Fish Taco was originally going to open in a 2800 SF space in the Artery Plaza building across the street.
This sounds similar to the fitness studio that was supposed to move into the historic Bethesda post office, but then suddenly popped up in the Bethesda Crescent Building across the street.
This is a story of good news bad news. Just ate recently at City Burger. It was very good the times I went. That's a loss on the burger front but a gain at the same time. Fish Taco is extremely good. That location is tough even though they have huge lot in the back.
ReplyDelete5:11: Yes, it does seem like a location issue in this case.
DeleteKraze Burger, City Burger, pending Smashburger....
ReplyDeleteBethesda's not doing so well.
There's room for an independent to come in and crush it. Rent is an issue for the small guy though and MoCo doesn't appreciate food trucks. Tastee Diner is always a good bet for a burger. If Shake Shack ever comes to town, all other burgers will be inferior and more will close in their wake.
ReplyDeleteRent is always going to be a problem everywhere you go, but usually when there is a lot of turnover of vacancies the the market adjusts. Bethesda just keeps going up in rent price despite all of this. Greedy property owners perhaps? Property way too expense?
DeleteIt is location, location. Property owners do what they do to make money. Even iconic NYC restaurants have been forced to move or close. It isn't greedy, it's just business.
DeleteI don't see how this is a bad location. On the same block is Moby Dick and Don Pollo, and both have lines any time I go there (which is often). There's plenty of parking behind that block.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with City Burger was a narrow menu and poor quality beef. They claimed they got it from some organize supplier in Baltimore, but 75% of the time, I'd find bone bits in my burger. I even took a photo and sent it to them to prove it, but they said they'll just take it up with their supplier. This happened to me multiple times.
Fish Taco seems like a good offering -- I ate their yesterday actually. The only difficulty could be their pricing, as it's around $10 for fish tacos, and that's a bit higher than Bethesda office crowd may be willing to pay.
I agree on the location actually. One issue is marketing. Are any of these places marketing the heck out of themselves? And certainly the parking? Where do we have street level, pull-in parking? Almost nowhere anymore. They don't attract people to come and they won't. It's a drive-by block in some cases when it shouldn't be with that amount of easy parking.
DeleteStreet level pull in parking would be nice, but this is downtown Bethesda after all and it doesn't exist much at all.
DeletePeter's Carryout makes a great burger or burger "sub" which is two beef patties on a sub roll. You can get it made any which way you like it. Fried egg on top is great!
ReplyDeleteI gotta try that place for breakfast too.
DeleteNed is the best!
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ReplyDelete@5:54 AM - Seriously...you experienced that kind of quality?! I went there about 10 times and never had any issues; except the fries sucked. I always got the burger with gruyere cheese, sauteed onions, and their herb mayo - it was amazing. I found it to be the best burger in town with exception to ShakeShack.
ReplyDelete@7:38 Yep, multiple times when ordering the City Classic burger. Brought it to their attention but no action. I still ate there since it was convenient and I found their burgers pretty decent. I actually prefer BGR, but parking there can be more of a hassle at lunchtime.
ReplyDeleteIn other restaurant news, it seems like Soup Up is just phoning it in at this point. Check out this week's menu: http://www.soupup.us/
ReplyDeleteThey used to give details about what was in each soup, now they don't bother. Anyone care to guess what's in the "Delicious Accident" soup? Last week's leftovers?
Soup Up should be called Soup Down. That place sucked and I never even ate there. Planning their funeral now.
ReplyDelete10:47 AM - probably roadkill. Or maybe it's like the "mystery flavor" lollipops - a combination of two flavors created when a batch of one of the flavors is running out.
ReplyDeleteThe lesson here is, never name your business "City X". Because people will invariably call it "Shitty X".
Peter's Carryout makes a great burger or burger "sub" which is two beef patties on a sub roll. You can get it made any which way you like it. Fried egg on top is great!
ReplyDelete6:15 AM
Just tried this place for the first time and at the suggestion of the person who posted this above, had their burger. It was friggin awful. Frozen, flavorless patty with cheap fries from a bag. They made my burger wrong to make the experience even worse. It seems like people love this place but I'll never, ever go back there. City Burger was 1000 times better as is BGR. Hell, Tastee Diner makes one darn good and juicy burger and better by leaps and bounds over Pete's. I think the diner could improve ten fold though and don't know why they don't. Let me just tell anyone who reads this that I have eaten cheeseburgers all over the country and I know what the heck I'm talking about. Although, it doesn't take a post graduate degree to see what's good and what isn't in terms of a burger. The place is crap. Period and of story. When is someone going to come in and make a great burger? Shake Shack has lines everywhere they open for a reason. It isn't built on hype it's built on the fact that their burgers and frozen custards are some of the best you can buy.
It's a diner burger, made however you want it. No one claimed to compare it to shake shack or a gourmet place.
DeleteOh man I never meant to imply that they would be a premo burger place. Go to Peter's for the certa pro!!! And shooting the sh*t with Ned.
Delete@7:59 ... I agree with the marketing issue. Compare Fish Taco's Twitter feed to California Tortilla. Fish Taco Tweeted a dozen times in the last 6 months. CalTort, at least a dozen times in the last 2 weeks alone.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with that.
By the way ... When is FT scheduled to open in Wildwood. They're 3 months past their original date.