Silver Diner — Restaurant in Maryland

12/15/24

This new restaurant...(at least to us)... has picked a fantastic location near the water front of National Harbor.  I even saw a new area built for special ceremonies to honor our fellow soldiers.

On this occasion, Silver Dinner was extremely busy.  The wait time wasn't very long, but if one is extremely hungry, then the wait time can seem to take forever.  While waiting for the next available table for us, my wife and I checked out the menu to see what we wanted to order. This would save time once we were seated and our server appears.

This Silver Dinner has a Bar Silver?!

This is new to me, but upon stepping into the bar, (:Hell Yeah:)   people of all walks of life were sitting around drinking their drinks and eating their food orders from Silver Dinner.   The idea of eating in the bar area did cross my mind for a bit.

The down side to the bar area is that  the music is to LOUD! Will Smith's Shake The Room is bad enough, but to hear it at the level the music was playing is agonizing...or should I say excruciating? The people in the bar didn't seem to mind.  Maybe because they didn't hear that song repeated on a daily basis  back in the day. I can't say the music is always blaring, but it was on this day when my wife and I were there.

The Baltimore Ravens vs New York Giant is playing my team. The Baltimore Ravens  are ahead in points.  It got me thinking about The Commander's and Ravens playing in the Superbowl  this year.  Ahhh!, won't that be nice.

*As I now know, my team failed again to make it past Divisional Round of the playoffs by shooting themselves in the foot. Que Sera Sera is not making me feel any better about this series of unfortunate events year after year.

Ms. Asmira, our server, went beyond the normal service when she personally made a coffee the way my wife was hoping to aquire.   My wife ordered coffee and Ms. Asmira added a peppermint flavor to the coffee to give it a green look.

I ordered The Oat Milk Blueberry Pancakes with a side of carmel.  It normally comes with 40 grams of protein! Blueberries, pistachios, almond coconut whipped cream, powdered sugar, agave. I asked for the whip cream to be put on the side instead of on the pancakes. My wife ordered red potatoes, French Toast with eggs and two muffins.

Ms. Asmira was very busy, but she did check back with us from time to time.  Granted this day was on a Sunday and many folks had come from church to wine, dine and have a great time.

Speaking of great time, the food was sensational. The ambience too. We shall come back here.  We'll bring some friends too.

I think we will be back...

A Diner Disaster: When Silver Doesn't Mean Silverware

My recent visit to Silver Diner, intended as a pleasant meal for six, quickly devolved into a frustrating experience, proving that a catchy name doesn't always translate to quality service. We had specifically requested indoor seating due to a pregnant member of our party, but after a 20-minute wait, we were inexplicably directed to a five-person outdoor table. Our attempt to correct this error effectively reset our wait time, pushing us back to the end of the line as if we were new arrivals.

Once seated (eventually), our server was prompt in taking our initial order, but that's where the efficiency ended. It took a full eight minutes for our drinks to arrive, and even then, basic silverware was noticeably absent. A creamer was unceremoniously "tossed" onto our table, a detail that stood out given the seemingly moderate business of the restaurant. Our second request for silverware was met with no discernible reaction from our server.

The Food (When You Could Eat It) The food itself arrived at a decent pace, but the continuing lack of silverware made enjoying it a challenge. Five out of six meals landed on our table, still with no utensils in sight. I ordered the crab cake melt with lobster au jus, and I must admit, it did not disappoint. The dish itself was flavorful and well-prepared. However, the enjoyment was marred by the ongoing service issues. Throughout the meal, not a single refill was offered for our drinks, leaving us with an abundance of empty coffee cups. The disarray wasn't limited to our table either. A neighboring party was loudly airing their grievances about waiting 49 minutes without receiving any food or even silverware. It became clear that the irony of the "Silver Diner" name, in this instance, extended to a distinct lack of actual silverware.

While the crab cake melt offered a glimmer of culinary hope, the overall experience at Silver Diner was largely negative due to significant service shortcomings. Perhaps they should consider a name change to "No Silver Diner" to manage expectations...

Summary: Bad allergen awareness, rude kitchen staff, wonderful wait staff, tasty food

My girlfriend and I came here twice over the weekend for a convention. I understand it's a busy weekend and very stressful, but the service we received was generally pretty rude.

Both times, our waiters were exceptionally kind and friendly, the waiters are truly exceptional here and the negative points about service do not apply to them.

The food was great, as always. Been coming to a handful Silver Diner restaurants for years and never had any issues.

But the kitchen staff were negligent regarding food safety. Our waitress marked my girlfriend's dish as needing to be gluten-free due to an allergy. The burger she ordered came on a wheat bun anyway, despite our absolutely wonderful waitress doing her due diligence. If we hadn't caught it before she took a bite, then this would have really messed her up for at least a week.

The kitchen staff were incredibly rude. Anytime someone from the kitchen was serving our food instead of the waiters, they wouldn't even look at us. Not a word, not a glance. It also took a pretty long time for the replacement dish to come out. There was one man in a black, red and yellow Washington Commanders jacket who didn't even really walk to the table, he swung her replacement dish around her and onto the table and he turned right back around and sped off.

I understand this is probably one of the busiest times of the year here, but I really don't think it would have been more than a couple seconds to actually look at us and apologize for the wait or for almost poisoning my girlfriend.

They didn't charge us for my girlfriend's meal, however. We did appreciate that. But the cost of an allergic reaction would have been far worse than the cost...