'Isis Coney Island' Will Change Name To Disassociate With Terrorist Group
TAYLOR (WWJ) - Isis Coney Island — no connection to the terrorist group — will change its name.
The owner of the downriver diner is getting tired of all the comments about its moniker matching the acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has been all over the news in recent weeks.
Liz Nikollaj says that when she bought the Taylor restaurant last June it already had the name "Isis", after the ancient Egyptian goddess.
"It's an Egyptian theme inside the restaurant has the Egyptian goddess on it," Nikolla explained, in an interview with WWJ Newsradio 950's Sandra McNeil. "You know, everything here is Egyptian."
The restaurant's name went over just fine, until recently, when Nikollaj began getting some customer complaints.
"You know, just saying nasty things....inappropriate stuff," she said. "And they just say, you know, 'You need to change the name. That name is a terrorist name.'"
But no one, thus far, Nikollaj said, has accused her of supporting terrorism. "Of course not! It's a name. We serve food here; very good food."
Nikollaj said her regulars have been supportive.
"Most of them, they think it's ridiculous that we have to go through so many changes now, change everything," Nikollaj said. "We have to change the name; our freezer has an Isis logo on there. We have to paint the restaurant, possibly change the tables....Our tables actually are laminated — they have 'Isis Coney Island' on there."
Nikollaj said the name change will need to be approved. The process is going to be expensive, and will take a while.
"I can't do it all right now, can't afford it," Nikollaj said. "I don't think it's fair that we have to go through all these changes."
As for the new name, she's not revealing that just yet.
"It's going to be something nice," Nikollaj said. "Hopefully, it's going to be only our name."