The Hungry Heart Gastro Pub and Brewery Review (CLOSED)

Welcome to The Hungry Heart!

Update: The Hungry Heart is closed for business

For someone that stays somewhat in tune with new places to eat in Wichita, I did not know that the Hungry Heart has been open since December. I must have been either living under a rock or so caught up in Shocker basketball the previous four months.

They are located at 222 S Commerce Street in the downtown area right next door to the south entrance of Intrust Bank Arena. Their hours are Tuesday-Wednesday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm. Thursday-Saturday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm and closed on Sunday and Monday.
Their Website.

What is Hungry Heart? They are a gastro pub that features in eclectic menu of all sorts of options to choose from. When I say eclectic, I mean it.

In speaking with one of the owners, we were told he originally wanted to open a BBQ restaurant but then started coming up with other creations that he decided just to focus on good food instead of one specific genre. Personally, I can’t hate that idea. A place who’s genre is essentially, “Really Good Food” is OK by me.

The Hungry Heart is also a brewery. When we arrived they didn’t have their brewery ready and expect to have that up in about a month’s time when everything they need to get it going arrives. Besides serving craft beers, they also specialize in really good whiskeys in bourbons if that is your thing.

A group of us came in during the week to check it out, have a few drinks, hopefully try some good food and give me a reason to blog about another restaurant.

The Hungry Heart took over the former Jetty’s Pizza and is also next door to Lou’s Charcuteria and Bar. I never did make it out to Jetty’s Pizza, so this was my first time in the building. Inside the place is very cool looking. They feature a bar downstairs and seating upstairs with a bar that they plan to use. The whole place looked very sleek. I was a big fan of the setting.

To start off our dining experience, we had the party portion Ahi Wonton Nachos as appetizers to go along with our vodka seven’s. It essentially looked like a big lettuce wrap filled with tuna accompanied by chips to dip with. Due to the size of the chips, it was hard to dip in to get tuna even after breaking the chips. They weren’t conducive to grabbing food. At time, we would need a fork or multiple other chips to get the tuna. We weren’t so much a fan of the actual chips but the tuna…….. excellent. I found myself using a fork to get the tuna and just eat it bare. As I sit here writing this blog, I’m still craving the tuna.

For dinner, I went with the Korean Short Ribs. My other friends went with the Smoked Tri-Tip, the Fish Tacos, the Pulled Pork Sandwich (two order them), and the JD’s Asian Wings.

What did we all think?

Korean Short Ribs – Fantastic. The short rib tips were amazing to just pick up by hand and eat the meat off like a chicken wing. There was a little fat on each of the tip but that did nothing but just add to the flavor. I’m biased towards steamed rice so it was like they were serving to my heart. Then add the homemade pickles which had an outstanding spicy kick to it. Loved every second of it. I highly recommend this if you’re stopping by.
The Fish Tacos – One of my buddies had these and he said they were really good. The tilapia looked to be cooked just right. The sriracha aioli on the corn tortilla was the perfect blend with the tilapia. Well done.
The Pulled Pork Sandwich – One of my friends literally said, “This is the best pulled pork sandwich I’ve ever had.” I was expecting him to finish the sandwich, drop the plate on the ground like a microphone and walk out of the building. One of my other friends who is a pretty picky eater and can be hard to please said he really liked his sandwich as well.
The Smoked Tri-Tip – My friend said he had never had smoked tr-tip served like that before. There’s a smoker in front of the Hungry Heart that smokes part of their menu out there everyday. The tri-tip was one of those items. He mentioned the tri-tip tasted a little dry but the bbq sauce on it was really good. He was also a fan of the parsnip mash.
JD’s Asian Wings – My friend ordered these and I was able to get one of the wings. We both felt they were tasty, good meat on the bone, the sauce was great and not overly salty. Only concern was he wish there was more wings for the $8 price tag.

By majority, the food was considered a success by our group. Usually when we go to bars or pubs, we are letdown by the food that is offered; all cheap, thrown into a fryer type of food that all taste the same. This is a stark difference at The Hungry Heart where they have a nice menu that covers nearly anything you could want.

The service was very helpful and answered literally every single question that we had. The owner also stopped by to thank us for coming and chatted with us about the Hungry Heart. It was a great talk and he seemed like a really cool guy.

We will go there again, that’s something I can guarantee. With the past demise of Walker’s and Jetty’s, we hope this area can strive and isn’t so dependent on The Intrust Bank Arena’s events that go on. There really is good food here and with the upcoming brewery that is just added incentive for people to come by.

Plenty of thumbs ups from us. Give this a try and let me know you think!

Happy Dining All!

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