More Bad News At Will County's New $215 Million Courthouse

JOLIET — In January, large chunks of stone from the fifth floor of the new $215 million Will County Courthouse began falling off the building. There are now contractors on the site making significant repairs to the exterior stone of the facade. But the falling apart courthouse is not the only sign of bad news at the Will County taxpayers' ten-story building that opened in October 2020.

Blissful Bytes at Side Bar Cafe, the breakfast and lunch restaurant on the fifth floor of the courthouse, is no longer open. Everything was cleared out of the kitchen and the three mini markets on Monday.

Two signs are posted in front of the kitchen advising people the "KITCHEN CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE."

Mike Theodore, director of communications for Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, notified Joliet Patch that as far as the closure is concerned, the owner decided not to renew his contract. As for what’s next, Theodore said that the Will County Facilities Department is looking into various options for the future of the space.

In light of the shutdown of Blissful Bytes, the fifth-floor courthouse café is now reduced to a total of three vending machines.

One vending machine carries 7-Up products, including Dr. Pepper and Pepsi. Another vending machine carries candy bars and tiny snack-sized bags of Frito-Lay products. The third and final vending machine carries a mixture of 7-Up products as well as fruit juices, frozen coffees and Monster energy drinks.

And that's it.

One year ago, in February 2024, Joliet Patch published a story about the addition of Blissful Bytes to the Will County Courthouse.

According to the news story, "One of the notable features of Joliet's new $215 million Will County Courthouse that opened in November 2020 was the addition of the Sidebar Café. The café was built on the fifth floor of the 10-story courthouse. Starting this year, Sidebar Café no longer operates. Instead, Will County government chose Jonathon Skinner, the proud military veteran owner-chef of Blissful Bytes, to take over the courthouse restaurant."

One of the biggest changes from Sidebar Cafe to Blissful Bytes entailed the grab and go wall.

Skinner told Patch at the time of his opening that he wants the grab-and-go wall to avoid "food waste." Most importantly, he wants Blissful Bytes to be known for its "quality food and timing of our service."

Skinner said he realized the hundreds of employees who work inside the Will County Courthouse only have so much time for taking a lunch break.

"We understand everyone's lunch periods vary from 30 minutes to an hour," he said. "Regardless of that, you have to give everyone enough time to get your food. I kept a similar menu, for the most part. If it's not broke, don't fix it."

2024 Patch story:

Blissful Bytes: Joliet's New Restaurant Opens On 5th Floor Of Building