Metro 29 Diner Restaurant

I took my nephew here visiting from out of country and I told him this place was featured in diners, drive-​íns, and dives. I was really disappointed when I saw that the food tasted like coming from a can. Fries seems to be out of frozen produce. We ordered a burger and a sandwich. Only good thing was the fresh orange juice. We had high expectations and I´ll never be coming back here.

I came here because it was featured in DDD in food network. It was as great as I expected. We ordered french toast, pancake, bacon, and other breakfast stuffs. Amazingly, the portion is so big and price is reasonable. The food taste really good. Very butter and smells amazing. One thing is that they use single portion breakfast syrup that uses corn syrup. But overall it was worth it.

Yo check it! Dis joint has been on da 29 strip (Lee Hwy) fo eva! But DANG! Sup with tha prices??? Thay cray-​cray son!!! I did a browser «Find» (text: prices) on the Metro 29 Unilocal page and almost all tha reviews agree the prices are thru da roof! Oh hex no! Ima give dis join 1 star cuz it’s been serving the community for a long time, 1 star cuz if you order the right item and can drop $ 20 and walk with $ 5+ in change, dis place can be aight. Also, no WiFi. I didn’t wanna surf the Web or nuthin, but I needed to check my work email. No dice. Amazes me dat peeps would pay these OVER prices. Quality don’t match cost. Shame dawg, shame.

Awesome service from an older gentleman. He was very polite, attentive, and helpful. Great waiter.
Ordered the chicken parmesan. Massive amounts of food. The matzah ball soup was great, greek salad was huge and tasty, and the chicken parmesan was cooked just right. Lots of food for a decent price. Get ready to eat a ton here.

Our go-​to eatery for 20 years. Delicious, bountiful servings. Love their breakfast food (served all day) and cold, crispy salads, homemade soups, and luscious lemon meringue pie. Skilled and friendly managers, waiters, and cashier, who’ve been there for years. Fast service, cozy neighborhood vibe.

A few years ago, I would’ve given this place three or perhaps four stars, but sadly the quality of the food has declined while the prices seem to have increased. As far as the value proposition for diners go, Metro 29 misses the mark. The restaurant really needs to revamp its lunch and menu. The service has always been solid in my experience. If you do go, just go for breakfast… they do a decent enough job with breakfast.

This is a nice diner spot located in Arlington. Parking lot was full when we got there, but managed to find a spot as someone left. We expected to wait to be seated but that was not the case. The staff was extremely busy, but prompt with bringing coffee and waters along with taking our order.
Our group ordered a combination of the Challah French Toast, Belgian waffle and an omelette. We also got sides of corn beef hash, Canadian bacon and ham. The Challah french toast was really good. Thick, yet light with plenty of flavor. Definitely a must try if you come here. The corned beef hash was also really good, so if you like that sort of thing, I would recommend it. Everything else to me was standard diner food. Nothing that blows you away but nothing bad either. Just good solid breakfast food.
If you are looking for a good diner, the Metro 29 is certainly a worthy stop!

Saw this place on Diners, Drive-​Ins, and Dives and, was in town for one night ado I decided to try their homemade challah bread French Toast, just like Guy Fieri did. OMG… By FAR, the fluffiest yet crispy FT I’ve ever had. I think it’s a good thing I’m not a local or I’d be eating these every day.

I went for Thanksgiving dinner. The butternut soup was not as sweet as I am used to. The salad was average. The turkey plate was huge for a single serving. The mashed potatoes and green beans sides were the best. The waitress was very attentive and served us quickly.

A serviceable diner spot for breakfast. Coffee is actually pretty good for diner coffee and they use really good sausage. Omelettes and pancakes were were what you’d expect, not the best ever, but representative of typical satisfying diner fare.
Yes, prices are on the bit on high side, but you’re in a «diner» in an affluent close-​in DC surburb, not in some industrial town in rural Wisconsin, so $ 9 pancakes shouldn’t be too much of a sticker shock (unless you’ve just moved from rural Wisconsin). Service workers were quick and efficient. Probably the hardest working waitresses I’ve seen anywhere. Tip them well.

We have been coming here for years but unfortunately our last experience at Metro 29 was a disaster and so we will not be returning.
Found hair in my drink and even after mentioning it to our server, not only we did not get an apology, we ended up getting charged for it anyway.
Ordered a children sized spaghetti with tomato sauce for my daughter. Grant it, I should’ve looked at the price before ordering but still, $ 9.25 for a kid size pasta with no meat, no bread, no sides, and just some tomato sauce out of a can is freaking outrageous. I’m a chef and a restaurateur and I know when a restaurant is taking advantage of its customers.
I will not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Order the french toast — enough said.
But… to elaborate, they also have good coffee as well. I’ve come here plenty of times to enjoy the french toast and coffee while reading a book. I usually sit at the counter so I don’t have to wait for a table.
There are plenty of 1 — 2 star reviews on Unilocal for this place (and I’m not sure why). I can’t really speak to the «rude» wait staff experiences — every time I’ve been here the staff has always been friendly (and I’ve never found hair in my food /​drink or had any other issues). Regarding the prices, yeah it’s $ 9 for pancakes (it’s also $ 9 for french toast, omelettes, and other breakfast dishes). While that may seem pricey compared to diners in other cities in the country (or compared to prices 20 years ago) — this is friggin Arlington, VA people. Nothing around here is «cheap». At least nothing good is cheap. BUT the prices are on the menu — so if you order something and are surprised at your bill, then (insert your favorite «I told you so» idiom here).
I’ve only ordered french toast, pancakes, omelettes, and apple turnovers here in the past — so I can’t speak to the remainder of the menu. But I think this place is definitely worth a try and the french toast is definitely worth what they’re charging for it.

