Red Crab Juicy Seafood Fills Joliet's Wildhorse Bar & Grill

JOLIET, IL —On Nov. 7, 2019, Joliet Patch broke the news that West Jefferson Street's Wildhorse Bar & Grill had gone out of business. Now, 11 months later, the property is no longer for sale. On Friday, a Red Crab Juicy Seafood banner was displayed across the front of the empty restaurant.

Red Crab Juicy Seafood is a fast-growing national restaurant chain with a location in Milwaukee. The restaurant's website proclaims that it has been around since 2014 with current restaurants in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Virginia.

The opening of the Joliet restaurant at 2314 West Jefferson St. will mark Red Crab's first location in Illinois.

According to its website, "Red Crab opened its original location in Florida over 5 years ago with the mission to offer tasty seafood in a friendly, casual, and fun atmosphere. We have grown from our original location and now have many restaurants along the East Coast.

"We are focused on every customer who comes through our doors. We want you to leave impressed by Red Crab’s juicy seafood and to be excited to come back again."

City of Joliet economic development specialist Derek Conley was thrilled to learn that the Wildhorse property on West Jefferson Street won't be empty much longer. The Joliet restaurant property consists of 5,000-square-feet and was built in 1975.

The property was originally listed at $899,000 but in February the owners of the property dropped their asking price to $875,000, Patch reported earlier this year.

"A few weeks ago the city was informed the property was coming off the market because there was a new tenant," Conley told Joliet Patch on Friday afternoon. "We are happy to see the project is moving forward. This building is already designed as a restaurant so this is a perfect fit. We welcome the new business and can’t wait to have them open for all Joliet residents to enjoy."

If you want to learn more about the national restaurant chain that will be opening in Joliet in the coming months, you can visit the Red Crab Juicy Seafood website here.