This downtown Wichita hotel hadn’t had a restaurant inside for years — but it does now

People who travel on Kellogg past downtown Wichita have been passing the massive hotel building that sits on the south side of the highway every day for the past 51 years.

Built as a Ramada Inn in 1972, the hotel now operates as a Wyndham Garden Inn. And though the hotel has been home to various restaurants over the decades, it hasn’t had one for some time.

But when Nujahat Momin took over operating the hotel in January, she decided she wanted to change that. She recently opened a new restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel: a full-service Indian eatery called Rajwadi Pointe. And she has another restaurant — a bar and grill she’ll call Amelia’s — planned for an adjoining space.

Momin said that when she took the hotel over, she looked around and realized that Wichita didn’t have many Indian restaurants, especially in the downtown area. The hotel has a kitchen, and when it first opened, it would serve brunch and holiday buffets from the space.

Rajwadi Pointe is set up on the main floor beyond the lobby. The restaurant, which is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, has seating in an area also used for hotel breakfast service. It does not serve alcohol.

Eventually, Momin says, she plans to open Amelia’s Grill and Bar in a separate dining area next to Rajwadi Pointe. Though she doesn’t have a timeline for opening Amelia’s, which will serve American and Italian fare, it briefly operated in September.

“It’s out of service right now,” she said. “We are just focusing on the Indian restaurant.”

Momin said that Rajwadi Pointe has been open for about a month, but so far, it hasn’t been too busy. She’s trying to get the word out that a restaurant is operating in the hotel again.

It previously offered a buffet but now serves a full menu of Indian specialties, including samosas, Indian soups, dosa, biryani, curry dishes and flat bread. One of the most popular dishes so far, she said, has been the restaurant’s chicken tikka masala.

The hotel has operated as a Wyndham Garden Inn since around 2015. In the past, it’s also been a Holiday Inn, a Family Inn, a La Quinta Inn, a Days Inn and a Roadway Inn.

Rajwadi Pointe menu