Monday, November 30, 2015

Nest Cafe closed "for renovations" in Bethesda (Photos)

Nest Cafe is closed at 4921 Bethesda Avenue. A sign on the door says the restaurant is "closed for renovations," but gives no target date for reopening. The restaurant's website says Nest will reopen "with a new look in 2016."

Their Twitter account is still going, but clicking on their Facebook page in Google results takes you to a "Sorry, this content isn't available to you right now" message.




8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nest used to be our go-to spot. Then, over the last couple of years the menu and beer selection was pared down a lot. Even the items they kept on the menu dropped in quality and we stopped going there entirely.

I hope if they do reopen that the food returns to its former level of quality.

Anonymous said...

I hope so too. However trends of closings for renovations don't have a great tack record do actually reopening ever.... :(

Anonymous said...

I know someone who used to be a part-owner here. I believe most of the original owners and investors left and a new bunch came in within the last year. I wonder if they are having trouble making it work. I've been there many times and always enjoyed it.

Anonymous said...

Since this is a restaurant post, I'll take my opportunity to report on my visit to Gusto last week. I predict this one will shut down within the next year.

It's trying to be fast casual Italian, like Vapiano's was across the street. There are two main problems:

a) the food is not fresh. It's done Chipotle-style where they cook a big batch of beef and chicken, then dump it into a service bin. That works fine if you sell a burrito every 10 seconds like Chipotle, but no good for a place with few customers. At Vapiano, they took the fresh raw meat and fresh pasta, and cooked it right in front of you.

b) I'm not a chef. They have over 20 (!) items you can put on your pasta, like mushrooms, cucumber, lettuce, bacon bits, and a bunch of other stuff. How am I supposed to know what goes well together? I guess I don't, as I chose a combination of ingredients that _didn't_ go well. At places like &Pizza and Roti, you can also choose from a huge list of fixings, but they also have a list of 10 set menu items and I just order from those. At Vapiano's, it was all set menu items, and then you could modify it as you like.

This may come off sounding like I'm a Vapiano investor or something, and I assure you I'm not. Just I think if they want to do Italian as fast-casual, the Vapiano way (fresh, and the chef chooses the ingredients) is a better way to do it.

Meanwhile over at Soup Up... only 5 soups on the menu this week, and only 2 with meat. I don't think a $13 bowl of pumpkin soup will fill me up.

Anonymous said...

gusto is so bad, seriously. I went in there around 8:30 they seemed like they were waiting to close. the girl at the register didn't understand when I asked what the rolled up things were so some guy who was on his cell phone said they are ...... he said it so fast and as if I should know then back to his call.

there were two of us, one ordered penne, and they scooped the bottom of the pan to get maybe a 3/4 order and the other pans have maybe a forkful of food in them.

it tasted very plain, the drink area is tiny and too small that only one person can stand there at a time.

it was $22 dollars for penne and penne with meatballs which might have been the softest mushiest meatballs ever.

I agree this place is gone in a year.

Anonymous said...

@9:19 I think you're referring to the "piadine" thing on their menu. I wasn't sure what it was either (a pizza?) but they said it was like a burrito. Now.. if customers have to ask what it is you're serving, wouldn't it be a good idea to include a description on the menu?

Anonymous said...

Empty Nest. LOL

Anonymous said...

It's absolutely horrible. How they don't reopen.