The restaurant closed its doors on Monday, July 27.
It would seem like yet another notorious Chicago bar and restaurant has now closed due to COVID-19. River North’s Bottled Blonde closed its doors permanently this week, with the restaurant citing coronavirus as its reason for closing.
“It’s been an uphill battle since we came into this neighborhood,” said Jeff O’Neil, district manager of the Arizona-based company, to the Tribune. “We had fights with the city, fights with the neighborhood. With the COVID thing, you need revenue to keep up those fights. We can’t stay open and operate at limited capacities.”
The establishment officially surrendered its on Monday, July 27. “Yesterday, Bottled Blonde surrendered their business licenses, permanently closing the River North bar after a series of serious nuisance conditions dating back to 2017,” reads a statement from the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.
Since its opening back in 2015, Bottled Blonde had developed a controversial reputation being first accused of a racist dress code in 2015 and had its liquor license revoked in 201, but the revocation was stayed.
Now, five years later, the popular enclave has officially closed its doors, taped up its windows and deleted all its social media channels.