3.5 stars
*Nova Scotia Benedict — it’s decent for Benedict and their hollandaise sauce isn’t too heavy. Egg was poached perfectly. Wasn’t too fond of their home fries.
*French Toast — this is what everyone recommends. Smells very good, and it’s actually pretty good. But careful not to go overboard on the syrup because it’s sweet on its own. Also, big portion!
Overall fair service and nice staff. Parking can get a bit hectic on Sunday’s.

My husband and I went there with the kids. We were immediately seated, and the waiter came over almost instantly and took our drink orders. Having children, we love places that are willing to take the two younger one’s orders first (basically when they take the drink orders). After he took our drink order, within minutes he brought out bread and our drinks, and then took our (the adults) orders.
This restaurant would have received five stars had it not been for the fact that our entire order came out at the same time, excluding one of the children’s orders. The problem was, my youngest daughter’s order (grilled cheese sandwich), came out close to ten minutes later. Now my husband ordered a steak (medium), and somehow the steak came out before her grilled cheese sandwich. In our family, we typically do not eat our meal (with the exception of the youngest children) until everyone has their meal in front of them. Needless to say, by the time she got her grilled cheese sandwich, our food had cooled off a lot.
Now on the flip side, the waiter did make up for it by giving each of the children one of their extra large, chocolate chip cookies. For them, that was the best. And as parents, it went a long way to providing good customer service
We will continue to go back to the this restaurant, because the service is always good, and for the most part, we have never experienced mishaps like that one in the past.

I’ve passed by this place a million times, but never once stepped in until my friend invited me out with her and a guy she was getting to know to lunch. I had been feeling under the weather and was being a recluse in my apartment until she pulled me out and forced me into the booth seat.
I am happy she did since I found the food to be pretty good and I enjoyed my dining experience here. I go to try some of the French toast and for my own personal meal had the over sized and overpriced pizza burger. I cleared my plate. I hadn’t been eating much since I was not feeling well, but some how managed to conjure up an appetite for this visit.
Service was complete crap. We didn’t see our server much and pretty much from the moment we sat down to 5 minutes after we sat down we were being hounded for our orders. We told her to go away 3 times in 5 minutes since it was obvious we were still covering the menu of what we wanted to order. Once we gave her our orders we didn’t see her for a good 30 minutes except when the food was brought out. I ended up drinking my friend’s water since she opted for something else in addition to it, and we sat with empty glasses for awhile. It wasn’t really busy at 2:30 in the afternoon.
If we wouldn’t have had the lackluster service this place might get a higher rating from me. Otherwise it is staying at 3 out of 5 for now.
One last note — buyer beware! This is not diner prices. To my dismay you’re paying the same price here that you would pay at a fine dining place like Old Ebbitt Grill. To me, that’s not something I can understand since the quality of food is not worth fine dining prices.

The food is good, the portions are huge (even though the price seems high, you get A TON of food!) and the staff is friendly and helpful. We had Rubens, chicken parmigiana, chicken Slovakia, open faced beef sandwich (all of which came with fries, a vegetable or salad, soup, and mashed potatoes), chocolate mousse and a fruit tart. Unfortunately some of us in the party ended up with the runs shortly thereafter… So that is the reason for the 3 stars. Probably won’t be going back… But you never know:):)

Just… don’t
This place combines the charm of a crowded greek-​style diner that used to be good with the food of a diner named silver.
When I went there the first few times, almost 20 years, it was pretty good. Then it went downhill. In this century I’ve tried once every year or two, hoping it gets back to being as good as it once was.
So far, no luck.

Great cornbeef hash. Huge place and menu. Guy did triple d there in the early days when they featured a lot of diners.

I’m not really sure why this place only has three stars, but I feel they deserve at least 4. Don’t get me wrong, this is a no frills diner. Service is fast and if it comes out wrong they fix it in a jiffy. That being said you will have to wait some time for a seat at peak times, but it’s worth it if you like large portions and breakfast diner food. Their prices are a bit high but you get a lot. Splitting an omelette is doable for most unless you have the hunger of an army all on your own. I love this place because they are no bullshit, straight forward. Worth a stop if you’re in the area. Sit at the bar if you’re not up for a wait.

I’m confused by this place.
We went here for breakfast on Mother’s Day (her choice). It looks like a diner on the outside, but none of the people in the long line waiting to get in looked «diner-​ish.» When we finally got a table, the whole place looked more like a nice restaurant than a diner. I thought that maybe the name was an intentional misnomer.
That’s the ONLY reason that I was willing to pay $ 9 for pancakes. Do you know how much it costs to make pancakes? Have you ever seen one of those commercials where they tell you that you can sponsor a starving child for 25cents a day? I guarantee you that little Starvin’ Marvin is eating pancakes as soon as that quarter arrives in the mail. Why? Because they’re ridiculously cheap to make.
How do you charge someone $ 9 for a cup of flour and then give them syrup packets? Even IHOP has the decency to pour their colored diabetes juice into a pitcher and pretend it’s maple.
Anyway, the pancakes were okay. They were a bit gummy and tasted a little off. Everyone else enjoyed their food. The service was okay, but not memorable. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I didn’t get suckered in by the restauranty vibe. I’d try them again, but not for pancakes.