It took a full year, but east-side Wichita restaurant has finally expanded west

It took far longer than he expected, but Jesus Valencia has finally opened a west-side version of his El Agave Mexican Restaurant, which has operated on North Rock Road since 2011.

Last week, he opened the doors on his new space at 3540 N. Maize Road, which is in Fox Ridge Plaza (a few blocks north of HomeGrown.)

The sign had been up on the building for months and the interior had been completed. But Valencia was waiting and waiting (and waiting) on all the licensees he needed to open, he said. He finally decided to go ahead and open without his liquor license, but he said he expects to get it sometime this week.

Then he can start serving margaritas and the long list of tequilas he’s known for.

“We decided we had a lot of bills and were getting behind,” he said. “We had a lot of expenses.”

The restaurant has the same menu as the one on the east side and the same hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays.

The new El Agave is about the same size as the east-side restaurant, Valencia said, but it has nice new furniture. El Agave originally opened at 3320 N. Rock Road in 2011, then moved to 3236 N. Rock Road.

Valencia announced his west-side expansion last summer, and it took a full year to get it open.

“It took a lot longer than what we thought,” he said.

This story was originally published July 24, 2018 at 11:02 AM.