Inka Kitchen moving to new location, expanding to serve more customers

CHAMBERSBURG - A local Peruvian restaurant is set to ring in the new year at a new home.

After four years at its current location, Inka Kitchen will move from 1228 Lincoln Way East to a building at 811 Wayne Ave. in the Wayne Plaza, according to Ernesto Santana, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Zully. 

The change will come with several upgrades, including outdoor seating, new inside decor and logo, more inside seating and a bigger kitchen to accommodate double the amount of the equipment in order to make food faster and handle more customers. In addition, there will also be some menu changes, but popular dishes like the rotisserie chicken and the lomo saltado, a steak sauteed in olive oil with onions and tomatoes, will still be available. 

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Moving also means better parking and easier access to the restaurant, Santana said. He added the current building can be problematic for customers, because they need to do two U-turns if they miss the entrance in order to get back to it. The new area also doesn't have the traffic congestion that is sometimes seen on Lincoln Way during lunch time. 

"If you have 30 minutes for lunch, you spend 20 in traffic," Santana continued. 

Work on the facility has already begun. So far, the owners have started to clean and paint, and are in the process of adding another hood to the kitchen. 

The two are hoping to open the new restaurant in February, Santana said, but in the meantime the current location will still be fully operational. Once it is ready, the old building will close down at the same time the new one opens. 

Santana discussed how he hopes Inka Kitchen's switch to Wayne Avenue will help other businesses near there, such as Montezuma Mexican restaurant, Mario's Italian restaurant, the Twin Dragon Chinese restaurant and the India Cafe. He also mentioned the plaza will be completely renovated and renamed, turning it into a "little destination in town." 

More:What's it like to eat at Square One in Chambersburg? We found out.

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"I love the India Cafe, and I don't think a lot of people have tried or even noticed that they're there," he continued. 

Santana also owns Square One, a Latin American restaurant on Memorial Square at 1 N. Main St..

For more information on the Inka Kitchen, visit its Facebook page at facebook.com/inkakitchenchambersburg/. 

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