Business is Good at Cactus Charly

It's always a good sign when a local restaurant — especially a new one — is seen making investments in the business.

That's the case with at 6 Highland Place, Maplewood Village's latest and greatest Mexican-themed eatery. On Tuesday night, co-owner Ketan Patel was at the Planning Board meeting with his architect Stephen Cohen with a minor site application.

Proposed improvements to Cactus Charly — which were all approved — would be functional and aesthetic. Notably, Patel proposed moving a freezer box from inside the building to an exterior space behind the building in order to allow for more dining space inside the restaurant.

Cohen noted that the property would soon have one fence instead of several different fences on its periphery, improving the look of the site. Patel would be maintaining existing exterior lighting and making improvements to drainage, per code.

Later, Patel (who is also an owner of the Village Coffee Shop) noted that business is good and that he is having particular success with the addition of a mariachi band on Thursday nights (from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 or 9 p.m.) serenading customers dining outside.