Debbie and I had two visits to Silver. Overall, the first visit with Bob and Rita was quite good, with the exception of one dish that was a little too spicy. We left there feeling quite good about the service and the food.
Our second visit with Tom put a bit of a damper on our initial impression.
Silver’s interior has a traditional diner look. The reception stand is a few feet inside the front door. The restaurant seats somewhere between 180 and 200 people inside with another 50-60 outside weather permitting. They employ large heating umbrellas on cool evenings.
There are booths of various sizes, some that seat up to six people as well as 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 tops and some high tops.
There is a banquette at the end of the dining room that is long with two short ends sticking out. On our first trip, the four of us were in a booth to the left at the end of the room.
Rita ordered the House made Tomato Basil Soup, but it was a bit too spicy. She could not eat it. Bob ordered the Corn chowder. Debbie and I had the Kale + Bleu Cheese Salad, Farro, carrots, cranberries, Champagne Vinaigrette. It was large enough to make a meal of it alone.
For main courses:
Rita had the Pan Seared Scallops, From Cape May to New England, with MD Bay seasoned lemon garlic sauce, wilted spinach, feta, cilantro, mashed butternut squash, mixed vegetables
Debbie had the Lemon Chicken with lemon garlic caper sauce, Italian parsley, garlic spinach, cauliflower mash, preserved lemon
Bob and I had the Chicken Pot Pie with cremini mushrooms, basil, butternut squash, peas, corn, scallions, and tarragon. The chicken was cut into strings rather than pieces. Chicken pot pie usually comes topped with a flaky, buttery crust across the top of the pot. In this case a well prepared crust was cut into two half circle pieces that are placed together standing up on the edge of the inside of the pot. The portions were so large that I could not finish mine.
We ordered Crispy Brussels sprouts with Cinnamon chipotle spiced, apricots, cranberries and Pecans to be shared by all.
For dessert we shared Butterscotch Pudding, topped with health bar crunch, and whipped crème; and Apple Beignets made to order with hazelnut powder, cinnamon sugar, caramel drizzle, side honey thyme butter.
Silver has an eclectic menu. Bob said it was the best chicken pot pie this side of Waukegan and that the only thing missing from the menu was an open faced turkey sandwich.
Many of the dishes have calories counts attached. There does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to why some dishes have calorie counts. In addition there is a section titled “Under 600 Calories” which has five entrees.
Carlos, our server, was excellent, responsive and careful about getting our order right. There are various folks that serve each table. There is the server who takes your order and answers questions about the menu. Your food is then delivered by a second group of people and the table is cleared by yet another group. In short there are plenty of people seeing to your needs.
As we were finishing our meal, the president and founder of the restaurant, Robert Giaimo, stopped by to ask how we enjoyed the dinner. We responded positively.
As you enter the restroom, to the left is a heavy black and white marble counter top with two sunken white ceramic washbasins and a large mirror. Immediately to the left there is a heavy floor to ceiling partial wall. On the other side is a single floor based white ceramic urinal, to the right is a metal partial wall commode room with a single white commode.
The floor is covered with a black and white square tiles designed with the white part composed of a vast number of tiny white squares. The walls are covered with white rectangle tiles placed vertically. Inside the commode area from about shoulder height, one wall is painted off white.
The restaurant takes a limited number of reservations on weekdays leaving the remaining seats for walk-ins. However, if you can’t get a reservation they have what they call “Call ahead seating.” Call 30 minutes in advance of your arrival to be added to the wait list. We were told that using this system one can usually get seated within a few minutes after your arrival.
Our second visit was with Tom. It was lunch time on a Sunday but the restaurant was only serving brunch.
We had no difficulty making a reservation online.
We were greeted at the door by Valentina, who turned to me and said “it is nice to see you again”. I said, “I assume you say that to all your customers.” She said she was on the door the last time I came and remembered me.
We were seated in a booth right away, in fact the same booth we had the first time. The visit did measure up to the first.
The menu only showed brunch. I asked for the regular lunch menu but was told it was not available.
We started by sharing a Hummus platter.
Tom ordered an egg white omelet with certain fillings. The wrong omelet was delivered. The person who he asked to take it back because it was wrong didn’t quite understand what he was asking. Finally he got the original waiter to come over. He agreed to take it back and made the point that he “had it right on the order that he gave to the kitchen”.
When the new omelet finally came Tom asked the server and then the waiter for mustard and Tabasco sauce. On his third request he got the mustard and still the Tabasco did not come. Finally he asked for the Tabasco a third time and came.
Debbie ordered a strawberry and fruit bowl and I chose the Angus burger with no bun. Both orders arrived as ordered.
At the table next to us, one of the two people got the wrong sandwich because it included something she wanted left off. She called the waiter over (the same one who served us) and he used the same line…that he had ordered correctly when he turned it into the kitchen.
And the kitchen was quite slow that day.
Since then Bob and Rita have eaten at Silver several times and had a good experience each time.
Silver
New American Brasseries
At Cathedral Commons
3404 Wisconsin Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20016
202-851-3199
Reservations – eatatsilver.com