The Diner

Food is pretty good for the value, however the counter service is pitiful. (I can’t speak to table service.)
I sat at the counter by myself and it took ten minutes for the one lady working the counter to greet me. Don’t get me wrong, this lady was consistently moving and certainly looked busy, but until they staff a second server behind the counter service is going to take a hit, meals are going to take longer, and the wait times are going to suffer.
That said, it took 10 minutes to be greeted and even then I had to ask for a menu. The menu came close to 5 minutes later, so 15 minutes in and I’ve barely made progress on my meal. To be fair, I was asked if I was ready to order not long after I was given my menu, but I felt like I had to make a decision quickly or else it would be another chunk of time until I saw my server again.
At that point, I didn’t see my server until a few minutes after the food runner handed me my food and ran away, which would not have been a huge problem if I didn’t need a fork (i.e. I couldn’t eat my food and it was getting cold). I ultimately got my silverware and asked for a coffee refill.
I finally got my coffee refill when I was ¾ done with my food. After finishing my meal, I sat with an empty plate in front of me for another good 10 minutes. My server then asked if I needed anything else (as she refilled my water for the first time) and I advised her I was all done. She then immediately reached out her hand for my method of payment. Again, I know I’ve been complaining about how slow the service has been, but to be fully ignored until it’s time to pay up and then to have a hand in my face waiting for a credit card tells me that service standards at The Diner prioritize money over service quality.
Again, if The Diner actually cares about taking care of its counter guests, I would suggest scheduling another server at the counter. That way, servers can provide some semblance of attentive service.

Hungry? Up late… Or, if your like me and like to eat Breakfast all day… This is your spot!
I have been coming to «The Diner» for years and love this place!
Nostalgia runs into modern times with this place. The Diner has the feel of a 1950’s establishment about it and you can still see reminisce of the old in the place with things like the original tin ceilings and breakfast counter curves along throughout the whole joint.
The service is friendly and prices are very reasonable too. The clientele is diverse. On any given night it is not uncommon to find yourself sitting next to a Capitol Hill member of Congress on one end to a punk rock band, just finishing their set on another end. You got it love it this kind of eating scene. Interesting characters to casual tourist is not uncommon. I always find this place accommodating to all, at any given hour… but get there early for brunch or soon after the Adams Morgan bars close because there is usually a long line.
I am a huge an of the the French Toast, Eggs, Sausages and Home Fries deal. The homefries are perfect and always crispy! Side all of this with the free-​refillable coffee going strong and you will be in wired bliss! The Boozy Shake is a winner too!
On this particular night, I ordered the NY Strip and the French Toast Breakfast. Yes, a lot food and I ate it all! LOL. It was all cooked to perfection in generous portions and served up with great service that you expect in a diner.
If you are in city and hungry… and looking for a chill vibe morning, noon or night… go here. This place is a great choice for breakfast or a casual meal. The menu is varied and has a lot of choices to choose from. What I like most about The Diner is the hip, no pretensions vibe and basic… but great food! Whether solo, on a date, or a large group… everyone can find something on the menu to enjoy here. I mean where else can you go and it’s no problem if one of you want French toast with a side of corned-​beef hash (Me!) and someone else wants penne pasta or an open-​face turkey sandwich?!
This is why «The Diner» is A-​OK with me!

The food is awesome. We had the diner royale and there are so many options. Two kinds of frenchbread and toast. The servers are so nice as well. We go there early on MLK around 0800 and plenty of room. Starting filling up but still nice.

Great breakfast.
Good service, fast.
Had the vegetable omelet and it was delicious.

Let me start off my saying my impression of The Diner was heavily influenced by the fact that I could eat outside in December. Now that we have that out of the way, we can get to the good part — food.
I wish more than anything that I had gone just for one of their boozy shakes, but alas, I had dinner on my mind. Their lamb sliders (which I had with their drink the «Bitter Ex» — gin and sparkling wine are a great match) were the perfect combination of flavors and textures, with pickled red onions adding a necessary crunch, and the chipotle pepper spread adding a subtle kick. It was also the perfect size for a late meal, coming with three medium-​small sliders and a salad in the middle.
You can’t go wrong with a place that serves breakfast all day. The next time I go, I’m seeing what their fried chicken biscuit is all about, and maybe the Appalachian Breakfast spiked shake (bourbon, bacon, maple syrup, and vanilla ice cream, a.k.a. a religious experience in the making) if I’m feeling bold. Whether you go the breakfast route or order a burger, you’ll leave full and happy. It helps that the waitress encouraged my friend and I to «stay as long as [we’d] like» — relaxed is how I like my restaurants.

