Chevere Latin Cafe Calls It Quits After 5 Years In Joliet

JOLIET, IL — After five years in downtown Joliet, Armando and Teresa Malave have shut down their Latin-Venezuelan style restaurant called Chevere Latin Cafe.

"Once again thanks for all your wonderful support to our small family business throughout these five years," Armando Malave announced on Facebook. "Our Joliet location has been closed permanently since the first week of February. All of you will be greatly missed, but better times are coming ahead, and we can't wait to give you the great news of where our next location will be settled."

Since the pandemic hit, Chevere Latin Cafe struggled with advertising and marketing.

The restaurant often had a small, regular lunch crowd of customers from the Will County Courthouse and government workers, but it never became a well-known destination draw for downtown Joliet.

According to Google, Chevere Latin Cafe had 306 Google Reviews averaging 4.3 stars out of 5 stars.

Chevere Latin Cafe opened in April 2017 inside the four-story building at 81 North Chicago St., next to the University of St. Francis satellite campus.

During a 2018 Joliet Patch food review, I wrote: "I like the fact that Chevere offers something different for Joliet's downtown. It's Venezuelan cuisine. The owners, Teresa and Armando Malave are both nice and friendly people. It's a pretty wide-ranging menu featuring sandwiches, arepas, homemade beef burgers and chicken wings. The Cuban sandwich is one of their signature meals."

In 2019, Joliet Patch reported that Armando and Teresa Malave recently signed a three-year extension on their property lease. Chevere Latin Cafe would be doubling its space, expanding next door into the former art studio of Sue Regis Glass Art.