On September 30, customers who walked up to 7535 Old Georgetown Road for the new Shake Shack found a sign on the door telling them to come back October 2. Inside, workers were still training. The Bethesda Beacon traced that sign to a local blog post. It was the last of four delays for a restaurant whose interior had looked finished since late July.
Shake Shack opened on the second try, and it sums up the fall in Woodmont Triangle better than any single opening could. This season's new arrivals on these blocks mostly come from businesses that already run a location somewhere else in Montgomery County. They are taking a second step into downtown Bethesda, and the dates they announced have proved to be targets rather than promises.
Four Dates on Old Georgetown Road
The Bethesda Shake Shack is the chain's fourth in Montgomery County. The others are in Gaithersburg's Kentlands neighborhood, at Westfield Montgomery Mall and at Cabin John Village in Potomac, where the county's first Shake Shack opened in 2018. It has 3,500 square feet in the old SunTrust Bank space on the ground floor of the Element 28 apartment building, steps from the Bethesda Metro station, next to Sweeteria, PopUp Bagels and Chipotle.
According to the Bethesda Beacon, the opening date moved like this:
- June 24, the original announcement
- August
- September 17
- September 30, when the sign went up
- October 2, the day it actually opened
The paperwork started long before the first date. Shake Shack got a $980,000 interior build-out permit in late 2025 and went before Montgomery County Alcohol Beverage Services for a liquor license hearing in June. On opening day, the chain pledged $1 for every sandwich sold at the Bethesda location to KID Museum, the Bethesda nonprofit that runs hands-on STEM programs for children and teens. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Nearby, Kidcreate Studio has opened at 7525 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 100, according to The MoCo Show. It offers children's art classes, camps and art-themed birthday parties. Like Shake Shack, it already had a county location, in its case at 12121 Darnestown Road in Gaithersburg. Founder Lara Olson started the studio after she had trouble finding good art programs for her son.
A Rockville Kitchen Moves Onto Norfolk Avenue
A few blocks over, the biggest of these county-to-Bethesda moves comes from a restaurant with deep roots. Bob's Shanghai 66 in Rockville opened in 2003 under the name Bob's Noodles. It won the best Chinese restaurant category in Bethesda Magazine's Best of Bethesda 2025 Readers' Picks. Its co-owners, William La and Jing Yao "Jay" Wang, are behind Bob's Soup Dumplings & Bar at 7776 Norfolk Ave., the former Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza & Wings space.
The partnership took a roundabout route. Bethesda Magazine reported that signs reading "Bob's Shanghai" went up on the Norfolk Avenue building in November 2025. At the time, the Rockville restaurant said it had no connection to the new place. In February, the original Bethesda team invited La and Wang to join, and La has been leading the project since. "Better friends than enemies," La told the magazine. He also said that Bob's Shanghai 66 had always wanted a second location in the heart of Bethesda.
Here is what the Bethesda location adds to the Rockville formula, according to La:
- Menu: about 80% the same as Rockville's, which is known for soup dumplings, noodle and rice dishes, and Shanghainese small plates
- The other 20%: new appetizers and dishes made for eating at the bar
- The bar: seats more than 15, a first for the business since the Rockville restaurant has no bar
- The kitchen: chefs for the new location are training at the Rockville restaurant now
In mid-October, La said most of the construction was finished and the team was waiting on county inspections and permit approvals, with a target of sometime in November. "We're close," he told Bethesda Magazine. "We're closer than we've ever been." Its neighbors on the block include Medium Rare, Oishii Ramen Cafe, Rosetta Bakery, Kusshi Sushi, Call Your Mother and Jetties.
A North Bethesda Pizzeria Comes Downtown
No Regrets Pizza Co. is following the same pattern from a few miles north. Founder Richard Weiner worked as a mortgage broker in Bethesda for 35 years before opening his first No Regrets, a full-service restaurant in North Bethesda, in May 2024. His second location, at 4925 Fairmont Ave., is set up differently. It will be fast-casual, with a takeout counter and limited indoor seating, plus outdoor seating along the pedestrian walkway next to the building.