Don’t take this 3 star rating as a sleight… this place is open 24 hours meaning if you’re in the mood for a hot chocolate/​tea or some good breakfast at 3 AM you’ve got an option. Where most diners are closed «The Diner» is open and these late night hours in DC during the week days are rare. No complaints about service especially considering the late hour and they were playing some solid hip hop in the background. Not blaring enough to interrupt your conversation and not so quiet that your conversation can’t be intimate.
As expected there was a diner menu, they also do boozy milkshakes and have a alcohol bar that’s open before last call (I think 2 AM during the week in DC). I ordered a green tea which comes in a tea pot with enough for about 1 and a half cups of tea as well as a lemon in a strainer. I ordered a fried chicken biscuit with no bacon and it was okay. The biscuit was a toasted English muffin and sandwich included cheddar cheese. Nothing exciting from the biscuit or the chicken but it wasn’t bad. Also ordered a pancake with bananas which was good. The price was right somewhere around $ 9 – 10 which is great because I was just looking for a quick bite.
It’s on the list on places to give a second shot and hopefully next time the food will have a little more flavor.

There’s no place like home… must eat 1^st.
After everyone got their bearings together & a quick Über ride, we ended up here for post partying breaking of the bread.
I am fanatic for diner food, especially when they offer a great selection of vegetarian/​vegan options.
It looked very crowed pulling up & walking in… yahoo, no wait & there was a big enough table to accommodate the 7 of us.
After everyone ordered OJ & a few diet cokes (what the heck, diet cokes?!) Any who, after the French Toast, Pancakes, Omelets, Chicken Sausage (nice to see on the menu) was placed, & I settled for the Black Bean Patty Burger with a Vegan Bun & some Tater Tots.
OMGosh, the food didn’t take long at all & we all dived in the diner way… no go backs, that’s always a good sign.
The food was very good, & no one had any complaints. I even ordered a Grapefruit Juice for my dessert & it was extremely fresh & sweet.
While everyone else was struggling to stay awake & consuming the late night nosh, I was enjoying people watching, making a mental note to come back for the patio seating when the weather is warmer & to try more yummy options from the menu.
Anytime a food place is open 24 hours that offers a delicious variety of food is always a winner in my foodie book… especially when you need to go to bed on a full stomach.

Was able to eat lunch food for breakfast! Always a bonus for me. Great portions, tasted great.

Excellent diner. Excellent food and atmosphere. As someone just moving to the DC area and looking for 50’s style diners. This place hit a home-​run.
Now dont think this is a low budget grease pit. It’s not. The food is upscale diner food. About 32 bucks for a party of two; worth every penny. I’ll be coming back.

A bit better quality than what you’d expect from a diner. Our server was excellent– he was patient even though we were being (probably annoyingly) indecisive, and he split up our checks perfectly (there were 5 of us). He was prompt and polite.
I ordered the Royale– medium fries eggs, bacon, challah French toast (that came with berries), home fries, and toast (biscuits are +$ 0.50). Everything was cooked perfectly& I have 0 complaints.
I don’t know if I went in with low expectations, but I was impressed.

The Diner is aptly named — it’s your straightforward diner-​type food. They have a pretty large menu (burgers, sandwiches, breakfast stuff), but the food is pretty darn heavy. This would be a good casual sit-​down place to stop by if you’re looking for some hearty American food in Adams Morgan, or if you’re looking to help a hangover. I got the patty melt — it was a typical patty melt… greasy, heavy, but flavorful. I do think they did a good job with the execution of the actual beef patty.
The downside to this place is that the service is somewhat slow. Décor is very plain, going for 50’s diner vibe inside.

So I came on labor day for brunch and the place was full. We got seated within a few minutes. The staff is dressed like they all just woke up and threw on something then came to work. However, everyone was very nice. My friends and I all got breakfast items. I got the steak and eggs with a biscuit. It was $ 14 and was worth it considering the amount of food it came with. Everything was really good from the eggs, steak, to the potatoes. The biscuit I felt was a little stale and definitely could have been fresher in my opinion. Besides that everything else was really good. I’d give them another shot and probably try something different.

Surprisingly, I had never ventured in before… and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I love this place.
Cute, friendly and nostalgic atmosphere… I had to sit at the counter and order a milkshake! And excellent service.
AMAZING FRIED CHICKEN!!! Two pieces of super crispy fried chicken with meat that was perfectly cooked and tender. SO far, the best fried chicken that I’ve tried in DC.

