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Tyber Bierhaus, Old Georgetown Road at the Bethesda Metro - Rebranded as Another Location of St. Arnold's Mussel Bar


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Does anyone know (or care about) the name of this company?

Not sure how to take your question, Don, but yeah.  These are the guys that run St. Arnold's Mussel Bar in Cleveland Park and another in DuPont.  Been to the one in Cleveland Park several times.  Their eponymous mussels are one of the best mussel preparations I've found in DC (duck fat, garlic, shallots, thyme), and I have every reason to believe they're well sourced (I just don't remember where they told me they come from; may be PEI).  They have a great Belgian beer selection, and are more than happy to provide suggestions and tastes - the impression I've always gotten is that they want to expose folks to different beers and make sure they're happy with what they're ordering.  The basement there is a great place to catch a game (lots of tvs and fun vibe).  And any management or staff that we've ever spoken with or been served by have been top notch.  I presume Dean knows them given their proximity to Dino.  So not that Cleveland Park is that far from us, but yeah I'm happy to see them come to Bethesda.

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I hope that this location suceeds. The place is very plain, I know they took over the space from another restuarant.

That is a tough location.  No visibility from Wisconsin.  No street parking.  Nothing else on that block.  The people in the office building across the street who look down on it are pretty much the only people who are even aware it exists.  No one has been able to make it work in that space since Uncle Jed's left in 2006.

If memory serves me, it was Gator Alley for a brief while, then I think there was an Asian place in there whose name I forget.  Then it sat vacant for a while.  Most recently it's been The Box (after MoCo Liquor Board denied their initial request to name it the "Liquor Box" (say it out loud).)

Good luck to Tyber, but the spot seems cursed.

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That is a tough location.  No visibility from Wisconsin.  No street parking.  Nothing else on that block.  The people in the office building across the street who look down on it are pretty much the only people who are even aware it exists.  No one has been able to make it work in that space since Uncle Jed's left in 2006.

If memory serves me, it was Gator Alley for a brief while, then I think there was an Asian place in there whose name I forget.  Then it sat vacant for a while.  Most recently it's been The Box (after MoCo Liquor Board denied their initial request to name it the "Liquor Box" (say it out loud).)

Good luck to Tyber, but the spot seems cursed.

I think "Dry Fried Wings" was in there for a minute too.

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Stopped in last night with friends to check out. They opened early this week and are still getting their feet under them. Nice draft beer list although by 8 pm we were informed that they were out of about 5-6 beers. Service was friendly albeit a little slow at the start. Food was on par with St. Arnold's. Two of us enjoyed the mussels, while a few others had some type of sausage sandwich which they did not care for. I did. It try so can't comment. Beer pricing is a bit odd and also pricey. Most beers were $11 for .5 liter and $15 for 1 liter. They also offered a few beers for $8 for .3 liters. I tried to order a .3 liter of one beer but was told I could only order .5 or 1, which seems a bit odd to me, just Fill the glass and charge me $8. Instead I skipped the last beer and went with water.

It was pretty full when we left and we will return. Tough location off the main strip a bit, hope they make it.

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I am sure to give praise when praise is due.  This post is mostly based upon service.  (Although I did order a pretzel which was served with yellow mustard--didn't want to try anything else after this).  As I stated previously, this is purely based upon service and the rude bartender.  Happy hour here goes until 7.  The seating at the bar was full but the rest of the place was empty.  About ten minutes to 7, we tried to get the attention of the bartender, but he totally ignored us.  We finally got his attention and it was 2 minutes past 7.  He refused to honor happy hour.  Although I might get some flack on this website for this post, I cannot remember a recent experience with such rude/indifferent service.  I will not go back, which is a shame because they have a great selection of German beers, not typically seen in Montgomery County.

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About ten minutes to 7, we tried to get the attention of the bartender, but he totally ignored us.  We finally got his attention and it was 2 minutes past 7.  He refused to honor happy hour. Although I might get some flack on this website for this post, I cannot remember a recent experience with such rude/indifferent service. 

Why would you get flack for a perfectly valid complaint? I'd be ticked off too.

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Curious...is the happy hour good only at the bar itself? Here only or typically? I would imagine the point of a happy hour is to bring in business earlier in the service time and that a place would be happy to have people come in.

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Curious...is the happy hour good only at the bar itself? Here only or typically? I would imagine the point of a happy hour is to bring in business earlier in the service time and that a place would be happy to have people come in.

The sign didn't say one way or another.  There were a few people at the bar and the rest of the place was empty.  Like I said in the earlier post, we tried to get the bartender's attention well before the expiration of happy hour and he ignored us.  Got us our drinks and it was 7:02 on the POS.  If the restaurant doesn't allow any grace period or discretion on behalf of their staff shame on them.  If it was the bartender being rude then shame on him.

And as I stated above, the place should have some self respect and serve a German pretzel with mustard other than French's.

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The sign didn't say one way or another.  There were a few people at the bar and the rest of the place was empty.  Like I said in the earlier post, we tried to get the bartender's attention well before the expiration of happy hour and he ignored us.  Got us our drinks and it was 7:02 on the POS.  If the restaurant doesn't allow any grace period or discretion on behalf of their staff shame on them.  If it was the bartender being rude then shame on him.

And as I stated above, the place should have some self respect and serve a German pretzel with mustard other than French's.

Sweet hot would be ideal, too!

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I so want to like this place more than I do.  But I find the St. Arnolds on Connecticut Ave so much better.  I still think that the St. Arnolds mussels, on the menu at both places, are some of the best mussels to be found in the DC area.  But I think the seating at Tyber is awful.  Depending upon where you sit, either the tables are too narrow or the seating is too far away from the tables.  We've sat in different places in the restaurant and have yet to have a comfortable experience there.  I agree with pras that the mustard is inexcusable.  And the service last time we were there was awful.  Our server had no clue about anything on the beer menu (which, once it became apparent, should have been my cue to get up and take a trip to the bar).  And best we can tell, our appetizer order (including the pretzel with the inexcusable mustard) was not put into the system until we asked (and not for the first time) where our appetizers were. 

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This place is now a third outpost of St. Arnold's. I ended up there Wednesday night with my husband and 5-year-old. They have great happy hour specials available until 7pm throughout the restaurant (not just at the bar) -- probably the same as other St. Arnold's locations. I enjoyed my St. Arnold's Mussels, which were at a greatly reduced price for happy hour (maybe half price -- I can't remember). My husband enjoyed the beef carbonnade and his happy hour beer (I forget what it was but some kind of lighter beer -- possibly German if they still have some German beers on the menu). I'm not a beer drinker, so I drank a meh happy hour chardonnay (at least it wasn't oaky!). The service was great. It was a beautiful night, so the patio was full, but no one was inside. We ordered my daughter a grilled cheese from the kid's menu, but she kept stealing my mussels.

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