Qdoba opens in Rockville

Qdoba Mexican Eats is now open at 16260 Frederick Road in the Rock Grove shopping center in Rockville. This is Qdoba's second location in the Rockville area; the chain has an existing restaurant at 128 Rollins Avenue. New at Qdoba are four new sauces and toppings, and Cholula Hot & Sweet Chicken, made with Cholula hot sauce and real honey.

Galito's nears opening of first U.S. location in Rockville (Photos)

Galito's is nearing its American debut at 15918 Shady Grove Road in the Shady Grove Center, on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg. The South African flame-grilled chicken chain hasn't announced an opening date publicly yet, but as you can see, the interior is nearing completion. 

Galito's has announced what the opening specials will be: a full chicken with one side item for $19.00, and a 1/4 chicken with french fries for $6.90. The restaurant is also currently hiring grillers, expediters, and cashiers, with a starting salary of $15-$20.

Drive-thru Dunkin' Donuts planned for Shady Grove Road in Rockville

A new Dunkin' Donuts store with drive thru service is planned for the Shady Grove Road corridor, on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg. The new store will take over the vacant United Bank branch at 16268 Frederick Road, which actually has more prominent frontage onto Shady Grove than MD 355. This follows the recent pattern of Dunkin' stores moving into vacated banks that already have significant drive-thru infrastructure in place. There is an existing Dunkin' Donuts just around the corner at 16220 Frederick Road.

Rockville Burger King touts new restaurants Ripieno's Italian Bistro, JoJo's + dining room sneak peek (Photos)

One reason the major renovation of the Burger King on Shady Grove Road has taken so long may be the addition of other restaurants to the building, which is on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg. New signage has been posted in the restaurant windows for Ripieno's Italian Bistro and JoJo's. Potomac Foods Group owns many restaurants across Maryland, including this Burger King.

PFG has already added a Ripieno's to the rear of its Ocean City Burger King restaurant. That location's pizza has been named to some Top 10 pizza lists since its opening there. Potomac Foods Group has operated Golden Corral restaurants in Maryland. One of its former Golden Corral locations in Salisbury is now....JoJo's Family Restaurant. The surf and turf photograph in the sign matches one on the JoJo's website.

The idea of adding two restaurants to this Burger King is not exactly brand new. PFG previously considered adding a Bojangles and a sub and salad shop to the Shady Grove location. The Bojangles was to replace the large play area at the front of the restaurant. 

There's still no reopening date announced, but it looks like opening day is getting closer. We now have our first look at the renovated interior. Furnishings now look a bit more upscale than the typical fast food dining room. There appears to be an outdoor dining patio space, as well.

Galito's Flame Grilled Chicken opening in Rockville (Photos)

Galito's Flame Grilled Chicken is coming to 15918 Shady Grove Road in early 2022. "Coming soon" signage has been posted on the storefront. Galito's will serve piri-piri-style chicken, a famous flavor of Portugal, Brazil and South Africa. The restaurant will be located next to Argos Optical in the Shady Grove Center, on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg.

Photo: Robert Dyer/ Rendering at top courtesy Galito's Flame Grilled Chicken

Rockville Burger King update (Photos)

There's still no reopening date for the Burger King at 16004 Shady Grove Road, on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg. A few minor signs of progress since my last report: They've painted the formerly red southwestern corner wall. A final layer of material was applied to the fake tower atop the front of the building. And resurfacing and striping of the parking lot has been completed.

Those weird 1000-lunch-bags window coverings are still up. It looks like canopies over the drive-thru windows may yet have to be installed. This is the best-rated Burger King of those that remain in Montgomery County. I hope they reopen soon, because I've missed about 15 limited-time Burger King menu items during the renovation, between the pandemic and the closure.

Rockville Amazon Fresh construction update (Photos)

If you're just looking from the outside, nothing much appears to have been done at the future Amazon Fresh at the 270 Center on Shady Grove Road in recent weeks. The most visible change is fresh asphalt and line striping on the parking lot in front of the store. But inside, installation of complex wiring, cameras and sensor equipment is being performed, a process that is quite time-consuming for an Amazon grocery store with automatic checkout functions. It can't even be ruled out that they might employ Just Walk Out technology at this store, as they mean for that checkout system to replace the Dash Cart across all Amazon Fresh locations eventually. In addition to the Friendship Heights store, another Montgomery County Amazon Fresh has been confirmed for the Chevy Chase Lake development.

Construction advancing at new Rockville Qdoba (Photos)

Qdoba is out to an early lead among new tenants at the new Rock Grove shopping center at the corner of MD 355 and Shady Grove Road. The interior fit-out appears to be more than 50% complete. Permanent signage was installed this week above the storefront. The Mexican chain has an existing Rockville location at 128 Rollins Avenue.

Amazon Fresh Rockville store update (Photos)

Here's a look at the latest progress on the future Amazon Fresh grocery store in the 270 Center on Shady Grove Road. I'm still the only media outlet that has been able to authoritatively confirm this will be an Amazon Fresh store, way back in September 2020. Amazon has publicly remained silent on this location so far, and rebuffed all media requests. The exterior is nearing completion, but the Chevy Chase store proved that installation of all the wiring for the electronics in the store is a lengthier process than for your typical supermarket.