Mussel Bar & Grille set to return to downtown Bethesda in June

Restaurant closed its Woodmont Avenue location in 2022

March 27, 2024 3:06 p.m.

This story, originally published at 11:06 a.m. on March 27, was updated at 2:17 p.m. to correct the address of the restaurant.

Mussel Bar & Grille, a Bethesda dining staple that closed a couple of years ago, is set to return in June, RW Restaurant Group CEO and Executive Chef Robert Wiedmaier told MoCo360 on Tuesday.

The seafood restaurant will be at 4903 Cordell Ave., below the sports bar and grill Tommy Joe’s, in downtown Bethesda, Wiedmaier said.

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The eatery was previously located at 7262 Woodmont Ave. from July 2010 until it closed in April 2022.

“We were always going to come back,” Wiedmaier said. “The Mussel Bar & Grille in Bethesda became a very sought-after place and a community type of restaurant. All those high school kids would work there. It was just a fun place for the community to enjoy.”

He said the new location will be about half the size of the former restaurant, with about 65 seats inside and around 25 outside.

The menu also will be different, specifically because “we’re going to do more mussels than we had at the last Mussel Bar,” Wiedmaier said. The menu also is expected to feature a variety of other dinner options, including oysters, salmon, steak frites, flatbreads and salads.

He added the new location will offer a variety of drinks, including cocktails, mocktails and Belgian beers.

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Sarah Arnold, who was the general manager at the Woodmont Avenue location, will reprise her role at the new restaurant to help maintain consistency between the two establishments, Wiedmaier said.

RW Restaurant Group also operates a Mussel Bar & Grille in Arlington, Virginia. Wiedmaier, who began his career in Belgium, said the Mussel Bar & Grille restaurants are meant to imitate the style of seafood dives around Brussels.

RW Restaurant Group also owns numerous restaurants in the Washington, D.C., area, including Marcel’s and Brasserie Beck in the District and Keystone Korner in Baltimore.

He said he expects to add the Bethesda location to this list by the second week of June.

“We’re excited to get back and start cooking in Bethesda again,” Wiedmaier said.

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