Zesty Zzeek’s shares new details about Maricopa restaurant

By Staff Reports
Dec 2, 2024

The plans for an incoming pizza parlor are getting closer to being fully baked and ready for consumption.

The Ahwatukee-based restaurant Zzeek’s Pizza in April submitted pre-application paperwork to open its sixth location at the southeast corner of Honeycutt and Whisker Roads.

A public records request to the City of Maricopa today returned a letter from Soaring Eight, the Phoenix architecture and design firm, dated Oct. 16. that laid out the project narrative. The document proposes a 7,690-square-foot building on a one-acre parcel.

According to the document, Zzeek’s Pizza will occupy about 58% of the building on its northern side while the other 3,200 square feet of the building will be used for medical and/or office tenants, although the tenants for those spaces have not been announced.

The space that Zzeek’s will occupy includes a patio at the entrance to the restaurant for customers to sit when the weather isn’t scorching.

The restaurant is said to generally be open Sunday through Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. as well as Friday and Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. The pizzeria will offer dine-in experiences, takeout — including ride-share options such as DoorDash or Uber Eats — and delivery.

Zzeek’s will collaborate with the City of Maricopa on traffic around the site and has proposed a new deceleration lane along Honeycutt Drive to mitigate traffic back up on the road.

A screenshot of a rendering out the proposed outside of Zesty Zzeek’s Pizza restaurant. [City of Maricopa]

On the construction side, the property owner and Soaring Eight have selected a concrete masonry unit building with long span steel joists, parapet and foam roof construction.

“The property owner desires a very rigid structure that has the longevity and performance to sustain the investment for passing down to his children,” the letter stated.

A screenshot of the preliminary floor plan for the Zesty Zzeek’s pizza restaurant. [City of Maricopa]

A preliminary floor plan of the restaurant shows a bar to the right of the entrance with bar seating for customers and restrooms down a hallway at the very back of the restaurant. Meanwhile to the left appears to be the service area where orders would be placed, a dining area for guests to sit, a soda machine and event space.

The back of the house has a kitchen, multiple prep areas, a walk-in freezer and cooler, dry storage and an office.

A screenshot of the proposed parking and vegetation around the building for Zesty Zzeek’s pizza restaurant. [City of Maricopa]

The outside of the building is slated to include plenty of parking as well as trees, shrubs and cactus.

Zzeek’s Pizza has been a restaurant chain in the Valley since 2001 and has received accolades for best pizza multiple times from East Valley Tribune and Ahwatukee Foothills News. It is best known for its wings, hand-tossed crusts and keto-friendly pizza options.

It is currently unknown when construction on the pizza restaurant would begin or when the location is set to open.