Downtown Bethesda: Where did it all go wrong?

[Anonymous]

The biggest problem is that Bethesda, and the surrounding DMV region in general, has a TON of people with a lot of money, but very crappy tastes in terms of art, food, fashion, etc.

Can't blame them really. It always comes with the territory of nouveau riche. There is just not a whole lot of culture in the DMV region except for govt work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda and MoCo need to take after the Mainline in PA, and towns like West Chester that have actual main streets with shops/restaurants etc, and towns where you can travel to by train. We have the metro that allows people to travel to each town.

MoCo and local govts just love taxing businesses to death, and local/county govt has inordinate amounts of red tape that discourage new businesses from forming. Then factor in insane rental costs, and all you get are crappy chains and subpar food from establishments that have big investor groups backing them. You never get the organically grown, family run places that have their own recipes they're using for home cooking tasting food or that provide very unique flavors. The only places that can survive are the places that serve $35 plates of food.

But yea...travel to West Chester, Media, Rosemont, Wayne, Villanova,......the Mainline in PA is a role model for how the area should strive to be.

Umm…Bethesda was a lovely town. The County decided to densify it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree that basically Federal Realty/the market is doing a terrible job around Bethesda ave (except for ChiKo) but Bethesda is not uniformly a lost cause.

Federal Realty did a great job in Bethesda until the County screwed them over. The resultant mess was Ike Leggett’s dream.

[Anonymous]

Love persimmon!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can tell you that in the 1990s there was hardly anything there. Austin Grill and La Posada Mexican restaurant and maybe a couple other places.

I CALL BS!!!!!

Shakey's Pizza was the best ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that basically Federal Realty/the market is doing a terrible job around Bethesda ave (except for ChiKo) but Bethesda is not uniformly a lost cause.

Federal Realty did a great job in Bethesda until the County screwed them over. The resultant mess was Ike Leggett’s dream.

Honestly how did the county screw them over? The county didn’t force them to turn a bookstore into a furniture store and turning surface lots into apt buildings with underground parking isn’t screwing them over.

The lack of fine dining has been a long-standing problem/mystery (RiP David Craig) which I think is partly due to the lack of a business lunch market and partly to the antiquated liquor laws.

[Anonymous]

Landlords charging ridiculous rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a SFH in the downtown. I love Bethesda because it's walkable and I have my favorite Indian restaurant there (plus one homey Japanese restaurant and a French bakery I like), but I agree that rents are too high for the kind of stores you're pining for. It's a shame, because with a little incentivce and live music, Bethesda could go from meh to wonderful!

Please give your recommendation for the Indian, Japanese and French places.

Haandi

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that basically Federal Realty/the market is doing a terrible job around Bethesda ave (except for ChiKo) but Bethesda is not uniformly a lost cause.

Federal Realty did a great job in Bethesda until the County screwed them over. The resultant mess was Ike Leggett’s dream.

Honestly how did the county screw them over? The county didn’t force them to turn a bookstore into a furniture store and turning surface lots into apt buildings with underground parking isn’t screwing them over.

The lack of fine dining has been a long-standing problem/mystery (RiP David Craig) which I think is partly due to the lack of a business lunch market and partly to the antiquated liquor laws.

I loved David Craig so much. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Still plenty of great restaurants, little to no retail anymore, and no live music (used to be a major music scene in 70’s-80’s. Sad, rents are too high is the bottom line. And so much new build because of the Metro.

[Anonymous]

I guess I'm basic. I love Bethesda Row and enjoy it very much for what it is; it's a nice atmosphere; on a nice night, I enjoy grabbing some beers and oysters and fries, and following it up w/ some ice cream and enjoying the generic yuppieness of my surroundings.

many other do too. the market has spoken.

[Anonymous]

I think part of the problem is the demographics. I have a bunch of kid and while I’d love to be the kind of person who goes to live music and innovative restaurants, it’s just too hard with the kids. So it’s never going to be hip like some of the areas inside DC where the DINKs live. But it could be better. I do think the capital crescent and trolley trail help it a lot — increases it as a destination for walking/biking.
I also think Spanish Diner is a good addition—it’s the right level for the area—good food, on the casual side, kind of place you can take family, etc. I haven’t been to Silver but that seems to also maybe be a good fit. And the Original Pancake House is a treasure.
Part of the problem is that Bethesda Row has everything jammed together, with parking, so that’s sort of where everyone ends up, even though a lot of the better places are spread around more downtown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think part of the problem is the demographics. I have a bunch of kid and while I’d love to be the kind of person who goes to live music and innovative restaurants, it’s just too hard with the kids. So it’s never going to be hip like some of the areas inside DC where the DINKs live. But it could be better. I do think the capital crescent and trolley trail help it a lot — increases it as a destination for walking/biking.
I also think Spanish Diner is a good addition—it’s the right level for the area—good food, on the casual side, kind of place you can take family, etc. I haven’t been to Silver but that seems to also maybe be a good fit. And the Original Pancake House is a treasure.
Part of the problem is that Bethesda Row has everything jammed together, with parking, so that’s sort of where everyone ends up, even though a lot of the better places are spread around more downtown.

That's kind of silly - plenty of people with kids prioritize live music and innovative restaurants. Just because you don't doesn't mean other parents wouldn't. And as a parent, I would love to have live music options in the late afternoon that kids could enjoy too - imagine how great it would be to walk to an acoustic set with your family at 5pm on a nice day??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a SFH in the downtown. I love Bethesda because it's walkable and I have my favorite Indian restaurant there (plus one homey Japanese restaurant and a French bakery I like), but I agree that rents are too high for the kind of stores you're pining for. It's a shame, because with a little incentivce and live music, Bethesda could go from meh to wonderful!

OP here, please share the names of your favorite restaurants, we want to support these places, especially if independent.

Sure! Passage to India is my favorite Indian restaurant. Satsuma is the homey Japanese we like. Not fancy, but we love the atmosphere. Go to the DIY barbecue side. And Tout de Sweet is owned by a French patissier and makes really good cakes. I'm not a huge fan of some of his pastries (the scones are much too big and large, but hey, they're not French!), but he does delicious fruit mousses on his fruit-infused cakes. And it's a fun little cafe. I do NOT like Paul - it's a chain, and not very good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a SFH in the downtown. I love Bethesda because it's walkable and I have my favorite Indian restaurant there (plus one homey Japanese restaurant and a French bakery I like), but I agree that rents are too high for the kind of stores you're pining for. It's a shame, because with a little incentivce and live music, Bethesda could go from meh to wonderful!

OP here, please share the names of your favorite restaurants, we want to support these places, especially if independent.

Sure! Passage to India is my favorite Indian restaurant. Satsuma is the homey Japanese we like. Not fancy, but we love the atmosphere. Go to the DIY barbecue side. And Tout de Sweet is owned by a French patissier and makes really good cakes. I'm not a huge fan of some of his pastries (the scones are much too big and large, but hey, they're not French!), but he does delicious fruit mousses on his fruit-infused cakes. And it's a fun little cafe. I do NOT like Paul - it's a chain, and not very good.

Sorry, I forgot that they only offer carry-out now. But when it opens back up again, try your hand at cooking your own meat and veggies