Overland Park’s Llywelyn’s Pub will open a Lee’s Summit location

The owners of Overland Park’s Llywelyn’s Pub are expanding.

Jason and Jessica Dalton have purchased a 20,000-square-foot building in the heart of downtown Lee’s Summit, a building with four tenants and a large empty restaurant space that formerly held Maxwell’s Grill. They plan to open a Llywelyn’s Pub in the restaurant space, at 301 S.E. Douglas St., on Feb. 24 after a complete remodeling.

“We love the whole downtown Lee’s Summit atmosphere,” said Jason Dalton.

The chain was founded in St. Louis in 1975 and there are now six locations in the St. Louis area. At first it served mostly Welsh fare, but it later added Irish and Scottish items. The Overland Park location opened at 6995 W. 151st St. in 2007. The Daltons purchased it three years ago with plans to add more area locations.

Menu items include Irish Potato Boxty (a traditional Irish potato pancake pan-seared and topped with cheddar, green onions, bacon crumbles and drizzled with sour cream), Guinness steak (steak braised in Guinness stout), fish and chips, pulled pork sandwiches, flatbreads, Cobb salad, white chili, tilapia po’boys, buffalo chicken wrap and turkey cheddar melts.

Other Lee’s Summit updates

▪ 810 Zone has temporarily closed in SummitWoods Crossing at 1672 N.W. Chipman Road for a remodeling and more. The owners expect to reopen before March Madness with a new look, a new menu featuring barbecue and other changes. It opened in 2012.

▪ The 3,340-square-foot former Bonchon chicken space is still available in SummitWoods Crossing, 1740 N.W. Chipman Road. The fast casual chain opened in mid-2015 and the area franchisee planned as many as five locations in the Kansas City market. But it closed in late 2015.

“It wasn’t really working out for us. We weren’t getting the traffic and market share that we planned in that center,” said Tom Hughes, managing partner for Butcher Block Concepts LLC.

Plans for future area Bonchon restaurants are on hold, he said.

Officials with SummitWoods Crossing declined to comment on the Bonchon closing.

▪ Freebirds World Burrito has closed in Summit Fair, 860 N.W. Blue Parkway. It opened in late 2012.

The area locations had been owned by a franchisee but are now corporate-owned, according to company officials.

In a statement, a company spokeswoman said: “It’s never an easy decision for Freebirds to close a restaurant and they apologize for the inconvenience.

Freebirds has area locations in Mission, Overland Park and Westport.

▪ Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt plans a late February/early March opening in SummitWoods Crossing, 1802 N.W. Chipman Road.

▪ Jimmy John’s opened at 3680 N.E. Akin Drive in mid-December.

▪ Luxxe Apparel, a locally owned women’s trendy clothing boutique, recently opened at 313 S.E. Douglas in downtown Lee’s Summit.

This story was originally published January 22, 2016 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Overland Park’s Llywelyn’s Pub will open a Lee’s Summit location."