Vacant Noodles & Company space at Towne East is about to get a new restaurant tenant
Noodles & Company quietly left Towne East Square late last year, and ever since, the restaurant space on the east-facing side of the mall has been vacant.
But it won’t be much longer.
By mid- to late November, a new restaurant should be opening in the space: Mary’s Pizza — a concept that got its start as a much smaller concept at Towne West Square.
Mary’s Pizza is owned by Sylvia Banuelos and her husband, Gabriel Duran, and it opened in the Towne West Square food court in March of 2020, said the couple’s daughter, Daniela Duran. It serves pizzas, calzones, stromboli, and pasta dishes like spaghetti and mac and cheese from a hot bar, where all the food is visible to customers.
Towne West isn’t as busy as the owners would like, though, their daughter said. When they got a chance to expand into their own larger restaurant at Towne East, they were happy to take it.
“It’s something that we decided to jump into,” Daniela Duran said. “It’s working out, and we’re very happy.”
When open, Mary’s Pizza at Towne East will serve the same menu as the west-side food court space. People will be able to order pizza by the slice or get whole pies to go. Mary’s Pizza makes classic pies like cheese, pepperoni, supreme and veggie as well as specialty pies like Hawaiian, Alfredo and four-cheese.
Customers at Towne East will order at the counter then take their food to one of the tables in the restaurant. Though the family doesn’t have to do much remodeling in the space, she said, they are looking at some cosmetic updates like new carpet.
Daniela Duran said her mother always wanted to have her own restaurant and that at the start of the pandemic she got the idea to serve pizza, which is Daniela’s favorite food.
“I love it,” she said. “I think it’s pretty good. I’ve tried other pizzas, but I think my mom’s is really good. She made her own recipe.”
The family hopes to keep the Towne West Mary’s Pizza open as well.
Noodles & Company originally opened in the mall in May of 2011 and quietly closed in late 2020, leaving just the Noodles & Company at 3300 N. Rock Road. The chain did confirm last month, though, that it will open another Noodles & Company at 3807 N. Maize Road, in the same strip center as the new location for Five Guys. The new Noodles & Company, which will be the first in the Kansas market to have a drive-up window, should be open before the end of the year.
This story was originally published October 11, 2021 at 1:23 PM.
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