Department Of Energy Main Cafeteria

Get a visitors pass at the entrance to wing 3, pass through security, and be treated to an ample selection of buffet style, great tasting fresh food. I had oven roasted turkey, celery stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans– basically Thanksgiving dinner for $ 12. The turkey was moist, plump, and tasted like it was just out of the oven. The green beans were fresh and crunchy, and the other food I passed up looked equally appetizing. Far exceeded my expectations for cafeteria food. Don’t overlook it if you’re visiting the mall at midday.

Most of us need to work to support — among other things — our Unilocaling lifestyles, and work often means a limited amount of time for lunch. I’m not inclined to bring a sack lunch, so I’m usually forced to select a lunch spot around the concrete L’Enfant Plaza jungle. Often over-​priced and over-​hyped food trucks, the recently updated L’Enfant Plaza Promenade, and this place — the Department of Energy’s Main Cafeteria — are the nearest options.
It’s unlikely most of us prefer cafeterias, but this place ranks about as high as a cafeteria can. Lots of choices — both reasonably healthy and others not so much. Generally acceptably clean. Plenty of places to sit. Not particularly stylish, but also not a dungeon. Sure, you’ll sometimes get overly salty mac-​and-​cheese or a surly person at the cash register — all reminders you’re in a cafeteria.

It seems crazy to rate a government cafeteria but I liek this place. The cucumber tomato salad is excellent (almost like grandmas). There’s an excellent variety of food. I used to work at USDA and the cafeteria there was terrible. We used to walk here for lunch.

This place has a good selection, overall pretty nice. The best part is I think it’s half off after 1 PM or something like that? You have a great selection of salad, soup, pizza, noodle, poultry… Asian, Italian, Greek, American. Very spacious seating. Great for group lunches, however it can get a bit loud. This cafeteria gets ample lighting.

I have been here a few times and it is much better that at the ACF buildings little storefront. the food is fresh and tasty and always a variety there.

They recently rebuilt the cafeteria from the ground up and made it much nicer looking. The noise level is adequate but somebody tell them to hook up Pandora radio. CD music repeats are terrible.

Seriously, on the spectrum of federal cafeterias, this is a breath of fresh air. It’s clean, the buffet options are great and the hot food options are decent. The food overall seems to be a little pricey compared to the other cafeterias, but then again, the actual quality of the food and freshness of the vegetables is better.
There’s so many good healthy options, too, if you’re trying to avoid fatty foods.

The Forrestal Cafeteria is decent. It’s nothing to write home about and can be quite expensive.
They always seem to have a large selection of Chinese food on the buffet which is decent, but again, nothing I would go out of my way for. The salad bar is mediocre by way of offerings, but contains the essentials (which always look fresh) and an okay variety of dressings.
I do notice that they have a lot of vegetarian-​friendly options, which might be helpful to folks with that kind of dietary restriction.
If you wait until 2:00pm, they discount the entire buffet at 30% off. A lot of people actually get there at like 1:50pm and start filling up their lunch containers and wait by the register until the discount starts. It’s kind of ridiculous.
I personally only go there for the 2 o’clock discount when I do go, because it’s otherwise way too expensive in my opinion.
To re-​iterate what many have said, this is place is sort of the shining star in an otherwise black hole of federal workday dining. The food is good, but not excellent. It offers a wide assortment of fare and is worth checking out if you work in the vicinity.
Please note that you cannot enter the cafeteria unless you’re a federal employee, and you must have your badge with you.

I often forget about this place, but to be fair it offers a lot more to eat than most places in this area. Of course, you need your government badge to enter the building, but at least if you don’t work in this particular building, security here isn’t nearly as «YOU HEARD ME… SPREAD YOUR CHEEKS AND LIFT YOUR SACK!» as the HUD building – I never knew HUD was that crucial to national security or anything. But I digress.
This place has a large selection: hot/​cold bars, deli section, pizza, burgers made-​to-​order, blah-​blah-​blah. The salad bar is pretty damn good too. However, for some reason, I always gravitate toward the carved turkey and mashed potatoes. I don’t know why – I mean, it’s okay and all, but… hmm. Whatever.
*Warning* This place is pretty expensive, so don’t let anyone fool you. You can easily drop $ 10 – 13 without blinking… on a salad and a Snapple! That’s probably why I often forget about this place. Decent food though.

The best food ever I promise it’s worth checking out!