I have been to the diner a few times… both during the day and in the wee hours of the night. There’s a definitely more attentiveness during the day, but not by much. As long as you walk-​in with the right expectations you’ll be fine…
THE GOOD.
–pretty good menu with lots of choice
–vegetarian/​vegan friendly
–s’mores milkshake was amazing
–grilled cheese options are good
–outdoor seating
–flexible hours of operation
THE BAD…
–some of the execution of the food isn’t the best… sounds good on the menu though, for example the shrimp and grits… wouldn’t get again
–service is very slow all around… includes greeting, taking order, checking-​in and dropping the check off
Overall The Diner is worth a visit if you’re down in Adams Morgan with some friends and want a sit-​down meal after a night of drinking and bar-​hopping. Being drunk may help to curve the lack of attentiveness and customer service. Either way, this place is OK, but nothing I’d go out of my way for.

Best thing about the diner is that its an option for a full selection of food once the bars go to alcohol alone. Nice place and decent service. We ordered the chicken place and I was disappointed with the chicken. The skin which is what you look forward to was horrid, it as life frozen dinner fried chicken. I am very sure the food was cooked fresh because of how long it took and because it was piping hot. If I could change the batter, the would be AWESOME. I would for sure go back but I would only get breakfast seems that is the best thing here based on what others around me were ordering and previous reviews.

From one of my favorites, to another disappointment? I’m so disappointed in The Diner. Like I said in my previous review, the portions have always been great, the food tasty, and the atmosphere fun. HOWEVER, this has not been the case the past two times I’ve been here and I’m pretty bummed.
We came here last weekend (yeah, going to brunch on Father’s Day without a reservation may have been risky) and the place was a disaster. It didn’t take long to get seated, but it took forever to get waited on. I realize they were very busy, but we couldn’t even wave someone down… No one seemed to want to deal with us (a table of two…).
When we finally placed our order it took an eternity to get our food. BUT WAIT, we didn’t even get our food the first time, we got OUR NEIGHBOR’S FOOD (well half of it)!! Thank goodness we decided to wait for the other half of our food to arrive before we started to dig in. After about 5 minutes and flagging down our server to say we never received the other meal, he dashed off to check on the progress. He returned to tell us we had gotten our neighbors food (they were literally less than a foot away from our table, I’m surprised they didn’t catch on). He took the food away, brought it back to the kitchen, then proceeded to bring it out to them. Awkward.
After about another 10 minutes we got our food this time. The food was tasty, but the whole experience was just tainted. If this were any other restaurant I would have given it a 1 star review, but I have loved The Diner for the years I’ve been here and I keep thinking it’ll be a different experience.
I don’t know if I’ll be back or if this is no longer my «place.»

Food is good, prices are fair, but the staff here really make this place great.
I don’t want to get into personal stories here, but they are friendly and accommodating. They truly are great.
The fact that the food is really good and it’s open 24 hours a day really is eclipsed by how great the people who work there are

A great dependable neighborhood diner is always a good find and I’ve never been disappointed here. Menu items don’t typically change a lot, but there is no need to fix what isn’t broken. I come here for breakfast a lot and I personally love their omelets.
I also think the diner stays up on trends by having items on the menu that are out of the ordinary for a typical diner, like kale chips. Everything is also very reasonably priced and the waitstaff is always accommodating with dietary restrictions.
Although I wouldn’t necessarily frequent the diner as often as I do if I didn’t live a few doors down, I don’t believe I’ve ever been disappointed.

I was reeled in with Croque & Daggers and a seemingly creative and witty menu. But alas… food fell short of my expectations.
The infamous Croque & Dagger dish: 2 over easy eggs, ham or bacon, on sour dough bread, and drenched in bechamel sauce and melted gruyère. Sounds like a foodgasm, yes, I know. The taste? Meh. How can this be?! Pure mediocrity. Lack of depth and flavor. Home fries were ‘meh’ as well.
The French toast was nothin extraordinary. Slather in syrup and butter for flavor.
Grits were indeed interesting. Extremely creamy, soft instead of «gritty» and thick in consistency.
I will admit that I am willing to come again because the food had potential and it’s possible that my dishes were a miss.
Pleeeeeease, do better.

Pretty good food. Nothing fancy dancy about the décor. It’s a typical diner style with tables and booths around a long counter top. Open late which was awesome sauce! I was tipsy and it was 1 am and I got a great burger (diner burger with an over medium egg) which was cooked really well. I asked for a medium burger and got a medium burger. So often are burgers over done. The chili cheese fries are pretty good too. It was my birthday and I had the decadent shake with the bourbon, vanilla ice cream, bacon and maple syrup that was delicious and once the waitress found out it was my birthday she comp’d the shake which I thought was just sweet. My friend had the croque and dagger and said he thought it was amazing.
It’s sitting in the mix of the action on 18^th street and parking is NON EXISTENT! I drove around for almost an hour on Saturday night around midnight so good luck with that! But definitely worth another visit.