New year brings two restaurant openings on North Maize Road

The new year is only a couple of days old, and North Maize Road’s restaurant population has already increased by two.

Over the weekend, a new eatery opened at 21st and Maize as did one several blocks north at 29th and Maize.

The new NewMarket Square restaurant is Tai Chi Bubble Tea, whose address is 2314 N. Maize Road, suite 101 (where Radio Shack and Simply Mac once operated.) It’s been in the midst of a soft opening for the past several days, and a few locals have reported stopping to sample the menu, which includes poke bowls, ramen soup, sushi burritos and boba tea.

Tai Chi Bubble Tea is part of a Rochester, New York, chain that has about 40 restaurants from coast to coast. Its hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Though it’s technically open now, the grand opening happens on Thursday. Check out the menu at www.taichibubbletea.com/menus

Also open — the long-awaited Popeyes at 29th and Maize Road that developer Mitesh Patel announced a year ago.

The restaurant, whose address is 3166 N. Maize Road, is in new construction just in front of the Sam’s Club and in between Dunkin’ and IHOP. It opened on Sunday with a sleek new design different from the other Popeyes in town. Its hours are 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

Patel, who along with his son, Sumit, owns the group Mid-CHKN LLC, signed a franchise agreement to build 14 restaurants in Kansas, and they plan more for Wichita. Mitesh Patel said this week that they’re working on other local locations but plan to build in Hutchinson next.

The Patels are not associated with the other longtime Popeyes in town, which are operated by franchisee Abdul Hamideh and his ARJH Popeyes. That company has the restaurants at 3131 N. Rock Road, 1623 S. Seneca, 4232 W. Central, 1350 N. Hillside and 1211 N. Broadway.

Back in November, I reported that the North Broadway Popeyes would close and move to the former Hardee’s building at 2053 N. Amidon. It closed on Sunday, and a company spokesman told the Community Voice that the restaurant will reopen in the new spot later this year.

This story was originally published January 2, 2024 at 11:56 AM.

Denise Neil

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6327

Denise Neil has covered restaurants and entertainment since 1997. Her Dining with Denise Facebook page is the go-to place for diners to get information about local restaurants. She’s a regular judge at local food competitions and speaks to groups all over Wichita about dining.