Piccoli Piatti Pizzeria opening new Bethesda location in 2024

Restaurant will be in the Westbard Square development

December 12, 2023 1:00 p.m.

Piccoli Piatti Pizzeria, an Italian restaurant on Old Georgetown Road in the Wildwood Shopping Center, is planning to open a second Bethesda location in mid-2024, according to owner Francis Namin.

Namin, who also owns the Fish Taco restaurant chain, said the new eatery would come to Westbard Square, a new development close to downtown Bethesda, near the intersection of River Road and Brookside Drive. He said he signed the lease for the space around two weeks ago.

Construction on the restaurant will likely start in February, and it’s projected to open over the summer, Namin said.

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He said that customers who travelled from downtown Bethesda to his restaurant said they wanted a location closer to them, and when the opportunity arose for him to make that happen, he went for it.

“Hopefully we will succeed in our business there and satisfy a lot of people in that area,” Namin said.

The eatery prides itself on its authentic Neapolitan pizzas. A “gleaming white brick Marra Forni oven” — which reaches over 900 degrees — produces “their trademark thin crust with a puffy border that includes charred spots,” Bethesda Magazine restaurant critic David Hagedorn wrote in 2021.

The menu features a variety of red and white pizzas, including a gluten-free option, as well as appetizers, sandwiches, salads, pasta and mussels.

Namin said the restaurant’s executive chef, Stefano Rea, will be helping at the new location as it gets started.

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“[With] all the items that I have, there are no shortcuts in them. They’re all from the South of Italy, and all our small plates complement the Neapolitan-style pizzas that we have. They’re the same type of small plates served in the Naples [Italy] area.”

Namin also said that the new location would feature much more outdoor seating than his current location. The outdoor tables will seat around 60 people, while his Wildwood location seats around 20.

The Westbard Square development will replace what was previously called the Westwood Shopping Center.

“The Westwood Shopping Center has been a cornerstone of the Bethesda community for generations,” a statement on the development’s website read. “At the new Westbard Square, we’re enhancing everything locals love about this treasured neighborhood staple.”

The entire project will be done in 2027, but site work on open spaces, private streets, townhomes, and apartments will begin in the first quarter of 2024, according to the website.

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