The new Dick’s Drive-In off Pacific Highway South in Kent stands shrouded in the Tuesday morning fog as construction nears full completion before its Dec. 12 grand opening. REPORTER PHOTO

The new Dick’s Drive-In off Pacific Highway South in Kent stands shrouded in the Tuesday morning fog as construction nears full completion before its Dec. 12 grand opening. REPORTER PHOTO

New Dick’s Drive-In on Kent’s West Hill to officially open Dec. 12

Popular burger joint plans grand opening, ribbon cutting

The new Dick’s Drive-In officially opens Wednesday, Dec. 12, the family-owned restaurant chain announced this week on Facebook.

A grand opening ceremony will be from 10 to 11 a.m. at the eatery, at 24220 Pacific Highway South, near the Midway Shopping Center, just south of the Lowe’s store on the east side of the road. The ribbon cutting is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.

According to owners, the restaurant will employ about 50 people.

It is the seventh Dick’s Drive-In, but the first one south of Seattle. The expansion is the first for the company since the Edmonds location opened in October 2011. Dick’s has five Seattle locations, including the original site that opened in 1954 in the Wallingford neighborhood, just west of the University of Washington.

The new location is easily accessible, sitting just west of Interstate 5 and along a business-filled highway with Highline College and Mount Rainier High School nearby in Des Moines. It’s also 5 miles south of Sea-Tac Airport, and a half-mile south of the Kent-Des Moines Road (aka State Route 516) intersection.

Dick’s let its fans decide where to place the company’s newest restaurant. The new site selection process included an online customer poll that attracted more than 170,000 votes, 100,000 of which came in the first 24 hours. On March 27, 2017, the company announced on Facebook Live that the south region had won with 60 percent of the vote. Dick’s officials later selected the Kent site.


Talk to us

Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.

To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.

More in News

Screenshot of SUDORS from Dept. of Health website
Dept. of Health launches dashboard to track overdose death data

DOH aims to help communities better understand overdose deaths, make informed prevention decisions

A red-light camera sign at Pacific Highway South and Kent Des Moines Road, one of six intersections where the city of Kent has had cameras since 2019. COURTESY FILE PHOTO, Kent Police
Kent to activate red-light cameras at another intersection

Cameras installed at 108th Avenue SE and SE 208th Street in Panther Lake

File photo.
Dept. of Commerce awards $35.4 million for solar power projects across the state

Projects across King County were awarded millions in collective funding.

Fall City branch of the King County Library System. Courtesy photo
King County Library System receives grant to develop a climate action plan

The National Endowment for the Humanities gave a $133,252 grant to help develop climate initiatives.

t
Slow, swerving driver in Kent leads to DUI arrest by police

Auburn woman, 55, eventually stopped by officers trying to enter Highway 167

File photo
King County Council members encourage people to not drive for a week

The Week Without Driving is meant to put policy makers, elected leaders and transportation professionals in the place of those who don’t have the option to drive.

t
About 135 people at Kentridge High to be evaluated for tuberculosis

Steps taken after one person at school diagnosed with active TB; exposure was March to September 2023

t
Kent house fire on East Hill displaces one person; nobody injured

Fire broke out Tuesday morning, Sept. 26 in 11300 block of SE 215th Street

t
Kent Police safely detain six people during mental health crisis calls

Officers use patience, de-escalation techniques in response to 911 incidents

Most Read