The Majestic Bar & Grille

Not only do they have delicious food and a good drink selection — they have great service too. When my friend and I went there we wanted to sub in green beans for fries, but they were out of green beans. To applogize, they gave us a slight discount on our meal. Now that’s a sincere apology!

This restaurant is closed as of 2 April 2013.
Their Facebook page confirms it.

I was surprisingly pleased with this spot, as it’s mostly a sports bar.
However, the duck+bacon burger was really, really good and unique. I highly recommend.
I was also impressed by their wine menu and tried their two «interesting whites,» both of which were truly interesting and good.
Lots of space. My three friends and I hung out there for a few hours.
Live DJ on Friday night. Wasn’t necessary but was a nice touch. Some customers were even starting to dance!

Go! Go NOW! Go ALWAYS!
bad news first: the server I had once wasnt’t exactly the most exxperienced, but its forgivable because:
OH MY GOD THE FOOD!!!
so good, so good, and then it gets better. I’ve been for brunch, I’ve been for dinner and everything from the spices to the freashness to the presentation is amazing. (had the lox at brunch by the way with a bottomless mimosa. Awesome)
The chef even came out to our table at each visit to make sure everything was good. His name is Damon, and he is so talented.
Side note: I think he’s newish, so if you haven’t been lately go again, even call first to make sure he’s working if you’re hesitent.
But yeah, all i can say is YUM!

Stunningly yummy food. Inspired pub food by an imaginary chef.
We did a range of appetizers because there were so many good ones to choose from. Topped it off by sharing one of their many sweets.
Price for two with drinks was less than $ 50. Would definitly come back here — and will promote this new place with my friends.

Really this place is a 3.5.
Okay, bad news first (I like to get it out of the way and end on a positive note). I didn’t think the food here was that great. I liked the menu options– a mash-​up of Asian and classic pub fare — but the execution of the dishes fell short of my expectations. We tried the duck sliders with relish and housemade ketchup, braised veal short-​ribs in phở broth over sticky scallion rice and the straightforward fish and chips.
The bread-​to-​meat ratio of the duck sliders was way off– too much bread, and the brioche was on the dry side. The ketchup was also strange and very stiff.
The short-​ribs– more like short-​rib because you only get one — was okay. It was tender, but there wasn’t too much flavor. And I was disappointed in the rice it was served on. When I think of sticky rice, I think of rice that has a gluey, chewy… and well sticky texture. The rice we had seemed to just be your run of the mill long-​grain rice. More mushy than anything because of the sauce it was sitting in.
The fish and chips were actually the only things that I liked. The batter on the fish was crispy and not too heavy, and the fries were tasty.
The other negative of the Majestic is what it charges. I understand you should expect to pay a little more going out in Bethesda, but $ 12 for 3 mini sliders and $ 14 for 2 palm size pieces of fish and fries… really?
Okay, now for the good.
I thought the staff was super friendly, attentive and helpful. We went to watch a Nats game, and they found the station it was on for us to watch at the bar. We never had an empty glass and all questions we had were answered with a smile.
Their selection of draft beer is also a positive.
Lastly, I thought it was a really cute place. It’s small and cozy– a place I wouldn’t mind hanging out after work. I also snuck a peek at their patio, and it looks like a really great space that will be the perfect place to drink mimosas in the summer.
Overall, I’ll definitely come back for the drinks and the atmosphere, but I’ll be saving my appetite for somewhere else.

Overall good experience. Nice, clean, bar, with great people running the place.
I have to give them tons of credit for the ambitious menu. And keeping the pub staples represented at the same time! Great menu.
The food was a bit underwhelming, but I didn’t get to try much, so I’ll be giving some more menu items a chance.
Duck sliders were frustrating. Nice brioche bun. Nice relish to compliment. But where’s the beef? I’d say skimpy, but I know food costs are killing any establishment trying to put quality food in front of you. And there’s an effort to do that here.
Wantons also didn’t blow me away, good flavor, but heavy — lacking a delicate balance and freshness you need with something fried with ox tail in it. But inventive. And nice effort.
Plenty to try, and I’ll go for at least one classic next time. Fish and chips?
Three star food (this time) + five star people = 4 stars for now.
And I usually could care less how nice people are… it’s mostly about the food for me, so that’s saying a lot.

