Mussel Bar & Grille, a Bethesda dining staple that closed in 2022, is reopening Wednesday at a new location in downtown Bethesda, according to General Manager Marc Hayes.
The seafood restaurant’s new home is at 4903 Cordell Ave. below the sports bar and grill Tommy Joe’s.
“We’re glad to be open and look forward to serving the people of Bethesda,” Hayes told MoCo360 Wednesday morning.
Mussel Bar opened in July 2010 at 7262 Woodmont Ave. and closed in April 2022. The restaurant was replaced by Foxtrot café and market, which closed in April after the company shut down all of its locations.
“We were always going to come back,” RW Restaurant Group CEO and Executive Chef Robert Wiedmaier told MoCo360 in March. “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.”
Wiedmaier said the new location is about half the size of the former restaurant and will have about 65 seats inside and about 25 for outdoor dining.
The menu at the new restaurant will be different, with “more mussels than we had at the last Mussel Bar,” Weidmaier said. Also, the menu will offer a variety of dinner options, including oysters, salmon, steak frites, flatbreads and salads.
The seafood fare at the eatery aims to imitate the style of seafood found in Brussels, according to Wiedmaier, who began his career in Belgium.
Mussel Bar, operated by RW Restaurant Group, also operates a Mussel Bar & Grille in Arlington, Virginia. The group also owns several Washington, D.C.,-area restaurants including Marcel’s and Brasserie Beck and Keystone Korner in Baltimore.
The Bethesda location was expected to open in June, but delays in preparing the space led to the October opening, according to Hayes.
Mussel Bar & Grille opens at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The restaurant will be open 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
