Vegas waited years for this Hawaiian restaurant. Now, location No. 2 is on the way

Zippy’s, the beloved Hawaiian diner chain that created yearslong anticipation over its debut in Las Vegas — and hourslong waits for malasadas and chili over rice on opening day last October — announced Thursday it would be opening a second store in Vegas.

The announcement came one year to the day after Zippy’s launched at 7095 Badura Ave., in the southwest, with the Zippy’s CEO, Hawaiian dancers, members of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, a Hawaiian priest and folks arriving in the wee hours to score a place in line. The Badura shop is the first Zippy’s to open outside Hawaii.

The new Zippy’s is set to begin service in early 2025 at 4590 S. Hualapai Way, in the Summerlin South area, the announcement said. Zippy’s is hiring cooks, utility workers, hosts, servers, bussers, cashiers, assistant managers and general managers for the new restaurant.

In 2018, the Zippy’s chain revealed it was planning its first mainland restaurant for Vegas, with a debut sometime in 2020. The pandemic interrupted construction, which resumed in summer 2022, at the corner of Badura Avenue and Montessouri Street.

Since opening a year ago, the Badura Zippy’s has offered frequent specials and added menu items that weren’t available at opening.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.