Anonymous wrote:My criteria for a diner are:

Big menu
Lots of dessert choices
Breakfast all day
Long hours
Black coffee always available

Architecture and ethnicity aren't so important to me. Booths are nice to have, but the list above is more important to me.

I personally value the architecture / environment.

If "authentic" diner is the requirement, it needs to look the part.

My criteria for a diner are:

Big menu
Lots of dessert choices
Breakfast all day
Long hours
Black coffee always available

Architecture and ethnicity aren't so important to me. Booths are nice to have, but the list above is more important to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could maybe do the waffle house downtown

What Waffle House downtown????

This one.

https://www.lincolnswaffleshop.com/

I think this and Jimmy T's, or possibly Market Lunch, are OP's best bets.

Your relatives are probably looking for an experience to connect with movies they’ve watched. They’re not trying to get deep into rust belt working class culture. Just take them somewhere fun.

The college park diner has a lot of the aesthetics they’re probably looking for, but the food is genuinely terrible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not Ted's (which is a fine restaurant, but not a diner).

Tastee's is a true diner.

But for a similar authentic experience, also consider Market Lunch, Jimmy Ts, or Tune Inn. Market Lunch has really good food; the other two have mediocre food but great atmosphere.

Ooh yeah. market lunch followed by a beer at Tune Inn, then walk around the Capitol grounds. perfect Sunday!

although - is there seating anymore for Market Lunch?

Market Lunch has a long table with stools inside, and picnic tables outside for when the weather is better.

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.

Also from the Northeast. You do not know what you are talking about.

I'm sorry but as someone from the NJ/NY area, most of the places mentioned here are not diners similar to the ones you would find in the Philly to NYC corridor. There really are no diners in the DC area. The one exception in VA would be metro 29 but I'm not sure it is still open. If you are in MD, in the Baltimore area there are some better options, such a Towson Diner and Ellicott City Diner. Cafes that serve brunch are not diners. Silver Diner is not a diner. It is chain restaurant created in the image of a diner that serves things like Thai stir fries with some obligatory diner fare.

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

oh this is disappointing -- Carnegie Diner has been one we've been meaning to try

Steak N Egg or Florida Ave Grill in DC
I like the Rockville Silver Diner

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...).

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.

Agreed! My diner growing up was called Dimitri’s. They had spanakopita, farmers omelettes, avgolemono, red velvet cake, jello with whipped cream, hash browns, and Santa at Chrismastime.

bob and ediths is the only right answer

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1. If OP can’t get to one of the actual diners, then go for soul food, barbecue, or Ben’s Chili Bowl.

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.

But Silver Diner is literally not a diner in anything but the name. May as well go somewhere that actually tastes good or is unique like Ben’s.

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not Ted's (which is a fine restaurant, but not a diner).

Tastee's is a true diner.

But for a similar authentic experience, also consider Market Lunch, Jimmy Ts, or Tune Inn. Market Lunch has really good food; the other two have mediocre food but great atmosphere.

Ooh yeah. market lunch followed by a beer at Tune Inn, then walk around the Capitol grounds. perfect Sunday!

although - is there seating anymore for Market Lunch?

Anonymous wrote:Could maybe do the waffle house downtown

What Waffle House downtown????