Friday, January 12, 2024

Good Ducking Burger, Zuma by Chef Ninja go dark in Bethesda

Good Ducking Burger tonight

The future of two of Bethesda's newest restaurants are already in question. Good Ducking Burger at 7929 Norfolk Avenue and Zuma by Chef Ninja at 4866 Cordell Avenue have both been closed during normal business hours over the past week. Good Ducking Burger is "temporarily closed," according to DoorDash. Zuma, which has yet to install formal signage, is closed again for dinner tonight. No reason for Zuma's closure is posted at the restaurant, nor on its website and social media pages.
Zuma by Chef Ninja tonight


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Something about Good Ducking Burger just doesn't compute. What's behind these ostensibly expensive enterprises apparently started to do nothing but lose money? There sure is a lot of cash somewhere!

Anonymous said...

This is the 'new normal' in Post Covid Bethesda, the MTBF of these joints is less than 90 days.

Anonymous said...

Good Ducking Burger is closed for good. Duck Duck Goose downtown will become a GDB now.

Meanwhile, Chef Al is replacing Taffer on Bar Rescue! He's already shot the first few episodes.

Matt said...

SHOCKER

I am sure they are "closed for renovations"

Who actually thought either would be a good idea?

Cinco de Mayo said...

The name Good Ducking Burger pretty much guaranteed it's own demise. How long will the downtown restaurant last with the new name?

Anonymous said...

When these new places have no set hours, how do they expect customers to show up? Reminds me of the French bakery at Cordell...never knew when they'd be open. Of course, they quickly shuttered.

Anonymous said...

Good Ducking Burger was overpriced and the offerings were just plain weird. I went in once and experienced terrible service. Zuma never really opened. My guess is they didn't have the funds to fully open.

Anonymous said...

Good Ducking Burger was truly awful. I only went once and it was the very worst burger that I have ever had. A $0.99 burger from Jack In the Box is better quality.

JAC said...

That chef is very well known apparently from Duck burger. You swing, you miss.

Anonymous said...

Good Ducking Burger had some really great dishes including a fantastic mac and cheese.

Zuma was just weird. They paid Chef Ninja to make their menu but they never bothered paying to hire staff able to execute FOH properly.

I went a week after they opened and the food was incredibly mediocre but what was worse was the lack of service standards FOH had.

ZERO management presence on the floor and zero table touches the first week? That place was destined to fail with that kind of terrible management.

That said, Downtown Bethesda is like a damn ghost town and it's no wonder these places aren't surviving.

JAC said...

11:31 - I don't disagree but it makes you wonder how in the world these luxury apartments buildings that are on every corner at a million dollars per apartment are full

Anonymous said...

There's a lot of money to be made losing money for the right people. Just sayin'...