For 25 years, Wichita has been crowding into the IHOP at Maple and Ridge Road — waiting for a seat inside the tiny lobby after searching for a parking spot in the tiny attached lot.
But the IHOP that’s operated in that building since the summer of 1999 will be there only a few more days. Owner Ali Issa said that the restaurant’s last day in its current building will be Sunday.
After that, his crew will start the move across the street that he first announced last fall . The IHOP, which was the first to open in Wichita when the chain announced plans to expand into Kansas, will reopen in a bigger, brand-new space at 526 S. Ridge Road. Issa said it should be ready to go on Thursday, Aug. 22 or Friday, Aug. 23.
“It’s only taking us three days to get the place set up,” Issa said.
People who frequent the busy area at Maple and Ridge, which over the past decade has grown into a west-side restaurant row , have seen the new IHOP building going up over the past several months. It sits just south of Rib Crib.