Lakeview restaurant broken into 3 times in 10 months

CHICAGO ( WGN ) — Thieves have again targeted a North Side-area restaurant.

For the third time in the past ten months, surveillance video captured suspects breaking into the 2D restaurant in the city’s Lakeview neighborhood.

Small business owner Kevin Yu runs the modern Asian cuisine restaurant with his wife.

“My wife was sleeping next to me. She heard [the alert] over the phone and started screaming, ‘Not again,'” Yu said.

In March, a group broke into the restaurant and stole $700 from the register. While the Yu’s no longer leave money in the register, the crooks made off with $80 in tip money this time.

“This is the third break-in. I got to dig a lot deeper. This is devastating for us,” Yu said.

Kevin emigrated from Taiwan about 20 years ago; his wife is from Vietnam. The Yu’s said opening the restaurant was their version of the American dream. Now, he’s not sure how much more of this they can take. It’s not worth claiming what happened on insurance.

“The door is going to cost us $1,200 to $1,500 out-of-pocket and we were still trying to replace one door and now another,” Yu said.

Police have not yet announced any arrests cornering all three break-ins.

“This is our second home. This is our American dream. Everything you see came from our personal checking account to open this place two years ago, trying to create a safe haven during the pandemic,” Yu said. “Now the word that keeps coming through my mind is violated. The space was violated three times in the past 10 months.”

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