A delay in the interior fit-out of The Salt Line at Bethesda Row may have a silver lining. The owners are now planning to construct an even larger restaurant. That larger space will combine their current corner space at 4900 Hampden Lane with the former Super Cleaners storefront next door at 4906 Hampden. Super Cleaners relocated to a different space at the adjacent Shoppes of Bethesda earlier this year.
That would make it a nearly 10,000 SF restaurant, and by far the largest in downtown Bethesda. It would give them more space for outdoor dining on Hampden Lane, across the street from the Lauren. Maybe even an area for rooftop dining on the former dry cleaners roof, which would be fun. Activity in Bethesda Row seems to thin out quite a bit north of Elm Street, so a large destination restaurant like the Salt Line would be a nice anchor (pun intended) for the district. With the loss of Passion Fish, Bethesda Row could really use a great seafood restaurant.
ReplyDeleteA larger restaurant? They must really have faith in the Downtown Bethesda Nightlife economy to be doing that. Only place I've seen do well consistently is Hawkers. They always seem to be busy in the evenings. Not sure about Planta, but I've always seen it busy for lunch.
ReplyDeleteI agree with these comments. It's gonna take a lot of time for these places to rebuild their audiences. Thanks for shutting us down unnecessarily for the better part of two years.
ReplyDeleteThis place will need to have a lot of curb appeal to pull in that many people, and the additional space will add to monthly overhead cost. I hope they aren't overextending themselves for the demand level in this area.
ReplyDeleteGood restaurants do well here... half okay restaurants do well here... we don't have a great restaurant in all of Bethesda, but if you're a good enough restaurant you can fill the space.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing they need to do is get rid of the darkly tinted film on the glass. Even when the restaurant was open and busy, it looked vacant from the outside. Part of the allure a good restaurant is the ability to see and be seen. Hey that place looks busy, lets check it out!
ReplyDelete@9:44 AM - "Thanks for shutting us down unnecessarily for the better part of two years." LOL! LOL! Count your blessings that you're still on top of terra firma and not under it. The shutdown prevented you from becoming permanently shutdown.
ReplyDelete9:45 - Ok, thanks for weighing in Dr. Fauci.
ReplyDelete" LOL! LOL! Count your blessings that you're still on top of terra firma and not under it. The shutdown prevented you from becoming permanently shutdown."
ReplyDeleteIt never ceases to amaze me how gullible people are. You must also have the belief that crime is lower now in MoCo than ever before.
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.
@9:45 AM: The shutdown as it was implemented probably killed more people than it saved. That may be an uncomfortable fact for you to face, so you won't face it.
ReplyDeleteTrump did indeed fail to initiate a shutdown until it was far too late so yea it was definitely handled poorly. And if you vilify Dr. Fauci you probably are quite stupid and/or gullible. Anyway, the space is in a really unpopular corner of downtown so I will be surprised to see them become very successful. Furthest away from parking, and not to mention they listed themselves as open even when they still had doors blocked so that's a bad start
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