Curry Up and Wok This Way Opens First Brick-and-Mortar on Waco Riverfront

WACO, Texas, May 29, 2026 — Curry Up and Wok This Way, a locally owned Thai restaurant with a devoted following in Waco's Union Hall food hall, is opening its first brick-and-mortar restaurant along the city's riverfront development on University Parks Drive, transforming a recent setback into a long-held ambition that owners Ning and Bang Garsee have spent years working toward.

The Garsees previously operated two Waco locations, one inside Union Hall Waco and a second at Union Grove in Woodway, until the Woodway location closed approximately two months ago. Rather than retreating, the couple used the closure as the moment to push toward the permanent, full-service restaurant they had always envisioned, signing on to a space along the riverfront corridor that gives Curry Up its most visible and accessible home yet.

The new restaurant is currently in the architectural planning phase, with the Garsees targeting an opening by the end of 2026. Curry Up and Wok This Way will continue operating at Union Hall Waco throughout the planning and construction period, maintaining service to its existing customer base while the new space takes shape.

What the New Curry Up and Wok This Way Restaurant Will Offer on University Parks Drive

The new location on University Parks Drive will feature outdoor seating, a full bar area, and a complete full-service Thai restaurant designed around the chic and elegant dining experience the Garsees associate with the restaurant culture of their Thai hometown. The concept represents a significant step up from the food hall format that introduced Curry Up to Waco, with a layout and atmosphere suited to longer, more considered dining visits rather than quick lunch service.

The owners said their goal is to bring the experience of dining at a Thai restaurant in Thailand, the presentation, the atmosphere, the quality of the cooking in a setting built for it, to a Waco audience that has responded enthusiastically to what they have delivered in a more constrained food hall environment.

"We are trying to bring a lot of stuff from our hometown, the way we have experienced a Thai restaurant, we want to bring it here," said Chef Bang Garsee, co-owner of Curry Up and Wok This Way.

For Chef Bang, the riverfront location fulfils a personal ambition that has driven the business from its earliest days in Waco's food hall scene.

"For me, I feel like this is a dream come true, because I've been wanting to do this for a long time," said Chef Bang Garsee, co-owner of Curry Up and Wok This Way.

Co-owner Ning Garsee described the opening of the riverfront location as an opportunity that emerged from difficult circumstances, the closure of the Woodway site, rather than a planned expansion.

"This is one of the doors that opened," said Ning Garsee, co-owner of Curry Up and Wok This Way.

Waco's Riverfront Development Gains a Local Restaurant Identity

The University Parks Drive riverfront corridor has been developing steadily as one of Waco's most active commercial and hospitality zones, benefiting from its proximity to the Brazos River, the growing residential and tourism infrastructure of downtown Waco, and the foot traffic generated by Baylor University's athletic facilities on the opposite bank. The addition of a locally owned restaurant with an established community following gives the development a rooted, neighbourhood-facing identity alongside the newer commercial tenants that have arrived as the area has grown.

Local residents who spoke with KXXV 25News expressed enthusiasm for both the restaurant and its location choice. One regular customer said the positioning along the riverfront made practical sense for the area's regular visitors.

"Whether they're going to a football game across the river or they're going to a basketball game, they can eat before or after, and it's going to be along the way," said Neil Cummings, a local customer.

Another customer placed the value of the new opening within the broader context of Waco's independent dining scene.

"I know the value of that as opposed to another chain restaurant, I'm excited to see them expand beyond their dreams," said Becca Stallings, a local customer.

Curry Up and Wok This Way's Path from Food Hall to Permanent Restaurant

The food hall model that Curry Up and Wok This Way used at Union Hall Waco gave the Garsees a relatively low-barrier path to building a customer base and testing their menu with a broad cross-section of Waco diners, a starting point that many independent restaurant operators in mid-sized American cities have used effectively in recent years as food hall developments have proliferated. The transition from food hall to brick-and-mortar is the natural progression for operators who have proven their concept and built the financial and operational foundation to support a full-scale restaurant.

For Curry Up, the University Parks Drive location on Waco's riverfront represents that next step, a permanent home where the full scope of what the Garsees want to deliver as restaurateurs, from the outdoor seating and bar programme to the elevated Thai dining experience they have spent years envisioning, can finally be realised in a space designed for the purpose.

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