A restaurant serving Caribbean cuisine is ready to fill an empty space at one of the entrances to the Louis Joliet Mall.

The El Flamingo Bar & Grill has signs reading “coming soon: Caribbean food” on the doors just inside the mall entrance located near the JC Penney store.

The Joliet City Council on Tuesday approved a liquor license for the restaurant.

Owner Rafael Pellot told The Herald-News after the vote that he hoped to have the restaurant open in early November.

Peliot, who lives in Shorewood, said the menu will feature “good Caribbean food,” and entertainment will include Latin jazz music.

City officials made positive comments about the prospective restaurant at a workshop meeting Monday while going over the liquor license request and other matters on the agenda for Tuesday.

Council member Larry Hug, whose district includes the Louis Joliet Mall, said before the Tuesday vote that the restaurant “is going to be a nice addition to the mall. Anything new to the mall is good.”

The space was last occupied by Cajun Boil and Bar, which was shut down in December 2022 by former Mayor Bob O’Dekirk for repeatedly staging live entertainment without a license.

The entertainment included live dancers on the bar, O’Dekirk said at the time.

The mayor also serves as the city’s liquor commissioner.

Mayor Terry D’Arcy recommended approval of the liquor license for El Flamingo.

No one objected to the liquor license at a public hearing held Sept. 30 for El Flamingo.

“[The] Joliet Police Department does not foresee any special law enforcement problems associated with the issuance of this liquor license,” according to the liquor commission report.