Rewind Diner — Restaurant in Washington

REALLY tasty.

I've been craving a BLT for awhile, but I don't eat pork, and I stumbled across this place--which offered turkey bacon as an alternative! It's been hard to find a place that just offers it as a swap--I've only found a few, like maybe two other places, that offer turkey bacon as a swap--and their sandwiches look a lot sadder and they ask for an unreasonable upcharge... SO the fact that Rewind is out there letting a simple swap and keeping the price reasonable completely hooked me!

This was their BLTA, so had avocado. I asked for regular mayo (and on the side if possible) instead of spicy mayo because I knew I would want tomato soup, and I have GERD so tomato soup+spicy anything will give me heartburn. They gave me the regular mayo--Win! Not on the side but not a huge deal, if I was that uncomfortable I'd just have asked for no mayo. I wasn't even sure if they'd do regular mayo so I was really happy. For the automatic side, I chose the caesar salad. Then got the tomato soup separately

The side caesar salad was fantastic! Simple but filling and tasty! 10/10. One of my biggest pet peeves is when restaurants do a teeny little side salad when salads are largely comprised of lettuce.... and you get like a cup of lettuce with two croutons haha. It's one of the cheapest things to make and so many places skimp, but Rewind actually gives you a side salad, not a few sad forkfuls, but a side that actually makes it feel like you're having a rounded out meal with your entree.

The BLTA was thick and hearty and the turkey bacon tastes just like regular bacon! I do wish there were thicker, hefy tomato slices in it. The tomato soup, which is $8, was very good. They use cream and basil. UberEats was doing a special which more or less covered the soup.

The only thing I wish they did differently is offer the tomato soup as a side with the sandwich. I understand the soup is made in-house and uses cream so I'd pay a little extra for it... Only then, I wouldn't be able to decide if I want the caesar or the soup as my side!

I'd stressed about the bill without the special, but with the special and what they offer, definitely reasonable. I look forward to enjoying their food here again with any specials, if not today it...

If you've had one too many drinks in Dupont Circle, I could see the momentary appeal in overpriced bar food, but if you're sober, don't waste your time. It's been a long time since we had an incredibly bad dining experience in DC (props to the DC food scene). Here's why we won't ever go back to Rewind:

1. Food: It just isn't good. Their concept is a "high end" diner so they serve diner food (burgers, breakfast all day, etc), but with really expensive prices. Yeah, DC is expensive, but if your food is worst than IHOP's do NOT charge over $20 per dish. My wife and I had a drink, appetizer, and an entree each and paid over $100. I never felt worse spending $100. The salmon salad was overcooked and lacking flavor. The Juicy Lucy burger was small and tasteless. The mac and cheese and pigs in a blanket were decent, but again, not for the pricey tag attached to it.

2. Drinks: Worst I've had in the city. My marg was not mixed well, small, and I almost didn't finish it. I'd pay money to not finish it. My wife had the Old Fashioned and it wasn't good either. It was watered down.

3. Service: At first, they were attentive, but then they disappeared for a long time. The entire dining experience took 1.5 hours for gross diner food. I ordered the meatloaf and it took the server 20 minutes alone to let me know they were out (of course).

4. Atmosphere: It's a weird vibe. It's meant to be a throw back to the decades (which decade it's unclear). Contrary to their marketing, there's nothing classy about this place.

I rarely give poor reviews, but this experience was so bad, sadly, I had to write...

This place is whatever. The food is ok but the service is very mediocre. The hosts are literally there for decoration. All they do is stand there and point at where to sit, they don’t even walk you to the table. People pay in the front and none of the hosts take care of them, the servers do. They literally stand there staring at people. I had never seen hosts as decoration. One of the hosts was cleaning our table (bc the waiter asked her too, he was busy. Otherwise she wouldn’t have moved a finger) after we waited 10 min to have it clean and we were repeatedly saying “thank you!” And she literally rolled her eyes at us and didn’t say anything.

The servers are not attentive at all, and they bring you the wrong things. I asked for salt and they brought me an empty shaker ??? See pics for reference. I asked for water when I asked for the shaker and they never brought me anything. We wanted to get dessert but after this treatment, we didn’t want to give this place any more money.

The quesadilla is whatever. Nothing special honestly.

The chicken and waffle is good though. The chicken has a weird spice to it. The waffle is really good though. The fries are good too.

We came at night and saw two fights break out outside the restaurant. This place is located in a very shady part of town. It’s probably good during the day when the clubs are closed I guess. Don’t come at night.

The ambiance of the place is nice, the decor and music. It’s a shame that they have such...