Resting between the hustle of Wisconsin Ave and the serene Elm street park sits The Majestic; Bethesda’s try at a gastro-​pub and venue. The redone wooden bar frames 5 large flight panel t.v.s showing all the sports you need on endless loop. Well stocked with the trendiest beers on tap and a full shelf the prices imply something special should be coming. The food, a mix of fish-​and-​chips, poutine, duck confit sliders, stir fry bowls and turkey sandwiches show their attempt at range and class. The space is airy and bright, and hides an amazing back-​patio that is wonderful for warm evening relaxing, and the bathrooms are flier’d with the local music acts that come in Friday and Saturday nights. It’s clear that behind the lacquered veneer there are some unfinished cracks. The service, while friendly and fast can’t make up for the slow kitchen. I came with family on a quiet lunch, no more then 8 tables being sat, and our food took way to long to come out! They are just sandwiches people! The sandwiches are large and hearty, the meats are very tender and the flavor mixes (chunky mustered seeds in vinegar, sliced apples, candied bacon and turkey breast on a thick roll) were well done but nothing to write home about. And at $ 11 for a sandwich and another $ 3 for the fries… I was expecting a little more. Portions are large, but most of that was bun. They have a nice selection of bourbon and whiskey that is priced a bit to high, and a good selection of wine, again, priced to high.
All and all it’s a nice addition to a pretty mediocre line-​up of restaurants capped off by Mongolian Stir Fry and a Starbucks. The back patio on a warm evening for happy hour our some light snacks might be worth visiting. The Majestic Bar and Grille might want to lower expectations and drop their prices and the word Majestic from their name… then…it would be fine!

Charming restaurant with friendly staff and an interesting menu. I look forward to returning soon.

Great location with free parking next door. unheard of but very welcomed in Bethesda. Fun food, but sort of weird for the sake of being weird, i.e., we tried the cheese soup with pretzels as an appetizer– it was ok. My crab cake was doctored-​up with fillers — come on, this is Maryland after all — crab cakes should be simple: crab, parsley, maybe a little egg-​white to hold it all together, maybe a little lemon on top — not too much else. Either take it off the menu, or fix it for the locals. The Turkey Club was a failure — just a firm mass of uniform 1/​8″ slices of turkey, cheese in a thick roll. Maybe since Majestic is new, it’s still working out the kinks?
Also, the place was freezing — they left the back door open when it was 48 degrees outside — the kitchen staff was hot. At least that was what they told us when we asked them to close it and they refused. There were at least 3 other tables where all of the diners were wearing their coats while eating.
Do not mistake this for the fabulous Majestic in Alexandria on King’s St.

Went here for the first time yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised! They have a list of small bites (tapas), and tasted several items: sam-​gyup-​sal (pork belly) with kimchi (it was good, but wish the skin was a bit more crispier), oxtail wontons (it was great and ordered another one!), pastrima, and black truffle poutine (was the fries suppose to be soggy?).
Good craft beer selection and nice atmosphere. I will be back here again. The bartender Louis, made me feel at home and appreciate this attentiveness.

First timer to The Majestic. A business associate and I went there on Friday, March 16^th. The local bar & grill «feel» was nice. Service was great. It happened to be St Patty’s day and my friend ordered the Corned Beef & Cabbage. She really enjoyed it and it looked great. I ordered one of the salads with Chicken which was very good. I also ordered the Veal Shortribs. The Asian BBQ flavor was wonderful however shortribs need to slow roast a very long time. These rib didn’t have that fork tenderness. Would definitely go back for an encore!

We were over at the farmers market and we wanted to sit down, have lunch and there was some stupid basket ball game that he had to watch. Here are the pros and cons,
Pro, 14 draft beers Con $ 5.00 to $ 7.50 for a draft beer
Bayou Macaroni & Cheese, Pro, great smokey flavor Con, only found 3 crayfish and just a dusting of cheese. I think of mac and cheese as a comfort food, this is a bowl of pasta with some stuff in it.
Duck sliders, Pro, tangy and delicious, Con over priced
Black Truffle Poutine, Pro none, Con under cooked fries and I did not taste the truffle.
I did like the service, there are lots of TV’s for the sports freak, small cozy and friendly. It has potential and I hope the put a little more work in to the quality and prices. I may try it again when they open the back deck.

