Two new Wichita restaurants opened over the weekend, but two others need a little longer
Wichita has been waiting for a while for three new Mexican and one new Vietnamese restaurants to open.
Now, two have — but the other two need a little more time.
Over the weekend, El Viejito at 4722 S. Broadway and Pho Cao at 9203 W. Central both opened. El Viejito is a Mexican restaurant that operated at 5518 W. Central from February until it closed in December so owners could move the business to the former La Fiesta space on South Broadway. The new, larger restaurant will allow space to book parties, and the owners also plan to add beer to the menu. Its hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays.
West Central also got a new restaurant over the weekend. On Sunday, a local family opened Pho Cao in the former Charng-An space at 9203 W. Central. The new restaurant serves Vietnamese cuisine, including lots of pho, and has table-side service. Though the building has a drive-through, the new owners aren’t using it. Pho Cao will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. through Sunday. After that, owners will decide which day during the week they’ll close. Charng-An had operated in the space for 20 years before recently closing.
It’ll be a couple of more weeks for two other anticipated restaurants, though.
The owner of Peurto Vallarta Mexican Restaurant, a new business taking over the former Charlie’s Pizza Taco and Pedro’s Express space near Central and Tyler, had hoped to have the restaurant open by now. But Pedro Guevara found out when construction started that he’d have to install new hoods, which slowed him down. He now says he hopes to have his restaurant, which will have table-side service and a full menu of made-from-scratch Mexican dishes, open during the first week of February.
Also, Las Islas Marias, a Mexican seafood restaurant that has been under construction for months in the former Neighbors Bar & Grill space at Twin Lakes Shopping Center, 21st and Amidon, finally looks finished and is advertising for staff, but it will be a couple of more weeks until it opens, an employee said. The restaurant, which has several locations in California, has also had one at 7516 State Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, for the last four and a half years. The Kansas City menu lists crab legs, shrimp dishes and molcajetes. On Tuesday morning, the Kansas City restaurant’s Facebook page included a post promising that an official page for the Wichita restaurant was coming soon.
Stay tuned for updates on the two yet-to-open restaurants.
This story was originally published January 22, 2019 at 10:43 AM.
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