Best authentic diner in DC area?

[Anonymous]

Whatever you do, avoid the Carnegie Diner in Vienna. That place totally sucks. [The old Amphora would have been a valid option.]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My family from abroad is visiting for the holidays. They want to go to an American diner. What is the most authentic one in the area?

Everyone knows that an authentic American diner is Greek. A diner must have the following: a glass dessert display case up front, a long menu, and some sort of poster or model of the Parthenon. Bonus if there is a Greek flag or surly septuagenarian proprietor at the cash register. Unfortunately, DC is lacking in the Greek diner department and the few that existed are slowly vanishing. I don't think any of these are great, but they are diners - Amphora (Herndon), Metro 29 (Arlington), Double T (Annapolis, Catonsville, Pasadena, and some others...).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC but would recommend Tastee Diner in Bethesda for this.

100 times this.

Was getting ready to write this as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC but would recommend Tastee Diner in Bethesda for this.

Yep or Bob and Edith's in VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family from abroad is visiting for the holidays. They want to go to an American diner. What is the most authentic one in the area?

Everyone knows that an authentic American diner is Greek. A diner must have the following: a glass dessert display case up front, a long menu, and some sort of poster or model of the Parthenon. Bonus if there is a Greek flag or surly septuagenarian proprietor at the cash register. Unfortunately, DC is lacking in the Greek diner department and the few that existed are slowly vanishing. I don't think any of these are great, but they are diners - Amphora (Herndon), Metro 29 (Arlington), Double T (Annapolis, Catonsville, Pasadena, and some others...).

Yes. I grew up in an area with many Greek diner's. I miss them. My dad used to joke that all the food for all of the diners in the area came from one giant kitchen in the center of the earth because they all had basically the same mile-long menu and tasted mostly the same.

[Anonymous]

The diner in Adams Morgan.

[Anonymous]

Metro 29 or Bob and Ediths

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family from abroad is visiting for the holidays. They want to go to an American diner. What is the most authentic one in the area?

Everyone knows that an authentic American diner is Greek. A diner must have the following: a glass dessert display case up front, a long menu, and some sort of poster or model of the Parthenon. Bonus if there is a Greek flag or surly septuagenarian proprietor at the cash register. Unfortunately, DC is lacking in the Greek diner department and the few that existed are slowly vanishing. I don't think any of these are great, but they are diners - Amphora (Herndon), Metro 29 (Arlington), Double T (Annapolis, Catonsville, Pasadena, and some others...).

You have no clue what you are talking about. The original authentic diner is in a converted or prefab old style dining train car. There is a counter and then some booths opposite it as there is no room for tables. Almost all of them are in the Northeast and they most certainly are not Greek.

Just check this list out. If it doe snot look like this then it isn't a diner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diners

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family from abroad is visiting for the holidays. They want to go to an American diner. What is the most authentic one in the area?

Everyone knows that an authentic American diner is Greek. A diner must have the following: a glass dessert display case up front, a long menu, and some sort of poster or model of the Parthenon. Bonus if there is a Greek flag or surly septuagenarian proprietor at the cash register. Unfortunately, DC is lacking in the Greek diner department and the few that existed are slowly vanishing. I don't think any of these are great, but they are diners - Amphora (Herndon), Metro 29 (Arlington), Double T (Annapolis, Catonsville, Pasadena, and some others...).

You have no clue what you are talking about. The original authentic diner is in a converted or prefab old style dining train car. There is a counter and then some booths opposite it as there is no room for tables. Almost all of them are in the Northeast and they most certainly are not Greek.

Just check this list out. If it doe snot look like this then it isn't a diner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diners

I think you are both correct. I grew up with the Greek diners and they exactly as you described. The best Greek salads! But they had everything on the menu.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family from abroad is visiting for the holidays. They want to go to an American diner. What is the most authentic one in the area?

Everyone knows that an authentic American diner is Greek. A diner must have the following: a glass dessert display case up front, a long menu, and some sort of poster or model of the Parthenon. Bonus if there is a Greek flag or surly septuagenarian proprietor at the cash register. Unfortunately, DC is lacking in the Greek diner department and the few that existed are slowly vanishing. I don't think any of these are great, but they are diners - Amphora (Herndon), Metro 29 (Arlington), Double T (Annapolis, Catonsville, Pasadena, and some others...).

You have no clue what you are talking about. The original authentic diner is in a converted or prefab old style dining train car. There is a counter and then some booths opposite it as there is no room for tables. Almost all of them are in the Northeast and they most certainly are not Greek.

Just check this list out. If it doe snot look like this then it isn't a diner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diners

I think you are both correct. I grew up with the Greek diners and they exactly as you described. The best Greek salads! But they had everything on the menu.

Nope, maybe in the DC area they call them diners, but I am from the northeast where diners were created and none of them are Greek or are in massive huge restaurants. They are all in dining cars.

[Anonymous]

Not sure how committed you are to a drive but there’s a couple of Double T diners in the Baltimore area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family from abroad is visiting for the holidays. They want to go to an American diner. What is the most authentic one in the area?

Everyone knows that an authentic American diner is Greek. A diner must have the following: a glass dessert display case up front, a long menu, and some sort of poster or model of the Parthenon. Bonus if there is a Greek flag or surly septuagenarian proprietor at the cash register. Unfortunately, DC is lacking in the Greek diner department and the few that existed are slowly vanishing. I don't think any of these are great, but they are diners - Amphora (Herndon), Metro 29 (Arlington), Double T (Annapolis, Catonsville, Pasadena, and some others...).

You have no clue what you are talking about. The original authentic diner is in a converted or prefab old style dining train car. There is a counter and then some booths opposite it as there is no room for tables. Almost all of them are in the Northeast and they most certainly are not Greek.

Just check this list out. If it doe snot look like this then it isn't a diner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diners

I think you are both correct. I grew up with the Greek diners and they exactly as you described. The best Greek salads! But they had everything on the menu.

Nope, maybe in the DC area they call them diners, but I am from the northeast where diners were created and none of them are Greek or are in massive huge restaurants. They are all in dining cars.

New York and New Jersey would like to have a word with you...

[Anonymous]

Silver Diner is fine. "Authenticity" is overrated given the topic, and the parsing over whether the diner has to be in a dining car or Greek-owned is dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Silver Diner is fine. "Authenticity" is overrated given the topic, and the parsing over whether the diner has to be in a dining car or Greek-owned is dumb.

Look, a place like Silver Diner is a corporate facsimile of what an actual diner is. If my out-of-the-country relatives wanted an American experience, I would give them a real one, not the fake copy. The real American experience is the immigrant-owned diner or the train car diner with the waitress who has been there for 40 years. I suppose you could make the argument that the corporate facsimile is the MOST American of them all, and you wouldn't be wrong, but that isn't where I would choose to take guests.

[Anonymous]

I think 29 Diner in Fairfax is closed, not sure. It was classified as a historic site some time ago. It is/was in a trailer.