** poutine only review **
Poutine is a dish of the people (Canadian people, that is). It is serious business. Fries, cheese, and gravy. Hot fries, salty cheese that all melting together and creating an explosion of salt and fat in your mouth. How hard is that to pull off? Apparently, quite hard.
Many variations of poutines exist. General, it’s a small variation on ingredients: italian poutine (swap in gravy for pasta sauce), bourguinion poutine (add beef), vegetarian poutine (pepper, onions), etc. Some fine dining restaurants have also done variations, including foie grois poutine, and now the crime that is Majestic’s Black Truffle Poutine.
Black Truffle Poutine: Hand cut fries with black truffle cream sauce, cheese curds, and demi-​glacé.
We went to the Majestic to try their poutine. The fries were delicious, but that demi-​glacé + black truffle cream sauce didn’t help. The truffle taste was overwhelming, and the sauce was so liquid it wouldn’t stick to the cheese and make them melt. To make the cheese melt, the poutine was then baked making the fries kinda mushy. It did not work at all.
Don’t take me wrong: I love poutine. I’ll try all of them. The fancy ones, the seemingly gross ones. The ones with gross cheese. The ones with cold fries. I’ve tried them all across the continent. This was one of the sorriest excuse of a poutine ever (almost as bad as the garlic poutine/​soup I once tried in Montréal). I could not make myself eat more than 5 bites. It breaks my heart to say this, but PLEASE take it off the menu.

Best chili dog, So many like Ben’s or Hard times Use soupy chili and sog the dog,
it soaks the bun, then the dog falls down the middle.
Here, the abundant chili is Dry and does not make everything a mess.
The dog is then baked with the chili on top. YUM
Almost too dry, get extra beer.
Nice tap lineup, par with the American Tap room, Better than the other Irish bars in Bethesda. 2 flying dogs, 2 new Amsterdam, Loose cannon, Angry orchard cider.

«JUST A RAINBOW IN THE DARK»
OK, tried The Majestic for lunch today solo and sat at the bar since its so close to work. Ordered the turkey club or something to that effect with confidence you cant really get that wrong. The Menu indicated honey mustard and got the german mustard instead which was not bad but the failure of a good tasting club and fries that were undercooked made for a sour first experience. Overall the sandwhich was not working with the apple in it (could not taste it with the german grain mustard) and bun was way to big. Not exactly sure that Ronnie James DIO, «rainbow in the dark» on the DMX was the scene I was looking for with the music at 1:00PM, but whatever…
Just as Gaffneys, I see this place having an identity issue already. Also annoying to shake any bartenders hand as an intro and call me by my name at least 7 times. What happened to the little holes in the wall places where there was a concentration on GOOD FOOD. Likely not to return unless its for a beer and will avoid the menu.
The Majestic has been chopped from my «try list» for Bethesda.

It’s Bethesda, so the bar is low, but surely the Majestic gives Churchkey and maybe even Bar Pilar a run for their money – and there’s even room for more that 12 people to sit at Majestic, which is plus ultra.
Food is stellar. Treat this place like Pilar or Oaxaca: blitz through the small plates, conquer as much of an entrée as you can handle, then have a beer and call it a day.
The wontons are beautiful, the wings are live, everything is filling short of excess and a stomachache. No complaints about the food, for sure.
Good shelf selection, great interior, warm atmosphere – if you’re in Bethesda and you’ve landed at some other bar, you’ve made a huge mistake.

It’s always hard to know what to expect from a new place, but the Majestic does not disappoint. The atmosphere is stylish but still extremely comfortable – quality without pretension. The whole place just looks cool.
We ordered custom-​made drinks that came quickly, which is important because I really like to drink. We ordered the poutine with truffle drip and wings to start. Now, at the time, my friends didn’t know what poutine with truffle drip was. But what this place does is give you the familiar in amazing, unfamiliar, delicious ways. Turns out we had ordered the best cheese fries we’d ever had and that essentially, despite the fancy talk on the menu, this was familiar and delicious food.
I’m not kidding when I say this: I’m a lady that takes wings seriously. And these wings were the best wings I’ve ever had in my life. They were not typical bar wings made better than other places make them. They were better than that. Still familiar, but better, and oddly sort of perfect.
For entrees we had the chili dog, the burger, the squid and the tuna. I won’t bore you with the details of each entrée, but there were no complaints. Each of us felt that our order was perfect and the meals were exceptional and interesting. The burger was perfectly executed, and again, didn’t feel like your typical burger.
What’s special about this place is that they walk a fine line between executing the food you’re familiar with and offering you flavors you didn’t expect… without ever making you anything less than totally satisfied.
At the end of the meal the chef came out and spoke with us. His excitement and perspective were somewhat contagious. This is the first place I would recommend anyone go to if they wanted to eat in Bethesda.
Oh, and all the bread’s baked fresh that day.

