Springdale Waffle Hut Under Renovation; To Reopen as Italian Restaurant

The Springdale building that previously housed a Waffle Hut restaurant at 2223 W. Sunset Ave. is undergoing a $300,000 renovation, and is set to open sometime early in the new year as an Italian restaurant.

John Carlos Maloku, doing business as Maloku Properties LLC, bought the 2,764-SF building in September for $225,000. He is currently in the process of gutting the interior and retrofitting the exterior.

Maloku, owner of Roma Italian Restaurant in Harrison, said his customers there told him that he would do well by opening a second restaurant in a bigger market.

“They told me to come to Springdale and I listened,” he said.

Maloku, a native of Sicily who moved to Northwest Arkansas from Boston about eight years ago, said he and his three brothers will operate the Springdale location as a family business. Maloku said he was raised around kitchens, as his father and grandfather both ran restaurants back in the Mediterranean homeland.

Maloku’s timing appears to be good. The most popular Italian restaurant in Springdale, Joe’s Pizza & Pasta at 4224 W. Sunset Ave., closed in January due to fire and will not reopen. Instead, a Starbucks is being developed at that location.