Waldo’s Chicken & Beer to open first Arkansas location in North Little Rock in March

Waldo’s Chicken & Beer is scheduled to open its first Arkansas location on March 15th, according to a news release from JTJ Restaurants LLC, the local restaurant group behind eight Tazikis in Arkansas, Petit & Keet, and Cypress Social.

The Waldo’s restaurant will be located at 4221 Warden Road in North Little Rock (formally Johnny Carino’s Italian Restaurant). The restaurant is seeking to hire 30-40 new employees for all positions in time for the grand opening next month.

The newly built restaurant seats up to 70 for indoor dining, with additional seating available at the full-service bar as well as a 650 sq. ft. outdoor patio.

Waldo’s first opened their doors in May of 2019 in the Germantown neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee and has since opened three other locations throughout Tennessee and Oklahoma. The popular fast-casual restaurant is known for making their entire menu from scratch, with their specialty being Southern-fried and fire-roasted chicken.

“We’re excited to finally bring Waldo’s to central Arkansas. With every restaurant concept, we make a commitment to set the bar for exceptional dining experiences by consistently elevating our standards both in service and food. We promise to keep this commitment as we expand this unique brand and we’re thrilled to share it with our community,” said Tommy Keet, President of JTJ Restaurants LLC.

This will be the 2nd Waldo’s location owned by the Keet Family. In 2020, JTJ Restaurants, along with partner Mike Pierce Jr., Mark Waldo, Dino Nithianandan, and Fresh Hospitality launched a location in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

JTJ Restaurants said the brand will continue to expand with plans of locations throughout the state of Arkansas and Oklahoma already in the works.