'People love it': Bartlett restaurants find adding live music to outdoor dining spaces is paying off
The long wooden bar.
The friendly "Cheers"-like atmosphere.
The tasty pub fare.
Those are a few of the pillars upon which O'Hare's Pub in downtown Bartlett has built its reputation.
Live music? Not so much - until now.
"We're a neighborhood bar. We want to talk," owner Peggy O'Hare Vance said. "We like it that way."
The Irish-themed sports pub at 207 S. Main St. has hosted live music on St. Patrick's Day weekend in a tent set up in the rear parking lot. They've also tried live music on New Year's Day. Those were the rare exceptions until COVID-19 came along and changed the nearly four-year-old establishment's approach to live music.
Like nearby Bartlett restaurants Pasta Mia and One Taco, Dos Tequilas, O'Hare's Pub opened for outdoor dining in late May. Each restaurant has since added live music to entertain a burgeoning outdoor clientele.
The entertainment has been well-received, according to O'Hare Vance, whose pub will host outdoor live music every Saturday night through the end of September.
"Music outside, that's summertime, right? Everybody loves it," she said. "There was some rain the other day. Nobody cared. Nobody even left. It didn't matter. It was still nice."
O'Hare's has added five staff members above pre-pandemic levels due to the popularity of the 60-plus seat dining area, which used to be the front parking lot. Two recently purchased tents and multiple tables with umbrellas shield diners from the elements.
It's a similar story around the corner at Pasta Mia, owned by Pete Caruso's family since 1988. The pizza/pasta eatery located at 116 Bartlett Plaza added an outdoor patio last August. That outdoor dining area got much bigger this May when the village gave the OK to erect a large tent.
Pasta Mia's al fresco diners in June were treated to live music on Friday nights by the likes of Anthony Cassano and Downtown Charlie Brown. Beth Haines performs on Friday, July 17 and Sam Savage on Friday, July 24.
"Every time I have outdoor entertainment it's reservation-only and it's full," said Caruso, whose pre-pandemic plan was to host live music indoors in the bar area every other Friday. "We stumbled into it. The only reason I did it is because I couldn't put people inside. But now I put the bands outside and the people love it."
What will Pasta Mia look like next summer if restaurants are able to revert to pre-pandemic ways?
"Next year, if there's a vaccine and everything's good to go, I still want to have the tent," Caruso said. "What's nice is it's almost connected right to the front of my building."
One Taco, Dos Tequilas, located across Bartlett Plaza from Pasta Mia at 274 E. Devon Ave., is not the first restaurant opened by co-owners Alfredo Rangel and Heriberto Gomez. They co-own Sammy's Mexican Grill in Roselle and Elgin, among others.
However, this is the first time the partners launched a restaurant during a statewide stay-at-home order. The kitchen opened for takeout orders a week before Cinco de Mayo.
"We were surprised at all the people calling," Rangel said. "The response has been good. We've had really good business during the pandemic. We are surprised, but we are happy, you know? People like it."
Rangel said the original plan was to host live music indoors every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Instead, the music has been shifted outside to a tent in the parking lot.
Rather than have live music be the focus of the outdoor dining area, One Taco, Dos Tequilas offers light entertainment so patrons can eat, relax and enjoy conversations. Rotating entertainers include a mariachi band, a female vocalist and a male guitarist, among others.
"The mariachis don't play right next to the people," Rangel said. "People like it. They put it on Facebook. People have responded really well. There has been a really good response from the neighborhood. Sometimes people are waiting for a seat."