Wheaton takes away liquor license of Romano's Macaroni Grill

WHEATON – The Wheaton City Council has taken away the liquor license of Romano's Macaroni Grill, 21 Blanchard Circle, because of delays experienced in reopening the restaurant following a fire in early 2016.

At its Sept. 5 meeting, the City Council voted to reduce the number of liquor licenses in the city. Macaroni Grill's license has been declared forfeited because of delays experienced in reopening the restaurant following a structure fire in January 2016.

Wheaton City Manager Michael Dzugan said the city has not heard from the restaurant chain recently about what it plans to do with the building. During his State of the City address on Jan. 19, 2017, Wheaton Mayor Michael Gresk had announced that Macaroni Grill was set to reopen in four weeks' time.

Macaroni Grill has another restaurant at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, according to its website. The fire at the Wheaton restaurant occurred about 2:45 p.m. Jan. 11, and it took firefighters 20 minutes to put out the blaze, which was confined to the kitchen and associated roof area.

Everyone in the restaurant was able to safely exit the building, but a firefighter on the scene received a minor weather-related injury and was treated, then released from a local hospital.