Two new restaurants — one featuring a revolving sushi bar and the other serving fast, casual Indian fare — could be coming to Naperville.
A proposal for a new four-unit retail strip center in which both would be located near H Mart grocery store at Ogden Avenue and Naperville-Wheaton Road is headed to the Naperville City Council for approval.
Developer Sean Devine of Norcor Naperville Associates said he’s received commitments from Kura Sushi, known for its revolving sushi bar, and Indian street food purveyor Naansense.
Kura Sushi, which has restaurants across Japan and the United States, has one Illinois location in Schaumburg and plans to expand to Naperville and Oak Brook.
Naansense was started in Chicago, and its business partners Hiran Patel and Viral Patel are looking to launch restaurants in Naperville and Oak Brook as well.
City staff raised questions about the proposed drive-thru window for Kura Sushi because it allows only enough space for three cars to wait. Naperville ordinances require restaurants to maintain space for 12 cars within the drive-thru lane.
Devine, when speaking before the Planning and Zoning Commission last month, said the window is for customers picking up orders already placed. No ordering or monetary transactions will be handled at the window, he said.
The window was requested in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic when only carryout orders were allowed at restaurants, he said.
Most people will want to visit the restaurant for the experience of selecting food off the revolving conveyor belt or being served by robots, Devine said.
Because the window trend is fairly new for Kura Sushi, the restaurant chain doesn’t have metrics on how often customers prepay and use the window for pickup service, he said. The restaurant estimates 5% to 10% of its business is carryout.
The commission recommended the City Council approve the plans with the stipulation that the drive-thru window be granted only for Kura Sushi.
Any future restaurants there would require city approval before the drive-thru could be used.
Hiran Patel said his restaurant initially will serve a menu similar to their downtown location. However, because they don’t have to rely completely on the lunch crowd as they do in Chicago, they’ll be able to expand into dinner service, he said.
The restaurant will have a grill, and they’ll serve whole and half tandoori chicken.
The suburban locations will be much bigger, with lots of seating, Patel said, and they’ll also have a small beverage program with cocktails, like sugar-cane mojitos and perhaps a Naansense beer.
No information was provided on the strip center’s other two tenants.
baiduhai’s Nick Kindelsperger contributed.