May become one of if not THE BEST bar on Bethesda Row side!!! EXCEPT with a great menu too! Beautiful job in recreating from the former Gaffneys with A DOZEN high end and great beers on tap.
The menu mostly made up of $ 6 – 12 small plates but I grabbed a $ 9 chopped sirloin burger with hand cut fries with great mayo dipping sauce and it was delicious on a great not too soft bun. 8 soups and salads such as the Fatoush, 8 small plates Orange scallops, shrimp and grits and veal short ribs. Plenty of burgers, wings, seared tuna, mac n cheese, duck sliders and fish n chips on the all day pub menu.
Served by pro Dee and she made me feel right at home. The owner Stefan is present as this is his bad boy…
This should be a keeper at 7141…

I’ll start off by saying this place could be so much better, but when the food is not so majestic, it’s hard to answer the question will I be back? We ordered a couple appetizers and sampled the various entrees we ordered. Before getting into what we ordered, from reading the menu initially, the items listed sounded good. From braised ox-​tail wontons, to five spice veal short rib, braised lamb, even a ramen bowl! Note that a good handful of their choices have an Asian influence. I guess it’s a fusion gastropub? I didn’t see Tsingtao or Kirin on the menu though. Anyway, this is not my attempt to bash this detail, but it actually got me excited to check out this place.
Ox-​Tail wontons — It’s hard to go wrong with fried foods, right? I picked out the little ox-​tail mixture from the wonton and this was overall decent, nothing to rave about. The wonton itself was fried well and their blue cheese aioli complemented it pleasantly. However, wish it had more filling, as it was hard to not taste just the wonton skin.
Grilled Baby Squid — Yes! Not so fast. One would think tender, juicy, and yeah well, tender. The squid was stuffed with a shrimp, scallop, and crayfish. Overall, the concoction itself was only OK, but I wish the baby squid was more tender. Deal Breaker: the fennel slaw was cold, which resulted in a disappointing dish. Was this intended? If so, to me, this doesn’t work for the dish and makes it a bad one. Sorry.
Duck Sliders — I understand these are sliders, but this dish belongs on the small plates section of the menu with a lower price. The duck patty itself was flavored and seasoned well, but it was the size of a casino chip I got from Caesars. Not to mention, I only got three for the price of $ 12. Wait, and I thought a slider was considered a sandwich, but apparently not, yep, no side guy with this. The homemade ketchup was dried like it was sitting over the food warmer. Dry bun too, read on … oh please do.
Bison Burger — Looked awesome, served open face with the grilled onions and roasted peppers. Took a bite and the bun was as dry as the Mojave. The bison meat itself was good, had a nice game to it, lean and some what juicy for a well-​done burger, when it was ordered medium (errrr-​or). This dish would’ve been better served as «chop-​bison», Atkins friendly. Again, this goes back to the bun, it looked great, but overall, made the entire burger dry.
Bayou Macaroni and Cheese — Of the dishes we had, this was the better of the bunch. The dish had a nice smokey taste to it because of the andouille. It was not overly cheesy and it had a nice sharpness, which was not over powering. This is actually a good dish to share as a side if you’re with a group of 2 – 3 people.
As mentioned, their menu selection has so much potential, but from the dishes we ordered, nothing stood out. I cannot say to someone, you have to goto the Majestic and get there !!! The atmosphere is nice and the servers were great. Good looking bar area with at least half a dozen TVs. Our cups were turned for a fresh glass of water when it became empty. We were greeted warmly as we walked in. The table was wiped down after the dishes were served, fresh utensil sets, couldn’t find a complaint about the service. And for a grand opening, the timing of our food was also spot on.
In the end, service & atmosphere definitely over their food.