Italian food, hookah and dancing: Unique new Old Town bar and restaurant opens today

Back in September, partners Hussein Alkasasy, Raed Mansour and Ehab Mansour announced that they were taking over the former The Bullpen and Keys Dueling Piano Bar at 222 N. Washington and opening a new restaurant and club called 6 Degrees Wichita.

Back then, they weren’t ready to share all the details of their new business, but now — as they prepare for today’s “soft opening,” — they are.

Alkasasy, who also runs Heroes Sports Bar & Grill with his partners, said that the 10,000 square-foot-space will remain separated into two parts. The north side of the business, which previously held The Bullpen (and Joe’s Old Town Bar & Grill before that) will be home to a restaurant and a nightclub.

The partners have decided on Italian food for the restaurant, and Alkasasy said they’ll serve fresh, made-from-scratch dishes like pasta, subs and pizza. Food will be served daily from 11 a.m. to midnight.

But the restaurant and club will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. Starting at 10 p.m. each night, it will turn into a 21-and-over nightclub playing top-40 dance hits and techno music — but not hip-hop like at Heroes.

The south side of the business, which previously held Keys, will now be a hookah lounge, Alkasasy said. It will be open to people ages 18 and over, and it will sell fruit-flavored hookah for customers to smoke. The Hookah lounge won’t have alcohol but it will also serve food, he said.

6 Degrees Wichita also has a big patio with a heating system and a canopy covering much of it.

The soft opening for the business is today, then the grand opening will be on Friday.

For more information, call 316-201-1335 or visit www.facebook.com/sixdegreeswichita.