Longworth Cafeteria

As a tourist, you wouldn’t think to go inside one of the House of Representatives office buildings for lunch, but hey it’s Capital Hill, your closest visible options are expensive, white tablecloth restaurants or hot dog stands. Once you stand in line, go through security, and locate it on the many building maps (it’s not a big building) go take any staircase or elevator to the Basement floor, and follow the signs (or ask any suit or pantsuit walking through the halls) and you’re there! So many great options to choose from, so many seats available, and a Dunkin Donuts is coming soon! Go before or after you’ve met your elected representative! There’s also a gift shop nearby. There’s also plenty of vegetarian options, but vegan will be a little hard to come by (salad, sorry, it’s the East Coast, what are you going to do!?). It will part of a very memorably part of your trip to our nation’s capital!

I stopped by Longworth Cafeteria around a little before noon while visiting the Hill for a lobbying day. We found a table pretty easy for our group of five, although the fit between our table and the next was a bit tight.
There are many options for a variety of tastes. I grabbed a chicken caesar on ciabatta. It was pretty good for cafeteria food, but certainly nothing to write home about.
It’s also fairly cheap, at least it is when compared to other prices in D.C. As an added bonus, you don’t have to leave the building for food and deal with security.
I’ve taken groups there a couple times, and had pretty consistent experiences. I’ll probably keep go there again the next time I do another visit day on the Hill. It’s a cool spot for people visiting the Hill for as tourists or lobbyists, or people who actually work there (I guess).

While there is a good selection of food here, do NOT try to go here anytime around lunch time. The place is slammed, with no place to sit. If you know this building, there are no other places for a non-​staffer to sit in the building and eat your lunch. The chairs and tables are all crammed in, but there is just no more space. People hover over you waiting for you to leave. At least they don’t ask «are you going to eat that?»
Also, if you have a late meeting with a member, this place closes at 2:30. So if you are trying to avoid the lunch rush and get a slightly late lunch, you may find yourself too late and lose out on the chance to eat food. Then you either have to eat at a vending machines or the little automated minimart (which closes at 4 PM).
Maybe the bottom line is eat early. Or bring lots of snacks.

Food selection is lacking and everything is pretty bland. Also, expensive for the quality. If you’re a staffer go to the LoC. If you’re a tourist walk up Penn or go to the Museum of the American Indian if you want a unique experience.

This cafeteria offers a broad variety of options, some of which are fairly healthy, including a well-​appointed salad bar. To my chickpea-​enabled salad, I added a baked potato and a cookie and was far more satisfied here than when I ate over at the Senate building. Certainly, those with special dietary needs will appreciate the choices. Is it great? No. But it’s not that expensive and it is where it is, so if you’re doing something legislative, I would suggest this cafeteria as a reasonable choice if you need lunch.
This place also has a relatively large seating area. Cashiers are split out with some for employees only (which I am not), so be warned that if visiting during peak hours this may take a bit of extra time.

Wow, for being a cafeteria, I was super impressed.
Came to the Capitol for a legislative conference and we were escorted by our congressperson’s scheduler to this place.
Upsides —
Things are CHEAP (I’m from NYC so I’m used to horribly priced food) and affordable. I purchased a ceasar salad with some extra toppings (onion, corn, avocado) with a drink and it was… 8 bucks? Dang! I wish I could eat here all the time.
They have a PLETHORA of choices. From my salad (made by a worker) to make-​your-​own salad bar, Southern fried cooking, noodles from a variety of Asian cuisines, Mediterranean, mac and cheese, sandwiches, to desserts, this place had everything. It was so hard to decide!
Interesting things to see — whether you see people from various organizations coming to talk to their congresspeople, interns, schedulers, or even some business negotiations go down, there’s plenty of people-​watching to be had here
Downsides —
Seating during lunch is REALLY hard to come by. Just be that creep that lurks around until someone gets up, but don’t push them out of the way, that’s just rude!

Longworth, Cannon, Rayburn, oh my!
Basically 3.5 as cafeterias go. No frills — just quick and easy lunch options. When compared to Rayburn and Cannon House office buildings, Longworth has more options. If you are looking for variety — Longworth is your best bet.
***If you are indecisive, then god speed.
Overwhelmed on what to order, fear not:
IMO the wrap station is the best (also tends to have the longest line out of all the stations).
Wrap it up:
When I use to work on the Hill, my go to here was the buffalo chicken wrap ~$ 6.00.

