Aqua Penny's

Aqua Penny’s is an upscale coastal seafood restaurant and raw oyster bar in Leawood’s Park Place development, opened April 16, 2024 by local restaurateurs Penny and Doug Mufaka — the husband-and-wife team behind neighboring Thai restaurant Bamboo Penny’s. The menu reimagines coastal seafood through a Thai-inflected lens, with oysters flown in daily from the East Coast, West Coast, and British Columbia.¹²

Description

Aqua Penny’s is a reimagined coastal seafood restaurant and raw oyster bar occupying a roughly 7,100-square-foot space in Leawood’s Park Place, just off 117th Street and Nall Avenue — the former home of the Gordon Biersch brewery, which closed in 2020.¹ The concept blends upscale coastal seafood with the Thai culinary heritage of chef-owner Penny Mufaka, a native of Thailand. Signature offerings include scallop and oyster tartare, miso-marinated sea bass, grilled mahi-mahi, seafood towers, hand-cut steaks, and a daily-rotating raw oyster bar sourcing from both U.S. coasts and British Columbia.²³

The restaurant operates 3–9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 3–10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with a full craft-cocktail program.¹

Ownership and history

Aqua Penny’s is the latest concept from local restaurateurs Penny and Doug Mufaka, who run it alongside design-and-development partner Michael Werner.¹ Penny Mufaka, a native of Thailand, and her husband Doug opened their first Kansas City restaurant — Thai House in Kansas City, Missouri — more than a decade ago. They followed with KC Thai in southern Overland Park and, in 2021, Bamboo Penny’s in Leawood’s Park Place.¹ Aqua Penny’s, located in the same Park Place development as Bamboo Penny’s, was first announced in spring 2023⁴ and opened to the public on April 16, 2024.²¹

The Mufaka family thus operates a small, locally owned cluster of independent restaurants across the metro — Thai House, KC Thai, Bamboo Penny’s, and Aqua Penny’s — with no corporate parent or franchise affiliation.¹

Links

• Website: https://aquapennys.com[^site]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aquapennys/
• Phone: (913) 415-2400³⁵⁶

See also

• Registry

Sources

Footnotes

1. Johnson County Post, “Upscale seafood eatery Aqua Penny’s drops anchor in Leawood,” April 17, 2024. https://johnsoncountypost.com/2024/04/17/aqua-pennys-leawood-open-231987/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Kansas City Magazine, “The highly anticipated Aqua Penny’s Will Open April 16. Here’s What You Can Expect.” https://kansascitymag.com/bamboo-pennys-owners-are-opening-a-seafood-restaurant/ ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Aqua Penny’s official website. https://aquapennys.com/ ↩ ↩²

4. Johnson County Post, “Bamboo Penny’s owners to open new seafood restaurant in Leawood,” May 23, 2023. https://johnsoncountypost.com/2023/05/23/aqua-pennys-leawood-219518/ ↩

5. Park Place Leawood directory — Aqua Penny’s. https://parkplaceleawood.com/directory/aqua-pennys/ ↩

6. Yelp — Aqua Penny’s, 11652 Ash St, Leawood, KS (accessed May 2026). https://www.yelp.com/biz/aqua-pennys-leawood ↩