Wahoo’s Fish Taco has closed its Boca Park location at 1000 S. Rampart Blvd., Suite 21, shutting the doors on a Las Vegas Valley outpost that had served customers for almost 15 years. The Southern California-born chain shuttered the store in late July, leaving five other valley and Henderson locations still slinging tacos and burritos to loyal regulars.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, an Instagram post from Wahoos Las Vegas indicated that the Boca Park lease had ended, and the company said it was grateful to guests who had supported the location over the years. The Boca Park store originally opened in March 2012, meaning it operated for roughly 14 years before closing. Wahoo’s now has six Las Vegas Valley locations, down to five after the Boca Park closure, including stores at West Sunset Road, West Horizon Ridge Parkway in Henderson, Centennial Hills, West Flamingo Road near the Palms, and South Eastern Avenue in Henderson.
A Familiar Pattern at the Shopping Center
The Wahoo’s closure adds to a string of recent tenant departures at the shopping center, part of what appears to be a broader wave of turnover at the western Las Vegas retail hub. Longtime coffee shop Sambalatte also announced it would vacate its Boca Park space after failing to reach a lease renewal agreement, closing after 16 years at the center. Meanwhile, Italian restaurant Ciao Vino abruptly closed its Boca Park location in February, less than two years after opening in September 2024, despite having been named to the Review-Journal’s Top 100 restaurants list in 2025.
Fashion Village at Boca Park, where these businesses operated, is a 138,000-square-foot lifestyle center along South Rampart Boulevard near Summerlin anchored by national tenants like REI and The Cheesecake Factory, according to PropertyShark. The property was acquired in September 2022 for $36.1 million, or $259 per square foot, at a time when Las Vegas retail real estate sales volume reached $3.68 billion, per MDL Group. High commercial valuations in the Summerlin area have coincided with lease expirations pushing out several long-tenured tenants in recent months.
From Costa Mesa Surf Culture to the Nevada Desert
Wahoo’s Fish Taco traces its roots to Costa Mesa, California, where three brothers, Wing Lam, Ed Lee, and Mingo Lee, launched the chain in 1988, drawing on their family’s Chinese-Brazilian restaurant background to create a surf-culture-inspired eatery, according to PBS SoCal. The brand’s menu built its identity around charbroiled fish, brown rice, and lard-free Brazilian black beans inspired by Baja California surf trips, a departure from the deep-fried fish and lard-based beans common at traditional fast-food Mexican chains, per Voyage LA. Wahoo’s menu today spans tacos, enchiladas, sandwiches, burritos and bowls, with protein choices including tofu, crisp fish, chicken breast and carnitas, plus premium options like shrimp, salmon, wild-caught fish and carne asada. The menu also features a banzai vegetable mix of bell peppers, onions, zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms and cabbage sautéed in teriyaki sauce…