A good selection, but the lines can get pretty long.
I feel like the wraps are the best value, but I haven’t tried all of it. You get a lot of fresh ingredients wrapped in a tortilla. The rustic sandwiches are also not bad. If you’re in a rush and don’t want to wait, just grab a plastic box and and hit the salad bar. You’ll be out of there in no time.

It’s hilarious to me that the Longworth Cafeteria is somehow even on Unilocal!If you have worked on the Hill you would know that this place is to be avoided. You may get some food that tastes just fine, but beware of the things you don’t see. Mice are commonly spotted scurrying across the floors, fingernails and other foreign objects found in food, mold found inside potatoes (saw them have to get rid of all of their sweet potatoes one time after a co-​worker had this problem), and staff that don’t care about anything. Any tourist considering eating there is better served just waiting until you can eat somewhere outside of the House complex.

Ok… it’s a cafeteria but I wandered in this morning having not had breakfast and not in the mood to suffer so I gave it a shot. The breakfast buffet while not extensive is amazing! The French toast was perfect. the eggs amazing and the fried apples were so delicious… I highly recommend this to anyone, encourage even to try this amazing feast!

Working on the Hill is an extremely demanding job. Thankfully, the good guys up top gifted us the great Longworth Cafeteria. From Asian, Southern BBQ, custom salads, and made to order burgers, Longworth has got any of your 12pm cravings covered. Not the best food you’ll ever have, but it’s a cafeteria!

Generally great selection and fast service.

It was early. I was starving, and didn’t want to wait in security line for another thirty minutes. To my surprise, the food was decent. I treated myself to unhealthy self-​serve breakfast of sausage, pork and cheese scrambled eggs, egg biscuit and creamy sauce. Perhaps, this is what America is for me – comfort food that makes me feel sick afterwards, but still indulge it in the lack of a better choice.

Longworth Cafeteria Pro-​Tip: If you get salad, bacon isn’t considered a protein, so you will only be charged $ 5 instead of $ 6 – 7.

bigger than the rayburn cafeteria.
longworth caf works for me when im too lazy to go off campus or when i dont bring my lunch. my go tos are the fresh wraps and salad stations. they make it right in front of you and are more appetizing than the pre-​made to-​go ones.
DO NOT get the desserts! the cakes ive tried have always been dry (carrot, coconut, chocolate, vanilla, etc). cupcakes tend to be less dry. the pecan and chocolate bars are whatevs. apple cobblers have raisins in them, and apple pie is eh. my sugar addiction brings me back, but i wind up disappointed each time.
tip: there’s «the creamery» right next to longworth which serves ice cream & starbucks coffee (but doesn’t accept starbucks cards). they may also provide some desserts — cant remember, but it may be worth checking out.
also, the granola in the premade yogurt parfait cups tend to be soggy.

I hate this place. The only thing consistent here are the fruit flies in the wraps and plastic shards of bag that makes its way into the lettuce bucket. Besides being expensive and slammed with people all the time, the stations will start cleaning up before the breakfast hours end/​lunch hours end, and on many occasions run out of key ingredients. I never eat here out of desire, only out of necessity. Avoid avoid.

Vegetarians: head for the wrap station. For $ 5.50 you can get a massive, filling, and pretty tasty falafel wrap. It’s no Amsterdam Falafelshop; it has more salad greens than it does falafel; and these are tortilla wraps, not pita bread. But it’s still very good, with crispy and well-​seasoned falafel strips and a fine balsamic dressing (which you can substitute with tzatziki yogurt sauce). Ask them to add hot sauce for a kick. And/​or ask them to hold the feta to make it vegan.
On the down side, the bottled iced teas are often not cold at all. It’s as if they got put in the fridge 5 minutes ago. Also, the dining room is in the basement with no natural light to speak of.

Solid selection of foods to choose from on a daily basis. Although everything is by weight so while I thought I had a great pick with my southwest salad it was a little more expensive than expected.

I’m very, very, very lazy so the LHOB Cafeteria gets an extra star for not requiring that I leave the building to eat lunch.
Like any eatery, you just have to know what to order. The pay by weight stations look good but the food tends to be salty/​mushy/​bland as well as very expensive so it’s best to avoid them.
On the other hand, the wraps are awesome! The buffalo chicken wrap is my go-​to lunch and it’s only $ 7 with chips and a drink. The burgers are decent… I spiffy them up a little by adding greens and tomatoes from the salad bar. Oh and I love that the sweet potatoes are only $ 1!!!

Since a lot of stuff is «by weight», you are really free to pick and choose from a large number of choices to get a meal together.
Incredible people watching, free wifi, complete lack of food options within two or three blocks makes this the place to be on that side of the capital building.