Capri Restaurant says opening of carryout service in Loves Park is less than 2 months away

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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LOVES PARK — The exterior of Capri Restaurant’s future carryout space is covered with yellow sheathing board today, but in the coming weeks you’ll start to see a familiar facade take shape.

The owners of the Italian restaurant, which has been a staple in Rockford for more than six decades, say they’re now less than two months away from opening the new carryout service at 6480 E. Riverside Blvd. in Loves Park. Fans of the pizza and other Italian cuisine have been without Capri since a fire damaged its Rockford location in October 2022.

Related: Why Capri decided to relocate to Loves Park, and how Rockford tried to convince them to stay

Renovations of the former Shell gas station and convenience store are expected to be complete by early August, with an opening date set sometime in the first couple weeks of that month depending on final inspections.

“I feel really good about this date. We’re well into the schedule that they’ve had for a couple of months now,” said Vito Grisanzio Jr., one of the owners of Capri. “It really does look like there shouldn’t be any real big roadblocks.”

Capri purchased the former gas station in late November with a multiphase plan to start carryout service, then a sit-down restaurant and finally additional retail space.

Capri plans to build a 2,200-square-foot addition next to the carryout kitchen to serve as its main dining space. An additional 2,000-square-foot outdoor seating space will also be added. The groundwork is set for that construction to begin immediately after the carryout space is finished, and it could be done in time for sit-down restaurant service by late fall, Grisanzio Jr. said.

He said it has been rewarding for the Grisanzio family, which founded Capri at 313 E. State St. in downtown in 1963, to hear customers have remained eager for an opening throughout the ups and downs of the construction process.

“Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it’s moving, even though it is behind the scenes,” he said. “It makes you feel good that people are still asking about it, there’s still excitement even though it’s been drawn on.”

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The 3,000-square-foot structure being remodeled for carryout service will have a textured look that’s similar yet smoother than the downtown location’s signature stucco. The restaurant will use External Insulation Finishing Systems, or EIFS, a type of synthetic stucco which is intended to be more durable with less maintenance.

“We’re trying to work the old in with the new. So it’s still a Capri feel, but newer,” Grisanzio Jr. said. “We have some cool new things that we have, too. I’m going to leave some of that stuff as a little bit of a surprise.”

The space will have carryout service and delivery through apps such as DoorDash and Uber Eats.

When the sit-down restaurant is built in the fall, a familiar sign that graces the downtown Rockford location will have a new home.

“On the new building we will use one of the old (signs) from downtown, possibly both of them,” Grisanzio Jr. said.

The restaurant was founded by Grisanzio’s father, Vito Sr., and his uncle Domenic after they moved to Rockford from southern Italy.

The restaurant is relocating after a fire on Oct. 27, 2022, damaged the downtown property.

The future of the downtown Rockford property has not yet been decided, but one option is for it to serve as a venue and event space.

The family will revisit what to do with the Rockford location after it completes its work to open in Loves Park.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas