Downtown restaurant now for lease, though there’s a slight chance it may reopen
.jpg "There’s still a slight chance Jinya Ramen Bar may reopen downtown, but more likely, another restaurant will take its spot.")
As she waits to see what happens with her lawsuits against the city, downtown developer Sudha Tokala has put her former Jinya Ramen Bar space on the market.
“We are thinking of just leasing it to another tenant,” Tokala said.
It was this time last year that Tokala followed through on her threat to close the restaurant over a parking dispute with the city. She has since filed lawsuits against the city over what downtown parking spots are hers and when she can use them.
Jinya, a national franchise that Tokala opened in April 2023, is in the former Henry’s building at William and Broadway that’s now WSU Tech’s National Institute for Culinary and Hospitality Education, or NICHE.
On its website, the restaurant still is listed as temporarily closed.
Tokala said she’d still like to reopen the restaurant, but if the parking disputes continue, it’s a matter of timing. If she can find someone to lease the space before settling the disputes, she said that’s what she’ll do.
Some others have shown interest in the Jinya spot, Tokala said, but she said they, too, have parking concerns.
Tokala said she is not interested in reopening the ramen bar elsewhere in Wichita.
“It’s just a lot of investment to open any of these franchise restaurants.”
