The neighborhood directly south of Chevy Chase circle is clearly not a hotbed of activity in the DC scene. Demographically, residents in this area are more likely to hit up venues like Politics and Prose or their own living room on a Friday night as opposed to places like Lima or Josephine. There is one venue however that you can find open past about 11PM and that is American City Diner. As a resident of North Cleveland Park / Van Ness I have stumbled over to American City Diner late night on more than one occasion to try and dilute the alcohol coursing through my veins.

Cost – $$

Service – C-
Diners aren’t really intended to have good service and American City Diner is no exception to the rule. I secretly believe that the people who work at American City Diner are actually nice to regulars but this has never been justified by anything I have observed in the venue. Then again if your job was to serve drunken idiots at 2AM on a Saturday you might be pretty pissed off as well.

Food – B
Most weekend evenings I’m just happy to be able to find some place to eat past 12AM in the neighborhood so I’m in a good frame of mind. The food is pretty solid however, as far as diners are concerned.

Decor – B+
They have made an effort to create a 50’s type visual feel to the place, evidenced by the mural of iconic mid-20th century American figures that overlooks the parking lot. The interior contains booth seating with functional jukeboxes and a cute little patio that overlooks Connecticut.

Feel – C+
During the day, the feel probably grades at about a B and at night, it grades out at a D or so (because of all the sketchy characters and teenagers that frequent the place). Then again, it is the only place in the neighborhood open late so I’ll give it a C+. American City Diner is good for brunch on a weekend or to cure the munchies on a late night but I can’t really see why it would be appealing otherwise.

American City Diner is located at 5532 Connecticut Ave NW. They can be reached at (202) 244-1949.

What’s the Buzz:

September 6, 2007 – American City Diner (Endless Simmer) – Sit down, order a black and white milkshake, and play a Blood, Sweat & Tears song at a table jukebox at the fun, ’50s-themed American City Diner. As it is in Heaven, breakfast is served all day, but also try the open-face hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes, the diner standby bacon cheeseburger, or any blue-plate special.  Full article…

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