West Wichita restaurant will double its seating space with expansion project
If you drive past Maple Street Pizza Company at 119th and Maple in the coming days and see a backhoe ripping out the front patio, don’t be alarmed.
The restaurant is just fine, says owner Bryce Kuhn, and thanks to what that backhoe has started, it will soon be even better.
The destruction that customers will soon start seeing will, by year’s end, result in more seating inside the restaurant, especially for large parties. Crews are turning the restaurant’s existing front patio into a covered, all-weather dining space with seating for an additional 30 people.
Then, they’ll build a new patio in an area that now is taken up by three parking spaces and a planter box, Kuhn said.
The new enclosed space will be temperature controlled and fitted with sliding glass windows that will “let in that fresh-air feel in the spring and fall,” Kuhn said. If all goes well, it should be done by Jan. 1.
The new patio also will be poured by then but won’t be decorated or used for seating until the weather warms up.
The reason for the expansion, Kuhn said, is that the dining room is just too small: It seats between 24 and 30.
“I hate seeing people get turned away,” he said. “We get people who come in and want to entertain, and the dining room is not suited for larger groups. It’s not suited for high volume. So it’s become difficult.”
Though the project means that Maple Street will be without a patio for the rest of this fall, the payoff will be worth it, Kuhn said. The restaurant needs more year-round space.
“It’s a good and a bad thing,” he said of the expansion. “More seats mean more pressure on the kitchen. But we’re happy we can find a way to be better prepared.”
The restaurant will remain open throughout construction.
Kuhn and his wife, Toi — who also own Twelve Restaurant & Bar in the same strip center — opened Maple Street Pizza Co. in 2022. The restaurant operates in the space previously occupied by onetime sushi restaurant Kanai.
It serves pizzas with traditional and artisan toppings and has a full bar that serves sangria, wine, local and regional craft beer and craft cocktails.
This story was originally published October 7, 2025 at 2:46 PM.
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