Bethesda Restaurant Week

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OK, so I'll admit I'm a little behind on this one, but come on -- Why did Bethesda have to go an have their own Restaurant Week?! In case you haven't heard about it, it started TODAY and runs through July 24th. Participating restaurants will be offering a 2-course lunch for $10 or a 3-course dinner for $18 or $25. Below is the list of participating restaurants. Of the ones in the list, I'd try Passage to India, since Passage to India is one of my favorite Indian restaurants in the area. Faryab is also excellent Afghan food -- I visited Faryab back in March and had a wonderful time. Other than that, I had a pretty decent tasting of the Irish food at Ri-Ra Irish Restaurant and Pub back in October when I went to Taste of Bethesda, but I've never been to the restaurant in person.

Bacchus Bethesda
(301) 657-1722
7945 Norfolk Ave.
Bethesda, MD

Bistro Asiatique
(301) 718-3400
4936 Fairmont Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814

Brasserie Monte Carlo
(301) 656-9225
7929 Norfolk Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814

Caddies on Cordell
(301) 215-7730
4922 Cordell Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814

Cafe Europa
(301) 657-1607
7820 Norfolk Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814

Centro
(301) 951-1988
4838 Bethesda Ave.
Bethesda, MD

Clyde's of Chevy Chase
(301) 951-9600
70 Wisconsin Circle
Chevy Chase, MD 20815

Divino Lounge & Restaurant
(240) 497-0300
7345-B Wisconsin Ave.
Bethesda, MD

Faryab Restaurant
(301) 951-3484
4917 Cordell Ave
Bethesda, MD

La Miche
(301) 986-0708
7905 Norfolk Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814   

La Panetteria Ristorante Italiano
(301) 951-6433
4921 Cordell Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814

Mon Ami Gabi
(301) 654-1234
7239 Woodmont Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814

New Orleans Bistro
(301) 986-8833
4907 Cordell Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814

Passage to India
(301) 656-3373
4931 Cordell Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814

Ri-Ra Irish Restaurant Pub
(301) 657-1122
4931 Elm Street
Bethesda, MD 20814

Ristorante Tragara
(301) 951-4935
4935 Cordell Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814

South Beach Restaurant & Bar
(301) 718-9737
7904 Woodmont Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814

Taipei Tokyo
(301) 881-8388
11510-A Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD

Thyme Square Restaurant
(301) 657-9077
4735 Bethesda Ave.
Bethesda, MD

Trattoria Sorrento
(301) 718-0344
4930 Cordell Ave.
Bethesda, Maryland 20814

Comments

[JON]

Hailing from Bethesda, I've eaten at a lot of these places. My favorite in the list is La Panetteria which is an above-average family Italian place. Go with a veal dish if they have it. Waitstaff have always been wonderful. Caddies on Cordell is a bar and has really good mini-hamburgers (4) that come with fries. I had pretty good food at Tragara, but service was unbelievabley bad for such a top-notch place. We never went back, though we found the '80s decor amusing. I always wanted to try New Orleans Bistro, which is where the old Oodles and Noodles place used to be. The new owner fixed it up real nice and it's gotten pretty good reviews. In terms of Ri-Ra, it's far more wise to order a pint from there than food. Go drinking, not eating. The Guiness is good; the meal was abysmal.

[Jim]

Considering that Bethesda has, like, 200 restaurants, this is pretty lame. Notable ommisions:
Black's
Grapeseed
Jaleo
Levante's
Persimmon
Raku
Olazzo

[Jason]

Yeah, the restaurant participation is pretty low. It seems kind of put together last minute to me.

[jay]

i agree there are a lot of great restaurants missing- Black's especially...but my girlfriend and I tried Divino Lounge and Bistro Asiatique, both of which normally have entrees in the 20-25 range, and got a great 3 course meal at Bistro for 25 each, and a 4-course (mini tapas- chefs choice, plus salad, entree and dessert) at Divino for 25. not bad....

[Jessica]

JON - Check out http://www.bccchamber.org/restaurants/restaurantweek.shtml. Grapeseed, Jaleo, Levante's and Raku are participating.

[Jon]

Nice to see those ommissions from last year participating now. Love Grapeseed. Love it.

[Hephaestion]

I disagree with the assessment above of Ri-Ra Irish Restaurant in Bethesda. I have taken many guests from Paris and New York there in the past year and they have all fallen in love with it for the excellent food and service. I adore the traditional Irish breakfast there myself; in fact, I think it is one of the tastiest things I've had in DC.

[Pam]

You should go to the link. Grapeseed, Raku, and Jaleo are included.

[Events4u]

I wanted to inform people about my less than "divine" experience at Divino Lounge. I'm usually not much of a critique of restaurants as long as I enjoy the food and the service is decent, but I have to say with respect to Divino Lounge, nothing can ruin a good time more than poor service. I tried to plan an event at Divino's for my best friend's birthday/5 year cancer free celebration and Divino was not accommodating. When I asked questions about people sitting with us who were not affiliated with our party or tried to set up balloons, the manager threatened to cancel our celebration. The service was not what I would have expected and if you want to have a nice evening I would strongly recommend you avoid Divino Lounge and try somewhere else. There are much better spanish/tapas restaurants in Bethesda.

[Jason]

Did you tell the restaurant ahead of time that you were planning an event or did you just make a reservation for a large party?

To be fair to the restaurant, it sounds like you poor rating of the restaurant is based on poor service of an event, and not necessarily poor food or service of that food. So unless people are considering this place for an event, they could probably still consider it for a normal dinner out.