So, just the fact that this cafeteria is on Unilocal should give you an idea of the lack of lunch choices in the L’enfant/ Smithsonian area.
If you work at HUD or the FAA, you have no reason to suffer through their horrendous cafeterias! This place is awesome — music made me want to dance when I walked in. And outdoor seating looked pleasant.
Enter on the Promenade side (2^nd floor, there are steps going up to it).
Salad bar had CLEAN lettuce — not what I’m used to. And there’s a spicy asian-​style cole slaw with jicama and cilantro! What? The most exotic thing we have @ HUD’s salad bar is pickled beets & most ppl wouldn’t eat those unless they were trapped in their cousin’s panic room.
On the hot buffet — fried clams, salmon, chicken & broccoli that looked it had all fresh ingredients (I didn’t try it, but I might next time).

my co-​workers rag on this place, but I think it’s a decent cafetaria — with many options for both breakfast and lunch, not to mention 30% off from the hot line after 2pm.
the choice of music — questionable
the security — somewhat unncessary
the temperature — freezing
the number of microwaves for those who bring food — too few
but other than that, not bad.

As far as work lunch buffet places go, this one is pretty good. Perhaps I should assign it an extra star simply because it’s one of the few decent lunch spots in the culinary dead zone of L’Enfant Plaza. But I’ll leave it at three stars.
First off, you need a government ID to get in, but any federal ID should do (I have an HHS one, not Department of Energy). It’s large, there’s a good selection, and it’s consistently busy during the weekday lunch hour.
The food is a decent quality, and it has the standard hot buffet, salad bar, sandwich station, and pizza station items you’d expect from this type of place.
It’s not so special as to go out of your way to go here, but if you’re stuck in the L’Enfant Plaza at lunchtime on a weekday (and have the credentials to get in), you could do worse.

One of the better federal cafeterias. Lots of space and light. I would almost say they built it too big, but I’m not complaining.
The food is pretty good — a nice selection at the salad bar. By far, their wrap station is my favorite.
They also have water stations in the dining room, which makes getting refills of water easier. This is a great place to stop in for a cheap quiet lunch.

First of all, I can’t believe this place is actually on Unilocal.The area around L’enfant plaza doesn’t have a whole lot to offer during my lunch breaks. So I have to say that this is one of the best places to go if you work around here.
DOE’s cafeteria is a great escape from the drudges of cubicle-​ism. When you walk through the doors there’s music playing, people seem happy, there’s a lot of space, and plenty of choices for food.
The fresh salad bar has things ranging from fresh fruit to asian noodles and salads. To be more specific, you’ll find Korean style noodles and veggies.
They have a little sushi pagoda. Usually California rolls and Nigiri consisting of Eel, Salmon, Tuna and maybe mackerel.
There’s a pizza station and a couple of sandwich stations that offer items such as Gyros, Panini, and burgers, cheese steaks, and your standards sandwiches.
The hot buffet line usually has fried egg rolls, various Asian stir-​fries, and fried or baked chicken/​turkey, rice and noodles, and couple of choices for soup.

Cheap coffee AND a coffee club that allows you get a free one after ten purchased coffees!
Bright and sunny and spacious so it never feels crowded!
Affordable for the area!
Cashiers that smile!
Sushi!
Soft-​serve ice cream!
Hot and cold buffets that have fresh-​looking appealing food!
Doesn’t close until 3pm!
Afternoon Happy Hour with 30% off all buffet items (2−3pm)!
I normally wouldn’t be this excited for a place like this, but when you stack it up to its competition in the area, DoE Café wins by a long-​shot.

I love that this place has reviews. I like to read here on my lunch break from the Smithsonian Castle across the street. In the winter you can’t sit outside and this place is just close enough to be convenient but just far enough to not see co-​workers. The food is just above standard fare but far better than any other options around and is actually reasonably priced. It is also NOT packed with tourists which is a blessing. They play amazing 1980’s Muzac over the loudspeakers and I have heard some stuff in there that I haven’t heard since middle school. I actually got some Wang Chung the other day. Their salad bar (s) are pretty ample but I’m a sucker for the Gyros. The people are pretty friendly and it blows away the food at the Department of Agriculture which is actually kind of a shame. You do need a Federal ID but since almost everyone in this area has one it doesn’s seem to be a hindrance. I wouldn’t make a special trip here for lunch on a day off but I’m really glad it is here when I need it.

Hidden in the soul-​less building, is a cafeteria with a food court, ample tables and reasonable prices — open to the public if you have ID to show the guard. Sure, you have to be in the know about this place. It’s not great food. But it’s not the worst food court/​cafeteria food either. I had a large Caesar salad with all the fixins and salmon for $ 6.99. The mini pepperoni pizza is only $ 3.69. They have a salad bar. They have a wrap bar. A burger and wings bar. A dessert area (I saw lots of folks eating soft serve with candy on top). This place is open for breakfast and lunch only. If, like me, you get stuck looking for some food around here during the week, it’ll get you fed. And I actually kind of liked my salad. If it had been on a fancy plate, some restaurants could charge twice as much for it.