Modern American eatery with steak, seafood and cocktails
Washingtonian Center, Rio Lakefront, 9811 Washingtonian Blvd L9, Gaithersburg, MD 20878 Get directions
$20–30
"The D.C. team behind Little Coco’s and Bar Charley unveiled a modern American restaurant at Gaithersburg’s Rio Lakefront Mall in 2023. The core menu is devoted to steaks, including bistro steak frites for a under $28 to bigger splurges like a 7-ounce filet mignon. Swing by Dupont sibling Bar Charley for Sunday steak nights, when all cuts are 25-percent off (and steak frites are just $19.95)." - Tierney Plumb
"The lakefront American bistro debuts a three-course lunch menu with a choice of an entree or sandwich, and any two items from the raw bar, appetizers, wine, beer, cocktails, or dessert ($29.95). Lunch highlights include tuna tartare with avocado and fried green tomatoes and mains like steak frites and rigatoni alla vodka. Cocktails include an Anna’s Gibson with dry gin, dry vermouth, and charred citrus-thyme pearl onions and boozy Quack-Quack-Erac with duck fat-washed St. Germain." - Tierney Plumb
"The D.C. team behind Little Coco’s and Bar Charley unveiled a modern American restaurant at Gaithersburg’s Rio Lakefront Mall this spring. The core of the menu is devoted to steaks, including an 8-ounce bavette cut for an approachable $27 to bigger splurges like American and Japanese A5 wagyu and heritage prime Angus beef from family-run Midwestern purveyor Meats by Linz." - Tierney Plumb, Eater Staff
"Billed as a grown-up Bar Charley, Charley Prime Foods opened at Gaithersburg’s Rio Lakefront Mall on Sunday, May 14 in the former Tara Thai space at 9811 Washingtonian Boulevard. The redesigned restaurant—black-and-white checkered flooring and slick green booths—fits about 90 inside and another 100 on a pretty waterfront patio, and it currently operates 5 p.m. to midnight daily with brunch and lunch rolling out soon. Longtime chef and partner Adam Harvey leads the kitchen with Little Coco’s chef de cuisine Russell Pike, and the expanded menu leans into steaks and homemade pastas: spicy rigatoni with marinara and Calabrian chiles; a squid-ink tagliatelle dotted with Hawaiian shrimp and spicy ’nduja crumbles; Little Coco’s elbow-noodle riff on cacio e pepe and a seasonal goat cheese ravioli; classic fish and chips, French onion soup, garlic cheesy bread made in-house, and a roasted lamb French dip with harissa aioli, onions, Swiss, and fries. Greenbaum calls the steaks “ridiculously sumptuous and well-priced,” pointing to an 8-ounce bavette for $27 alongside splurges like American and Japanese A5 wagyu and heritage prime Angus from the family-run Meats by Linz. The beverage program, supersized from their pint-sized Bar Charley, offers more than 40 drinks (including over a dozen on tap) with D.C. top sellers such as the “Quack-quack-erac,” various Old Fashioneds and mules, a Charley Manhattan, an updated Rum and Cola, a tap margarita called “Always Passionably Late,” and a nitro negroni; the 14-seat bar and sizable patio are positioned as ideal for summer drinking, with a pergola planned for shade." - Tierney Plumb
"Billed as a grown-up Bar Charley at Gaithersburg’s Rio Lakefront, this 90-seat modern American restaurant (with room for another 100 on a waterfront patio) will lean into steaks and homemade pastas while broadening the menu under longtime chef Adam Harvey." - Tierney Plumb