Unconventional Diner — Restaurant in Washington

I was able to secure a same day reservation for brunch at 3:30pm, even though brunch ended at 4pm. The hostess was warm and very accommodating. Once we sat down, we immediately reviewed the menu to choose our orders because we knew that the brunch menu was ending soon so we wanted to be ready to order everything once our server greeted us. However we did have to wait quite a few minutes for our server. When he did greet us, he was friendly and patient. We decided to order the seegsy sandwich, the buttermilk pancakes, and the chicken and waffles to share and two sides of bacon, because of course. We did ask our server specifically for the vanilla Mascarpone pancakes because none of us wanted the blueberry lavender. He nodded in agreement and repeated our request of "vanilla marscapone" so we thought we were all set. We also ordered our drinks of espresso martini, spicy margarita and guava fruit punch which we all enjoyed. Food came out shortly after that. Unfortunately, when we got the pancakes we noticed it looked like they had the blueberry lavender topping. I asked the runner about it, I told him we ordered the vanilla mascarpone and he said that what he brought out was what we ordered. We were confused because we specifically ordered the vanilla marscapone. We dug into everything to try and it was soooo good! The cornbread waffles on the chicken and waffles must have been my favorite thing but I was very disappointed because the portion of the waffle was so small. Especially when compared to the ratio of chicken provided (which definitely had some spice to it when dipping it in the accompanying red sauce). In addition to the small portion, the texture of the waffle could use improvement too. The waffle basically disintegrated at each poke of the fork so it was nearly impossible to get a solid bite of the chicken and waffle together. But once you did get the bite of the chicken, Waffle and gravy, it was amazing! Whatever gravy they had on the side was delicious. The seegsy sandwich was delicious but those pancakes were NOT. We each tried just a small bite and immediatey realized there was definitely blueberry lavender. When we finally flagged down our server to address it, he finally explained to us that the pancakes were not either blueberry lavender or vanilla marscapone, but BOTH of those. We asked to send this back and to get another order of the sandwich but it was exactly 4 on the dot so when he asked the kitchen manager, they closed the kitchen for brunch so we couldn't reorder. Then we asked for the dinner menu because we still wanted another entree to share and he understood that we asked for the dessert menu so he brought us that instead. We had to be more intentional to clearly ask him again for the dinner menu which he then happily brought over when he understood what we were asking for. We then ordered another side of fries and seggsy sauce and the truffle Mac and cheese. The truffle Mac and cheese was creamy but a bit soupy in texture. However it tasted so good! I ordered a Paloma pop, which was about 6/10 and my sister got another espresso martini. Overall, the quality of food was really good but the service has room for improvement. I understand that brunch ends at 4, but if that is the case, the restaurant shouldn't allow brunch reservations to start at 3:30 because we felt a bit rushed by the server and the whole experience. Additionally, there was a lot of miscommunication from the server and the runners of the restaurant. If I'm being honest, there was an evident language barrier there. This created an issue both when we asked about the pancakes and when we asked for a dinner menu but he brought a dessert menu. I am definitely open to visiting again but now I know how to tamper my expectations....which isn't ideal considering that I'm paying for the experience. But the food that I ate, and ordered, was so good that I'm willing to give it another shot.

In short:

Food: 8/10 Service: 7/10 Aesthetic/ambiance: 9/10 (warm,...

I'm joining the hordes of people singing the praises of the food here - it was phenomenal. The rest of it? Not AS phenomenal, but it was a high bar to start with. My top-tier chum who literally went to the school of hospitality and I came here for lunch on the Sunday of inauguration weekend, so it was cold, rainy and insane. The first lesson we learned was not to get an Uber in the middle of DC that day - two different times, roads along our route unexpectedly closed to allow someone presumably more important than me to travel around, so it took much longer to get here from the museum area than it normally would. We chose to walk to our next destination, which was...also not the best idea. So it goes.

True to its name, Unconventional Diner feels a lot like a diner. We're both Jersey natives so it wasn't QUITE the dictionary definition of a diner from our perspective, but it was close enough, especially given that it's also a large establishment catering to a lot of tourists. Doesn't have that hometown feel, so to speak. The wait for an actual table was close to two hours but there was seating at the bar immediately so we opted for that even though we were strictly there for food/coffee. It is wild to me how long people will wait for a table instead of a bar stool when they don't have to. Feels like the restaurant equivalent of Darwinism in some ways.

