silver diner

we always admired the old 60s style decor of this diner everytime we drove past it. finally we visited the place one late evening. the interiors are equally interesting as the external neon signs and all steel get up. they have a juke box at the entrance and also on each table.

the menu is huge and we had hardtimedeciding what to order. for starters we had the chese fries and tangier cauliflower. fries had nice crispy bacon and cheese on them. i have never been a big fan of cauliflower, but this was something different. very tasty and a nice tangy sauce.

mains were good too. we had sliders, cod and quinoa and toasted vegis on ciabata. all very very well done. we rounded off with pancakes and sundae. you can imagine all this food after 10 pm!! so it had to be good.

given the vast spread on the menu, we have decided to visit the local outlet near our place for weekend brunch.

visited for the firsttimethis morning to experience the breakfast. i was pleasantly surprised with the significant availability of gluten-free foods, which i found absolutely awesome. the food itself was also an absolute pleasure, the french toast was great, as was the burger with a gluten-free bun. if you're here, visit!

disappointing--and i so wanted to love this place. i so wanted to like this place, but i have to say i was sorely disappointed. i'd never been to this place before, but had my parents visiting in town, and we were going to meet two of my aunts as well. we showed up around 8:30 on saturday morning, and got a table for 5 without delay. that was good. the server was either extremely busy, inexperienced, or both, however. she had to come back 3 times to bring enough glasses of water (for 5 people, it really shouldn't take more then one visit to get right), and the same with the coffees. trying to track her down to get a refill of coffee was a challenge as well--cup was totally done and cold by thetimeshe returned to refill.

two members of our group got pancakes, i got banana french toast, and the other two got regular french toast. not a single dish was brought out hot. the pancakes were fully cold for both diners, and the french toasts were as well. not like "slightly cooled from the griddle", but totally cold, not at all hot anymore. you'd have thought it impossible to screw up pancakes, but they did. the server seemed...unconcerned, when notified of this. just sort of blank stare and a "oh, uh....well, i guess i can take them back if you want?", which would have taken even moretime(this was already a long wait). the manager on duty did come around about 10 minutes later, to apologize and offer vouchers for two free entrees in the future, but i should have just pushed to get the meals comped or discounted that day--i doubt very much i'll be back to use the vouchers ever.

all in all, the food was disappointing (would have been pretty good i think if any of it was hot), the service was akin or worse to denny's, and the experience with out of town guests was just mortifying. i expected a good, reasonably priced diner-style breakfast before the guests left, and instead was left with what ended up being a pretty overpriced, very disappointing and embarrassing experience. don't know if we just had an unusually bad experience, but i cannot fathom how this place is as busy as it was if this is the norm. i'd definitely suggest looking elsewhere for breakfast--or honestly, just go to an ihop, where they generally manage to get pancakes to the table while still hot.

on the morning before i headed home from the washington dc area, i visited a restaurant called silver diner in greenbelt, maryland after doing some hiking in the nearby greenbelt national park. i didn't realize it when i went into the restaurant, but silver diner is a chain based around the virginia and maryland area. they apparently attempt to use local ingredients in their foods. the sign on the table told me that they partner with 15 local farms. it's nice to see a semi-large chain doing stuff like this. i ordered the local farm raised bison huevos rancheros. this came with a chorizo and bison hash, over easy eggs, peppers, salsa, scallions, cilantro, goat cheese, chunky avocado and fried tortillas. this was very tasty (and the secondtimei've had bison on this trip), but it was almost too much meat. the huge mound of meaty hash definitely overshadowed the eggs and other toppings. i also would have preferred soft tortillas rather than crispy tortillas. soft tortillas seem like they

greenbelt: great dining experience. may 30, 2010 was my firsttimeever in a silver diner, it was 10am saturday morning. the one i visited was in greenbelt, maryland. what a wonderful experience. i was attracted to the bright shiny steel front doors, with such a great '50s design and once you went through those doors you stepped back in time. the place is so wonderfully decorated with that retro feel of popping color and shiny steel accessories. i wanted a few of the light fixtures that hang above the table for my own kitchen. they are a cross between a schoolhouse pendant light and something george & jane jetson would own. the "atomic age" feel is resplendent.

what i *really* loved is how clean the resto was. the place was packed, all tables were full. yet there was no random food on the floor, our table was wiped completely clean as were the booth seats. that made me feel good about eating here. i'm a stickler for cleanliness.

onto the menu. lots of menu choices and plenty of healthy choices. in fact, some of the entrees sounded so good but i passed by because they were made with egg-beaters instead of eggs or low fat sour cream or low fat/no fat cheese instead of the regular (fat) food item. i watch my fat and food intake, i don't need them to. so i wished there was a choice instead of the dish automatically being made this way. still the selection of items is vast, and plenty of items for vegetarians, healthy eaters, and those wanting regular diner food.

i did order the crabcake & sweet corn 3-egg omelette which came with a flaky sweet biscuit and home fried potatoes. the little biscuit was tasty.the potatoes were good, not great, but good. the omelette was delicious! of course it was huge so i ate 2/3 of it as i couldn't finish the rest. the coffee was free-flowing, hot and good flavored. i really liked the little coffee cups too :)

this silver diner is very well appointed. quite a lovely place to be. and the staff is a1 super-friendly, courteous and they were happy. the hostess was friendly and speedy in taking our seating request. we had a short 10 minute wait. our waitperson was papa j (jerry) who was so welcoming and warm you felt like you were a guest at his house. he was also very knowledgeable about the ingredients and origins of the various food being used to create the healthy, quality ingredient dishes at the silver diner. i was quite impressed with this diner. it is not your regular diner fare. this food is of higher quality and a lot less salty than other diner food i have eaten. i will go again.

silver diner in greenbelt, md get's it right. when you go out to eat you want a good experience. i can make food at home so it's not just about the food. i loved the decor, the staff's attitudes and effectiveness, and the food was better than good. i can't wait to have pie and coffee there.

this resto is in an excellent location. it is close by to the university of maryland, and it's right off of the washington beltway and baltimore-washington parkway making it a good choice for travellers. oh and it's less than a mile from the beautiful greenbelt park and campground.

truly awful. not the food. the food is good, sometimes even great, but i have had multiple horrible experiences with the service in both the reston and the fairfax locations of this chain. if you go, be prepared to wait in a long line to get a table, then a longtimeto get noticed, longer to get served and then to send it back because its wrong, only to have the waitstaff argue with you about it. in their defense the manager in fairfax did once give my meal for free... after his waitress was done being generally horrible.