Whataburger and Parry’s Pizza

The popular Texas-based Whataburger fast-food chain opened in Corpus Christi in 1950 and now has upwards of 1,000 locations in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and the South. It opened its first outpost in Nevada, its 15th state, in early February on the Strip in front of the Waldorf Astoria at City Center in the space formerly occupied by Bobby’s Burger Palace, though the two-story building is new.

Actually, several Whataburgers opened around Las Vegas starting in the 1970s, but slowly disappeared and were completely gone by the early ’90s.

The two-story restaurant also houses Parry’s Pizzeria & Taphouse. Parry’s is a chain that launched in 2007 in Colorado and now boasts 23 locations in the Southwest. It serves NY-style slices from 14 pies, 10 styles of never-frozen wings cooked to order, strombolis, and “Italian nachos,” along with cocktails and more than 100 beers on tap, with several local breweries represented.

This is the ultimate late-night play; both outlets are open 24 hours, 365 days a year.

You walk into the big ground floor of the standalone building and order from both the Whataburger and Parry’s Pizza menus at the same counter, unique in our fast-food experience.

Two huge screens are above the ordering-serving wall, probably 25 feet across and eight feet high. Ten more screens fill the walls around the room, all broadcasting sporting events.

Directly across from the order counter is Parry’s downstairs bar, with its triple-digit taps.

On the second floor is another bar, also Parry’s — a little more subdued and, dare we say, classy. You can take your food upstairs or the bartenders will order for you if you’re drinking; it’s delivered by food runners.

The whole front wall and part of the north-side wall on the second floor are sliding-glass doors. Two regular in-swinging doors on either end of the two walls open up to the outside and there’s an L-shaped deck with tables and couches. The view directly across the Strip is of BLVD, the new shopping and entertainment complex replacing the Hawaiian Marketplace and Cable Shops. You really get a feel for how massive this place will be: three stories, with 700 feet of Strip frontage, 400,000 square feet of shopping, and a 110,000-square-foot dining and event rooftop. No opening date has been announced, but it’s making major progress and we suspect the developers are shooting for November 2024 in time for the second-annual F1 race.

Even if the sliders are closed (primarily when it’s windy), you can go out on the deck, sit on the couches, and have a bird’s-eye view of center Strip.

We were trying Whataburger for the first time (a first try of Parry’s pizza will have to wait for another visit). We were frankly surprised by the number of people eating and waiting in line to order.

Then we saw the menu: breakfast served 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. with 30 items, from a breakfast burger and pancakes to a honey-butter chicken biscuit and taquito with cheese ($1.99-$7.99); then all-day burgers, patty melts, chicken strips and sandwiches, three salads, fries and onion rings, even a “secret menu” (veggie burger, grilled cheese, breakfast ranchero breakfast), all in the $1.79-$13.90 price range; and a dozen condiments (buffalo, honey bbq, jalapeno, spicy ketchup). All in all, the burger menu is much more extensive than other chains and with the Parry’s partnership, this place has something for everyone.

We weren’t particularly impressed with the burger and the fries were mealy and limp. Oh well. We were there more to check out the building, bars, balconies, and the bustling scene. And we will be back for the pizza, beer, and BLVD view.