Sonya Waddell is getting ready to open her third restaurant.
Waddell, the owner of Simply Soul and Simply Sonya’s, plans to open a second Simply Sonya’s at 985 Peters Creek Parkway. Sampan Chinese Restaurant closed in the location last September after 30 years in operation when owner Sandy Lo decided to retire.
Waddell has run Simply Soul at 4339 S. Main St. since 2012. She opened Simply Sonya’s inside the Best Western at 3050 University Parkway in November 2021.
“The Best Western has been great,” she said. “But I wanted a more visible place, and I wanted to do more entertainment.”
Waddell said that the biggest part of her renovation of the old Sampan was building a new bar and lounge area. The main dining room also will have a small stage, she said, and there will be a patio on the side of the building.
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The new restaurant will serve many of the soul-food favorites for which she is known, she said, including fried pork chops, meatloaf, mac ’n’ cheese and collard greens.
“It will be a streamlined menu, but we will run the full menu all day,” she said. “We also will have some new entrees and some new specialty drinks.”
The restaurant will serve lunch or brunch daily, and will serve dinner Wednesday to Sunday.
She plans to offer local music on a regular basic. “I want to have music in all genres. I want to support local musicians.”
Waddell said she expects to open this fall.