules comes with three eggs, a double order of ham, bacon or sausage, hash browns and buttered toast or pancakes. It's $9.95.

Another employee told Patch: "We miss our customers and hope everyone is doing OK."

Customers can call in their orders at 815-726-0881 or order online at the restaurant's website. Cherry Hill Cafe is in the Cherry Creek Commons at 2635 East Cass St.

Cherry Hill Cafe is one of the small businesses to fill out Joliet Patch's simple online survey to let everyone know they are open and their current hours of operations during the coronavirus outbreak.

Nearly 125 Joliet businesses have now been added to Patch's list so far. If you want to add your small local business to Joliet Patch's list of open and closed businesses, you can do so here.

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