Bob's Soup Dumplings & Bar, a Chinese restaurant with roots in Rockville's award-winning Bob's Shanghai 66, is moving closer to opening at 7776 Norfolk Ave. in downtown Bethesda.

Permanent signage is now installed and lit at night at the space, which sits on the ground floor of the Windsor Bethesda building. Window coverings still blocked the view inside as of Monday, Oct. 5, blogger Robert Dyer reported, so the state of the interior fit-out remains unclear.

No opening date has been announced. The restaurant originally targeted spring 2026, according to a MoCoShow report in February, but that timeline passed without explanation.

The restaurant carries a backstory that has kept Bethesda food watchers guessing. It was first proposed as a new location of Bob's Shanghai 66, the award-winning Rockville dumpling house. Early signage read "Bob's Shanghai," and the restaurant's original Instagram handle was @bobsshanghaibethesda.

Then the Rockville restaurant pushed back. Bob's Shanghai 66 posted a notice on its door in early 2026 saying it was not opening a Bethesda location and that its Rockville spot was its one and only home, MoCoShow reported. An unidentified employee told Bethesda Magazine in November 2025 that the Bethesda eatery was not associated with the Rockville restaurant.

MoCoShow reported in February 2026 that the Bethesda restaurant would be owned and operated by the original owner of Bob's Shanghai 66 but would not be affiliated with the current Rockville location. Neither party has publicly explained the split, and the Bethesda owner has not been identified by name in any published report.

The restaurant's name shifted along the way. It went from Bob's Shanghai Bethesda to Bob's Bethesda in January 2026 before landing on Bob's Soup Dumplings & Bar.

The space at 7776 Norfolk Ave. had been one of downtown Bethesda's more visible vacancies since Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza & Wings closed there in September 2024 after nearly five years. Interior renderings posted to the restaurant's social media account showed red furniture, large circular tables and a bar, Bethesda Magazine reported in November 2025.

The restaurant appeared before Montgomery County Alcohol Beverage Services on March 5 for a hearing on a Class B beer, wine and liquor license. The outcome of that hearing has not been confirmed in published reports.

Bob's Shanghai 66 remains open at 305 N. Washington St. in Rockville, serving walk-in diners with no reservations.