Editor’s note: This story, originally published at 11:34 a.m. on March 7, 2025, was updated at 5:02 p.m. on March 7, 2025, to add a comment from Federal Realty.
After more than 10 months of closure, French bistro Mon Ami Gabi in downtown Bethesda is slated to reopen March 17 with a renovated and expanded space, according to restaurant partner Mark Sotelino.
Diners who head to the Bethesda Row restaurant at 7239 Woodmont Ave. will notice a new forest green façade and entrance on the corner of Woodmont and Bethesda avenues, a larger indoor space with a new bar and updated furnishings, and a menu featuring several new lunch and brunch items, he said.
“We’re really excited to be back in Bethesda,” Sotelino said. “We’ve been here for 23 years and with those 23 years, we’ve had a great following of regulars that we keep in touch with and are constantly asking about us.”
In May, the restaurant closed to undergo remodeling and renovations. Sotelino told Bethesda Today the restaurant underwent a “facelift” over the past 10 months, starting with a complete gutting of the space. While the Mon Ami Gabi team hoped to open sooner, Sotelino said the structural construction work inside the restaurant took a lot of time.
“When you get to make some adjustments along the way, you start opening up walls and you start seeing things that you need to change, [so] things take longer,” he said.
Sotelino also noted reopening delays partly stemmed from issues with a slower supply chain resulting from the pandemic and the need to take precautions for construction to not “encroach upon” the Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema, which sits below the restaurant.
According to Sotelino, many of the restaurant’s employees are expected to return for the reopening. He estimated that about 70% of the employees will come back.
“It feels great that we kind of have our same group. It feels like not just a gift to the neighborhood, as far as a nice new restaurant for the neighborhood, but also for all of our employees to be like ‘This is your new home,’ ” Sotelino said.
While local diners have long anticipated the reopening, Sotelino said the restaurant won’t hold a reopening party.
“We’re just going to be ready to open and take everything as they want to come,” he said. Diners can start making reservations on Tuesday.
Stuart Biel, the Senior Vice President of Regional Leasing at Federal Realty, said in a statement emailed to Bethesda Today on Friday afternoon that the company celebrates the reopening of Mon Ami Gabi. Federal Realty owns Bethesda Row and other dining and shopping destinations in the county including Pike & Rose and Montrose Crossing in North Bethesda.
“This Bethesda institution is an important cornerstone to what makes our neighborhood a great place to gather, shop, explore, dine, and more,” Biel said.
What’s new?
Mon Ami Gabi opened in Bethesda Row in 2002 and in May the restaurant was offered the opportunity to renew its lease for another 20 years, according to Sotelino. Along with the lease renewal came the opportunity to grow alongside the growth in downtown Bethesda, Sotelino said. That led to the restaurant working with Federal Realty to add about 2,600 square feet of space to its footprint by acquiring the space that was formerly Chaia Tacos.
According to Sotelino, adding the extra space allowed the restaurant to expand its dining room by about 50 seats and add more space for private dining.
“That will help us kind of reach out to the businesses in the area that have a need for either corporate dinners, corporate events, as well as social events,” Sotelino said. “We’ve always been very popular for your showers, your rehearsal dinners and things of that nature.”
Overall, the restaurant can now accommodate up to 260 diners in the main dining room, at the bar and at the sidewalk café, according to a press release about the reopening. The restaurant now has three private dining rooms that can accommodate from 10 to 80 guests.
The restaurant also has a new bar with 30 seats as well as two revamped outdoor dining patios which includes a sidewalk café and an “all-seasons” patio, the release said. The bar can open to the “all-seasons” patio, which is outfitted with retractable windows, heaters and fans.
Along with the renovations and remodeling, Sotelino said the restaurant also used the closure to revamp its lunch and brunch offerings. According to the release, the menu now includes a selection of new salads and sandwiches for lunch, as well as new brunch dishes such as truffled scrambled eggs and a classic French omelet. In addition, the drink menu has some additions including new chilled martinis.
“We didn’t really have a bar program when we closed. We were most known for wine, which we love, but I think there’s an opportunity now where there’s a big cocktail culture in D.C., for sure, and Bethesda as well,” Sotelino said.
Despite the changes, diners will still find familiar and classic dishes on the menu such as steak frites, French onion soup and escargot, he noted.
