mussel bar & grille - bethesda

definitely check out this place! our host salomon was very attentive and the food was superb - had the classic white wine oysters with fries. it was absolutely delicious!

can you say delicious? local friends brought us here while we were visiting and it definitely is a must visit. the mussels and pizza were amazing. also had the mac and cheese app and the brussels sprouts. so great. the waiter had some excellent drink selections. the atmosphere, service and food was all excellent. would definitely be a frequent selection of we lived in the area. highly highly recommended.

good for mussel. the wine/beer is very good, but a little bit expensive. the mussels are food, but i expect a larger portion.

wow disappointing! i love.... wow disappointing!
i love this place with the beer selection but the ability to count (11 oysters) and the lack of service really makes me wonder. first visit was awesome. second visit acceptable. third was 14 min for a beer at the bar, 11 oysters, and 12 min to find someone that cares. seriously?!? this is not a cheap place but the beer is awesome. you choose.

a's all the way .... we had such a wonderful dinner at mussel bar. it was kinda loud at 9-10 pm on a friday, but what do you expect? it was packed and the place was hopping! our server did a great job, i know he had many tables besides ours. he was friendly, got us everything we needed quickly and made a few suggestions for us.

it is hard to decide what to order off the food menu, so we start off w/ beers. that is also hard to decide, because of their extensive non-standard belgium list. in no particular order: stella, affligem bland, ommegang saison, delirium tremens, rochefort 6, orval, ayinger celebrator and who knows what else!

for starters we had calamari, pork belly and a cheese plate. very good way to start out a two plus hour dinner :)

i had to talk my guests into the mussels. i guess they had never had a good experience, so i ordered them plain with the white wine (i like farmhouse ale). my guests were surprised they were not rubbery or squishy. they were also surprised to enjoy the frites w/ the different mayonnaise.

the braised ribs were tender and nearly fell off the bone. i usually like dry ribs, but there were delightful detour. the ribs were everyone’s favorite entrée.

we couldn't eat all that was served, but we left fat and happy!

food: a
drinks: a+
service: a
atmosphere: a

... now, there is a second mussel bar open in atlantic city. mussel bar’s menu has plenty of options: mussels and fries, belgian tarts, omelets, salads, soups, burgers, and brunch items like omelets, bennys, and even chicken and waffles. there was a lemon souffle pancake i really would have liked to sample. i was joined by two lovely ladies behind the pink palm, a local boutique chain that carries primarily lilly pulitzer along with a few other bright, pr

the fries are delicious and come with three different types of mayonnaise. for beer, i tried the kasteel tripel and the chimay blue. both very strong and delicious beers. the kasteel tripel was on draft. smooth beer but be wary of the abv. the chimay blue was excellent and had an aftertaste of coffee. for food, i ordered the mussels with chorizo and goat cheese with a side of frites. this was delicious! the portion is huge and i really loved the flavors. we asked for bread to dip in the sauce, and they eventually brought us out two basket's worth. we wanted to take th

it was also a pretty cool scene. we made our way to mussel bar at 10pm and while they were still dishing up mollusks, plenty of pretty people were simply drinking cocktails at the bar too.

the service was great. we received the wrong dish mistakenly, but the correct one was brought out immediately and then they comped us both dishes.

yum! mussels were steamed well…. only 1 mussel didn't open…. served with frites and a dipping sauce…. fries were crispy and seasoned well. mussel bar also has a huge beer selection….. i opted for the antigoon (pale ale)…. pretty good. can't wait to go back.

if this restaurant were in the city, we'd be there all the time.

sometimes we do silly things to save money. we live next to brasserie beck and love their mussels and frites. so when robert wiedmaier opened the more casual mussel bar in bethesda, we were intrigued but couldn't see a reason to schlep out to bethesda to try the food we can get about 50 paces from our door. however, when an offer for a 50% off groupon hit my inbox, i took it as a sign that we needed to go to bethesda. mussel bar is like brasserie beck's younger, tattooed, rocker brother. the servers wear t-shirts, they don't take reservations, and they blast different concert dvds during dinner service. we were treated to u2's 360 tour . if you don't want a side of bono (or similar rock icon) with your mussels, it's probably better to come during lunch. on a friday evening, i metroed up to bethesda to meet b after work. i knew we'd be in for a wait but i still was a bit taken aback by the 1 hour and 20 minute prediction. who says people aren't eating out in this economy? we found some

disappointing, disappointment and more. despite numerous bad reviews, my friends and i decided we'd give it a try last evening (3-8-11). having been pre-warned of the nosiy environment we chose a week night for our dining experience hoping to eliminate some of the racket. think twice. did not make one iota of a difference in the noise level. cannot imagine what a friday or saturday night might sound like, but can bet your bottom dollar you wouldn't be able to hear yourself, let alone a companion. why so noisy? this does not add to the ambiance or at least it didn't for us.

we began with two neat scotch drinks and one bloody mary made with premium vodka as we waited on a table. expensive drinks.
not long after a table became available and the host led us to what looked like the back of the restaurant but lo and behold there were two other separate dining parties already seated and eating. we squeezed in to our allotted space and began with a pork and mussel tart which my friends liked a lot. once done we moved on to order three distinctly different mussel dishes hoping to savor each other's selection. the table right beside us had asked for bread continuously and we asked our wait staff to honor their request before we placed our order.
the mussel dishes came out simultaneously and very hot, which is a plus in my book. we had to ask for bread again as our wait staff had forgotten to bring ours.
we shared our mussels with one another and it was hard to tell one dish from the next. they were flavorless. my choice had been a hot spicy mussel dish and the only heat came from the stove the mussels had been cooked on. truly could not distinguish any particular spices among three different dishes. sad.
when leaving i turned to my friends and asked how they would rank their dining experience? one gave it a possible four, the other a six and my ranking is yet to be configured because it is difficult to separate my personal disappointment from downright outrage after spending as much as we did for our tasteless mussel dishes.
robert w. please tend to the bethesda kitchen and help them live up to the reputation you've built at your other establishments. bethesda deserves better.

then came the highlight of the night, the tasty, tasty mussels. after extensive discussion, we decided on the spicy thai mussels. they placed the large cast iron skillet between

oysters..... the west coast oysters were amazing. the staff, fantastic! the selection of good beer, formidable.