Suburban Chinese Pioneer Dragon Inn North Closes Tonight After 54 Years

The final meal at the Dragon Inn North will be served tonight in suburban Glenview ending a 54-year run at two locations. The owner, Jeanette Sih, announced it was time to retire after her mother opened the restaurant at its original location in 1964 in south suburban Glenwood. A decade later, the restaurant moved to the North Shore in its current space in Glenview at 1650 Waukegan Road where it remained for the last 44 years.

The restaurant was a pioneer as one of the area’s first Mandarin restaurants, according to Glenview Patch. It was listed for sale back in January. Sih informed customers with a placard affixed to the menu. It read, in part, “Thank you for your friendship and loyal support. It is hard to say goodbye. On behalf of the entire family at The Dragon Inn North you will always be in our hearts.”

This week the restaurant’s Facebook page was lit with goodbye messages. They mentioned family gatherings and celebratory meals inside the building meant to look like a pagoda. There seems to be a shift in Chinese and Chinese-American food in Chicago and its suburbs. Won Kow, the city’s oldest Chinatown restaurant, closed in February after 90 years. After 65 years in suburban Lincolnwood, Kow Kow called it quits in 2015.