A fast-casual restaurant known for its tasty cheesesteaks and nostalgic vibes is in the midst of a transitional period in the Lehigh Valley.
The Allentown location of Wiz Kidz, a 1980s- and ’90s-themed restaurant offering cheesesteaks, fries, pierogies and more, permanently closed in December at 751 Union Blvd., while the business’ original Bethlehem location is temporarily closed at 65 E. Elizabeth Ave., co-owner Mo Taylor told 69 News.
Wiz Kidz’s original location is pictured on East Elizabeth Avenue in Bethlehem.
Ryan Kneller
“We’ve been working over the last six months on restructuring the ownership and things of that nature, and we just ultimately decided that that [Allentown] location was one that we were not going to continue,” Taylor said.
Taylor and his partners – Cristian Duarte, Jerry Straub and Matt Weaver – opened the first Wiz Kidz location in 2018 at 65 E. Elizabeth Ave. in Bethlehem.
The former Allentown location opened in July and represented a strategic shift for Wiz Kidz, which closed its 3.5-year-old location on Freemansburg Avenue in Bethlehem Township in April to expand operations in the western portion of the Lehigh Valley.
The former Freemansburg Avenue location and the business’ original location on Elizabeth Avenue in Bethlehem operated about five miles away from each other, and the partners noticed a lot of overlap in terms of delivery orders, Taylor said.
The goal in opening the Allentown location was to serve more people throughout the Lehigh Valley, Taylor added.
Wiz Kidz’s former Allentown location is pictured at 751 Union Blvd.
Ryan Kneller
The future of Wiz Kidz’s original Bethlehem location is uncertain as the restructuring of the business’ ownership continues to play out.
“We definitely want to continue that [Bethlehem] location,” Taylor said. “It’s really going to depend on ownership and management and what the structure is going to look like.”
Taylor also noted that there are possibilities that the Bethlehem Wiz Kidz location could reopen under a different owner or ownership group or that it could not reopen at all.
If the Bethlehem eatery does reopen, it will likely be within the next few weeks, Taylor said.
Updates will be shared on the business’ social media pages, Taylor added.
Wiz Kidz
“We’re kind of in the middle of a holding pattern, but the one thing that I would say is regardless of what way things go, gift cards – whether they’re branded Wiz Kidz or The Bayou – can be redeemed at The Bayou,” Taylor said.
Taylor and his partners have operated as the Bayou Boys Hospitality Group, with the name stemming from their nearly 12-year-old restaurant, The Bayou, serving a unique “blend of traditional Southern flavors and modern American cooking” on Hawthorne Road in Bethlehem.
A second location of The Bayou opened in 2017 at 64 Centre Square in downtown Easton, but the partners decided to close that location in 2024.
Previously, the partners ran two additional full-service restaurants in downtown Allentown – Grain, which closed in 2018 after nearly three years of business; and Queen City BBQ, which closed in 2020 after a little more than three years of business.
Wiz Kidz
The partners also started the Bayou Boys Pierogies company in 2020 and have been making the pierogies at the Union Boulevard location in Allentown since 2021, Taylor said.
Wiz Kidz is known for its flavor-packed beef and chicken cheesesteaks in popular varieties such as The 610 (house-made marinara, pickles and signature cheese blend), Judgement Day (house-made pepper relish and signature cheese blend, topped with hot peppers) and Soprano (balsamic marinated tomatoes, house-made garlic aioli, Cooper and American cheese and spring mix, topped with Parm-Romano cheese).
Other menu highlights include specialty fries, pierogies and fry and pierogie bowls (choice of cheesesteak over fries or Bayou Boys Pierogies).