Right from the get go, this place lost some points in that aforementioned bar area. One of the reasons we'll usually opt for this seating (even when we aren't forced to) is the service tends to be better. Not this time. The guy near us was apparently just in charge of the basics - he was cleaning the bar, providing waters, menus, silverware, etc. But after 10 minutes or so, he wasn't returning to specifically ask for our orders, which seemed odd. When we finally hailed him down, it turned out the one person who COULD take our order was just lingering in one small section of the bar chatting with one or two customers. He was alerted and came over promptly, but that was a definite management issue; if you're the only one in charge of food orders, make the rounds. I noticed a few other dining parties nearby noticeably impatient too; something to be acutely aware of from the business' perspective when the number of people bussing and providing waters is much higher than that of the waitstaff. It was really busy too, so all the more incentive to get the orders moving.

The primary reason I picked this place was that there WAS a unique spin to a lot of the menu items (you might say they were unconventional), with a lot of edgy brunch items. Ideal for the weather that day. I went with the Blueberry Lavender Buttermilk Pancakes, which were fantastic. The flavor was awesome, and the pancakes were cooked perfectly. Would recommend that to anyone in a heartbeat. This was my own fault, but for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to continue carbing up and getting a Buttermilk Biscuit w/ Strawberry Jam side. No reason to, and I finished about half of it. I can definitely see why people choose to overlook some questionable service issues when these types of dishes are showing up.

The bathroom situation was a little odd but honestly riled up my chum more than me. She went to use the facilities and took a while (no judgment). It turned out that it took so long because there were two other open bathrooms right there but no one realized it because they had no signs on the door. Huge unforced error. I used the bathroom as well and thought there was enough context to figure it out, but that's such an easy fix I don't know why it wouldn't have been done already.

Pretty strong recommendation but if I have the ability, I'm probably coming at a less chaotic/busy time to negate some of the service issues and overall chaotic...

This was my 7th or 8th time eating here, so my view of this place shouldn't be very surprising. I. LOVE. UNCONVENTIONAL. DINER. I've tried most of the menu, and prior to this visit, my favorites would include A) Mocha Sundae B) Miso Salmon C) Caribbean Shrimp & Grits D) Meatloaf E) Lebanese Fried Rice F) Baked Brie G) Carrot Cake H) Kale Nachos. Not everything here is great, but most everything is at least good to very good, and for the volume of creative menu offerings Unconventional has, that is a HUGE achievement. Course ratings for my last visit below:

1. Shiitake Spring Rolls (3/5) - These taste fine, and I like that they are focusing on the shiitake as the main ingredient, but overall, I can't help but compare these to Vietnamese egg rolls, which taste better at a fraction of the cost. Unconventional should either bring the cost down ($13 is too much) on these, or give more, or do something off-the-wall unique, otherwise I would pass on this in the future.
2. Crab Linguini (5/5) - Add this to my favorites list above. In fact, it might even top that list! I don't even like squid ink pasta, but the squid ink taste in this wasn't overpowering (with the lemon nicely balancing it out), and allowed the loadsss of fresh crab to shine, and for the lovely crunchy contrast of fennel and celery to also get some much deserved attention. A REALLY REALLY amazing pasta.
3. Peking Duck Confit (3/5) - The main problem is this isn't as tasty as peking duck you will get at a Chinese restaurant, and doesn't otherwise do enough unique to differentiate itself. Perhaps if you have never had peking duck before, this will be worth it to try, but this wasn't special enough to me to warrant the cost ($28).
4. Sunny Eggs (5/5) - Just look at my pic! No, this isn't breakfast, and no, those aren't eggs and bacon. Instead, coconut mousse heaven + mango yolk tarty-ness + fresh berries to boot! Unconventional Diner is SO SO good at desserts. And this joins their pantheon of greats.
5. German Chocolate Cake (5/5) - It's just a german chocolate cake right? Yes... yes it is... though it just so happens to be possibly the best german chocolate cake I have ever had! And a huge portion at that! Whoever makes this needs to open a...