Hollywood Diner

I still have no idea what the hours of operations for this location is... sometimes I go and they tell me they're 24 hours, but I've been there before when they were closed... I was all sad. Then again, I've also been to three 24 hour mcdonalds and a 24 hour shoppers and they were closed too. So who knows...?

Anyway, the food here isn't very great. The restaurant just got a name change; it used to be broadway diner. The food is pretty much the same though. I don't really recommend any of the entrees other than the gyro. It's hard to mess up a gyro. Breakfast food is good here too, but then again, it's hard to mess up breakfast food... I've ordered a bunch other items in the past, and now I've learned. Those are the only dishes I'll come and order. haha. and if it's cold out like tonight, get hot chocolate!

Stop and take a look at their dessert display when you walk in. There are enough cakes and cookies to satisfy any sweet tooth in one sitting...maybe even two! The dessert here is not amazing but they're great for late night sugar cravings. I liked the black forest cake...its primarily whipped cream on chocolate cake with a bit or a jelly center.

The food here is also ok. I really recommend the omlettes, french toast, and the baby lamb chop special if they have it. Portions are big so consider your self warned :). My friend ordered a veal parmesian and had two massive plates of food; one plate was dedicated to pasta only...

This is fairly pricey for a diner. For regular diner foods; it's not so bad...but for entrees; you can easily get into the 15 dollar range.

Service is also hit or miss depending on who's working and what the time is. It truely is a coin flip so you really gotta try your luck whenever you come.

On a side note; I've attached picturs of my blackforest cake and my baby lamb chops...and yes, that is a cup of green jello...=D

I used to come here when I lived in Maryland and it's been very respectable every time. I don't think I've had a single bad meal here over the years.

Recently had a late night Greek omlette and it was quite good. Everything was top quality, served fast, and came at a very fair price.

Definitely a good stop for late night eats in Rockville, since after 10pm everything seems to batten down the hatches 'till morning.

We had just come from dinner with my parents...which if you knew my family, you would understand that it was an epic 17 course meal that lasted close to 3 hours.

Yet...yet I was still...peckish.

Yes, I'm a fatty.

My husband was also a little peckish...but then, he putzed out on the gorging at the 75 minute mark, and spent the last hour and 45 minutes watching us eat with the voracity of a pack of T-Rexes. We were driving home when we passed by Hollywood Diner, and after a dint of whining, he pulled into the parking lot so I could order some Challah bread French toast, and so he could get a slice of cake.

The service was fast, and the food was pretty decent. The portions were pretty big...there was still one slice of the super thick and fluffy French toast left on my plate that I really just couldn't finish (OK, I could have, but my husband was staring at me like I was Joey Chestnut *AND* Kobyashi combined...so I sheepishly left the last delicious slice on my plate).

Definitely one of the nicer diners in the area - I think I still love Tastee Diner in Bethesda for it's crankiness, Nick's in Silver Spring for it's greasiness, and Village Green in Germantown for it's sheer yumminess...but compared to these three, Hollywood is definitely cleaner, prettier, bigger and has a much larger menu.

Some people love diners. My husband for instance, grew up in Long Island, where diners are on every other street corner. He has emotional ties of sharing many a meal at the local diner with his late father. When he goes home to visit, he picks up his grandparents who are in their late 80's, and they have dinner at the diner. Grandpa can order his gin and tonic, salad, entree and dessert, and they don't break the bank.

I remember one of the first times he brought me home to meet his family in NY. We're driving around, and I'm on the verge of turning into a monster (ie, low blood sugar...need to eat ASAP!!), and he suggests going to a diner. I think I looked at him as if he offered me a dirty dish rag. Lets just say my response did not go over well, as he was clearly insulted by my reaction. (Fortunately for me he did not drop me like a dirty dish rag right then and there.)

Fast forward many years later, and the Hollywood Diner sits a mere stones throw from where we live. Well, perhaps a stones throw when I used to play softball in high school. Now I'd probably have to swing a bat.... but regardless....

So I've gotten over my issue with eating at the diner, but just barely. I think its the idea that one place can serve so many food items and make them appear in less than 10 minutes that just makes my skin crawl. Coming from someone who enjoys cooking, and knows what type of preparation is involved with certain meals, I just imagine shelves and shelves piled high with canned, processed, boxed and outdated food items.

My other concern is that there are so many food items that I've never even HEARD of that are listed on the menu. Not that I can even remember their names, but my southern born-and-bred friends were able to shed some light for me. I certainly do not claim to have grown up in a globally food savvy neighborhood of the USA, but I do think I've been exposed to many culinary delights. Perhaps not as many as I thought. Perhaps I'd rather be left in the dark.