The menu comes from the original location: Roman, Neapolitan and New York-style pizzas, along with pastas, salads, sandwiches and desserts. The Roman style is the one the restaurant says started it all. Its dough ferments for 72 hours and is baked in a tray, then cut into thick squares.
The new shop is next to Paris Baguette and near ala, Bistro Provence and Medium Rare. In early October, Bethesda Magazine reported that construction was about 50% complete. Several county inspections still had to be passed before it could open, and the target was November.
The Spaces Changing Hands
Second locations need empty storefronts, and Woodmont Triangle has had several this year. Bob's is moving into Anthony's old space on Norfolk. On the downtown side, True Food Kitchen closed its restaurant at 7100 Wisconsin Ave. in October. That happened after the chain announced a Chapter 11 filing and the closing of 12 locations. The restaurant had opened in 2017 with an open kitchen, a large dining room and an outdoor patio, and its 6,500-square-foot space had been advertised for lease since June. The chain's other Montgomery County location, at Rio in Gaithersburg, is still operating.
Here is the fall's turnover at a glance, as reported through late October:
| Address | Business | Existing county location | Reported status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7535 Old Georgetown Rd. | Shake Shack | Kentlands, Westfield Montgomery, Cabin John Village | Opened Oct. 2 |
| 7525 Old Georgetown Rd., Suite 100 | Kidcreate Studio | Gaithersburg | Opened, reported Oct. 28 |
| 7776 Norfolk Ave. | Bob's Soup Dumplings & Bar | Rockville | Targeting November |
| 4925 Fairmont Ave. | No Regrets Pizza Co. | North Bethesda | Targeting November |
| 7100 Wisconsin Ave. | True Food Kitchen | Rio, Gaithersburg | Closed in October |
Each newcomer brought a format it had already proven somewhere else in the county and adjusted it for downtown. Bob's added a bar it never had in Rockville. No Regrets went from a full-service dining room to a counter. As of their October reports, both were still waiting on county inspections. The summer's new restaurants gathered on a few blocks. This fall's arrivals are filling in the gaps on those same streets.
December 5 on Norfolk and Cordell
The block's first big afternoon of the holiday season is three weeks away. Bethesda Urban Partnership's Winter Wonderland & Holiday Market takes over Norfolk and Cordell avenues on Saturday, December 5, from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free. The schedule:
- All afternoon: live ice sculpting, live music, face painting and games, plus a Holiday Market with 50 artisans from URBN Market
- 1:45 p.m.: school choirs begin, with Academy of the Holy Cross, Bethesda Elementary, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Chevy Chase Elementary, Georgetown Prep, Our Lady of Lourdes, Stone Ridge, Strathmore Youth Chorus, Walter Johnson and Young Artists of America
- 2 p.m.: Santa arrives
- Crafts: Bach to Rock, Encrypted Escape, Imagination Stage, Kidcreate Studio, Round House Theatre and Village Edu
- Food: Cubano's, Olazzo and The Red Bandana Bakery
Kidcreate Studio, open on Old Georgetown Road since October, is on that crafts list alongside Round House Theatre, which turns 50 this fall. Bethesda Urban Partnership asks attendees to bring a new toy for Toys for Tots. The holiday market's vendors sell handmade and vintage goods, including crocheted toys, ornaments, art prints, soaps, knitwear and jewelry.
For anyone planning the day, 7776 Norfolk Ave. is right on the event's main street. Bob's team was aiming to open in November, according to Bethesda Magazine. No Regrets is a short walk away on Fairmont. If the afternoon calls for something closer to home, Medium Rare, Rosetta Bakery, Call Your Mother and Jetties are all on the same stretch, and Shake Shack is a few minutes away at the Metro end of Old Georgetown Road. The full event details are on Bethesda Urban Partnership's site.
We follow Woodmont Triangle's storefronts and the businesses behind them closely. If knowing the neighborhood at this level is part of your own plans, Jill Schwartz Group invites you to request a private, confidential consultation.
