Diner Bar by The Grey Opens in December at the JW Marriott: The Downtown DC Restaurant Jobs to Watch

WASHINGTON, DC — One of the most celebrated kitchens in the South is coming to Pennsylvania Avenue. Chef Mashama Bailey and restaurateur Johno Morisano, the team behind The Grey in Savannah, are opening two restaurants inside the JW Marriott near the White House, with Danny Meyer's Union Square Events as a partner. The first, Diner Bar by The Grey, is set to open in December. A second, more upscale room called The Grey on Penn follows next spring.

A hotel restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and a late-night bar menu needs a big crew across every shift. If you work in hospitality downtown, this is one to watch.

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📍 Business at a Glance

Business	Diner Bar by The Grey, followed by The Grey on Penn
Opening	Diner Bar: December 2026. The Grey on Penn: spring 2027
Address	JW Marriott Washington, DC, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW (replacing 1331 Bar & Lounge)
Concept	All-day diner and evening cocktail lounge, then a casual fine-dining room
Owners	Mashama Bailey and Johno Morisano, with Union Square Events
Industry	Restaurant / hotel hospitality
New jobs	No hiring announcement or headcount yet

🏆 Who's Behind Diner Bar by The Grey

Bailey runs the kitchen at The Grey, a restaurant built inside a restored Greyhound bus terminal in Savannah, and she is one of the best-known chefs in the country. Morisano is her business partner. Diner Bar is a spinoff of the counter-style bar inside the Savannah original. According to Washingtonian's first look, the menu will be mostly built for DC, with a few Savannah favorites carried over, and the room turns into a cocktail lounge at night.

Morisano's pitch is that these are neighborhood places that happen to sit in a hotel. "We open local restaurants," he told the magazine. That matters for job seekers. A room aiming for regulars from the Penn Quarter and Federal Triangle office crowd, not only hotel guests, needs staff who can build a following.

The partnership with Union Square Events, the catering and events arm of Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, adds an operator with a long track record of training hospitality staff.

💼 The Jobs an All-Day Hotel Restaurant Needs

No one has announced how many people Diner Bar will hire, or when hiring starts, so we won't guess at a number. What we can tell you is what this kind of operation structurally needs.

A restaurant open from breakfast through a late-night bar menu runs at least two full shifts a day, seven days a week. That usually means servers, hosts, bussers, food runners and bartenders on the floor, plus breakfast and line cooks, prep cooks, a dish crew and kitchen leadership in the back. Hotel restaurants often support room service too. The Grey on Penn starts its buildout after Diner Bar opens, which points to a second round of roles in 2027.

Translation: get your resume ready now, and watch for postings over the next few weeks. Check Union Square Hospitality Group's careers page as well as the hotel itself, since no one has said which company will employ the staff.

What It Means for Downtown Hospitality Workers

December is a sharp time to open downtown. Holiday parties, year-end conferences and the early-2027 calendar all lean on the hotels between Metro Center and the Mall. A big-name opening also tends to pull experienced staff from nearby rooms, which opens spots elsewhere downtown.

One thing to know before you talk pay: the District sets its own minimum wage, separate from Maryland and Virginia, and the address where you work decides the floor. Our guide to the 2026 wage line across the metro lays it out.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Diner Bar by The Grey opening?

Inside the JW Marriott at 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, in the space that held 1331 Bar & Lounge, near the White House and Metro Center.

When does it open?

Diner Bar is set for December 2026. The Grey on Penn is planned for spring 2027. No exact dates have been announced.

Is Diner Bar by The Grey hiring?

No hiring announcement or headcount has been made public. An all-day hotel restaurant needs a full front- and back-of-house team, so get your resume ready and watch for postings.

Who is behind it?

Chef Mashama Bailey and Johno Morisano of The Grey in Savannah, with Danny Meyer's Union Square Events.

Be First in Line When the Postings Drop

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