Perhaps I will refrain from the only place open in suburbia when I arrive home after a late cross country flight which forced me to miss dinner. Perhaps I will just stick to the chicken fingers and fries next time we're hanging out with Gram and Gramps.

Horrible!
I have never experienced such terrible customer service before!
That is all I will even say about this one star, wish I could give less, review. Do yourself a favor and head to Tastee Diner or Silver Diner, where they will at least treat you with respect, and the food is way better.

This is my go-to place for late night food. Grant it, it's one of the only places that stays open super late (especially after a night out in DC...).

Recently, I have become obsessed with their chicken salad club. My only gripe with club sammiches is that with the 3rd layer of bread, it is really hard to bite, especially when they cut them into tiny quarters. Ughh. So, everytime I order, I make sure to tell them to only cut it in half. And so the world turns again.

Their pancakes are good, too. Big and fluffy. Bacon is like... hardcore. Not the cheapy thin ones you get at iHop.

Service is pretty good for what it is. And it's usually pretty clean.

He said, " Well this is the first place we reviewed without actually eating there. We went inside and I felt like we were at a nursing home. It was oddly quiet with the occassional clanging of dishes and glass in the background. We sat down and started looking through our book, I mean menu. The menu was like 10 pages long and felt like a childrens book. My experience says that any menu longer than three pages the food isn't going to be good. There is no way one place can make that much food and have it all taste good. Sad to say we got up and left without eating."

She said, "So we walk in and there are old people at every table, literally. There was absoultely no noise in this place expect for the seniors chewing their food slowly and the door opening and closing from the kitchen. I felt like everyone was staring at us. There was no music or any kind of comotion going on at this place. so we akwardly sit down at our table and read through the menu that was 10 pages long front and back. I mean no place can be good when they have crab cakes, philly cheesesteaks, fish, steak and breakfast. I mean they have every kind of food you can think of. So we got up and ate next door at chipolte which was much better and cheaper."

A great place to wind up if you're hungry for a late-night diner experience and cant stomach IHOP or Denny's (I loathe them both). Reasonable prices, decent service, and a menu that's about 200 pages long, with enough options to rival any NYC-area diner.

A year ago I would've written a terrible review for this diner (back then it was called Broadway Diner) because me and my friends were literally asked to leave the restaurant for failing to comply with the $10-minimum-order-per-person "rule." (Note to restauranteurs: if you want a surefire way of ensuring that your business will drop, try enforcing a "minimum order" rule.)

But the last time I went I was pleased to see that the place is under new management and has a new name, and the $10 Minimum Order "rule" has been thrown out the window faster than a toaster aimed at Ann Coulter's head. I got the chicken gyro sandwich + onion rings and was greeted to enough food to last two meals.

Assuming this good service/new management continues, I say forget the IHOPs and Denny's that crowd Montgomery County, and head on over to Hollywood Diner for a much better experience.

When people think breakfast food, there's a few places that people think of in Rockville

1) Original Pancake House - For your breakfast snobs who think they're pancakes are better than everyone else's. Too bad they're only open until 2-3pm. That's stupid. I would like this place more if they were open during dinner time too.
2) IHOP - Standard go-to. I love their pancakes. It's the benchmark for me. They're only open late night on the weekends.
3) Silver Diner - supposedly open late night (maybe 24 hours) every day. Full fledged blue plate special menus. But I think their food is a little too greasy for me (I know, I didn't think I would have said that either)

And last but not least, their is Hollywood Diner. Phi N got the history right. It used to be Broadway Diner, but I banned Broadway Diner because I remembered they tried to charge a $3 "sitting fee" for people who did not order anything. We just got up and left. They didn't deserve our business.

But with the name change, I think their may have been an change in owner as well. I came here on a random Monday night and we stayed here until 2pm. At our table we had the:
-Spinach Artichoke Dip - not too shabby, plenty of cheese, not enough chips to cover the dip.
-Pastrami Reuben - piled high with a side of fries (fries are kind of meh for me. I prefer the straight cut fries that you can get at IHOP)
-Chicken Parmasean Sandwich - For $8, you get a huge open faced sandwich that is just as big as the entree and with a side of fries. Definitely a best bang for the buck type of dish
-Strawberry Milkshakes - Not too shabby at all. Not too shabby.

I would recommend Hollywood Diner as your "mix it up" diner. If you're just sick of IHOP and you're just not feeling Silver Diner, then give this place a shot. And who knows, if you just need a place to go to at 1AM on a Tuesday night, this will probably one of the few places that are open.