Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Silver Diner Rio review - Gaithersburg (Video+Photos)

Rockville Town Center just got even tougher free-parking-competition in Gaithersburg. The newest Silver Diner opens for dinner hours this week at Rio Lakefront, beginning tonight. Located in the old Cafe Deluxe space, but completely remodeled with new lakefront boardwalk patio seating, the restaurant will officially open on Monday, August 26, 2019 for breakfast, lunch and dinner service.

Rockville has its own Silver Diner with free parking just south of the city limits, of course. But Rio has pumped itself up further this summer, with a new boardwalk, concert stage, luxurious AMC cineplex with bar and restaurant-quality kitchen, Yard House and Dave & Buster's. With free parking, and now its own Silver Diner with waterside outdoor seating, the Gaithersburg development is now an even more dangerous competitor in the battle for local dollars.
I was able to test out the new menu at a soft opening night.  While the menu is not a book like The Cheesecake Factory, Silver Diner has the same ability to please a family or group of very diverse tastes. They also have even more options than the Cheesecake Factory for those on special diets. Whether someone wants a trendy, internationally-inspired dish, or old favorites like meatloaf, crab cakes or burgers, it's almost certain each diner will find something of interest,
For my dinner, I ordered Mom's Chicken Noodle Soup (a cup; bowl size is also available), the Chicken Tender Platter with crispy fries and coleslaw, and a seasonal dessert special, the Churro Doughnut Sundae, topped with Breyers vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, sprinkles, and drizzled with Nutella and raspberry sauce.
Mom's Chicken Noodle Soup
Watch my review of the new Silver Diner at Rio in Gaithersburg right now on the Robert Dyer Channel on YouTube, or at the bottom of this page.
Chicken Tender Platter

The platter includes organic, antibiotic-and-hormone-free
chicken tenders, honey mustard sauce, crispy fries,
and coleslaw for $13.99

Churro Doughnut Sundae



19 comments:

  1. Eh, RTS and Rio aren't really direct competitors. They're 20 minutes apart from each other. Rio competes with Downtown Crown; RTS competes with the pike/P&R. Maybe you're new to the area?

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    1. 12:40: I'm so "new" to the area as a lifelong MoCo resident, that I know Rio is the development even Rockville elected officials have been talking about as their biggest competitor over the last two decades I've spent following Rockville politics.

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    2. Being a life long resident doesn’t make you special. Sorry no participation trophy for you

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    3. Rio and Rockville Town Square have competed for 20 years...even though the latter has only existed for 11?

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    4. 3:25: No, but it sure does enrage carpetbaggers like yourself.

      4:25: What a weird diversion attempt. I said I've been following city politics closely for the last two decades, never said RTS was open for 20 years. It most certainly was discussed in the first, as well as the second, decade I referred to. Do you know what year it is? Yes, we are at the end of the two decades I referred to.

      Rio. Has been discussed. As the biggest competitor. In each of these last two decades. It's not exactly rocket science.

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    5. It's almost as if Pike & Rose didn't exist as a competitor for much of the last two decades, or something. Pst, Robert, your stupid is showing.

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    6. 1:18: You're calling *me* stupid, while claiming Pike & Rose was open last decade? Mid-Pike Plaza wasn't even torn down until this decade.

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  2. Dyer being a lifelong resident has been a pain point for his troll for years. No idea why, but it is.

    2:02PM You're lying hobbit man. You have no friends.

    3:30PM Insightful analysis!

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  3. 4:55PM Sir, you look like a hobbit and live in a clapboard hovel.
    Get some perspective!

    Your psycho analysis is weird considering (a) you've never met the man (b) you're basing it on a food review video, which consists mainly of food. I don't see where you're getting all the negative insults from.

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    1. “basing it on a food review video, which consists mainly of food”.

      Wow that sure is some fine piece of writing there!

      Holy Smokers!

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  4. Robert, I love all your restaurant reviews. I want to know if you ate all that food. It made me hungry looking at it.
    Thank you for sharing. There is no shortage of places to eat. As a candidate for Rockville City Council I advocate free parking after 5:00 pm and on weekends for Rockville Town Center. The parking is a complaint I hear from so many people. Rockville taxpayers already committed $40 million for the three public garages approved when Town Center was approved in 2007.

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  5. Nice review,food looks really good!

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  6. "RTS competes with the pike/P&R."

    And that's a huge problem given that they have the same landlord.

    Pike & Rose is cannibalizing Federal Realty's other properties, including Bethesda Row.

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  7. OK, with 46 years residence in the Rockville area, I can speak with confidence about the transient nature of retail development.

    Early 1970s, when I lived in Northwest DC. Taking the bus out to Rockville was definitely like traveling out to the boonies. Then I moved out here and worked at Montgomery Mall for a year. It was, at the time, pretty much the only mall in the area, although Cabin John was a viable shopping place but with very limited choices. Montrose Road even had a few hillbilly shacks at that time, before the JCC was built (or expanded).

    Mid 1970s, went to work in 51 Monroe St., which was already quite shabby and the less said about the cursed attempt to create Rockville Mall, the better. Also worked part-time at Twinbrook Plaza, which was just a little strip mall.

    Then went to work on Nicholson Lane, and watched White Flint being built. It was shiny and new, and Montgomery Mall was perceived as shabby. Loehmann's Plaza was crowded, but then it got shabby too when Loehmann's left in the 1980s. Nicholson Lane wasn't populated with classy businesses, and the 7-Eleven on the Pike near the Nicholson intersection was one of the busiest places.

    Congressional Plaza in the early 1970s was pathetic and half-populated. It took years for it to look robust.

    In the late 80s/early 90s, White Flint was starting to look faded around the edges, and had lost business to malls in Bethesda and also the renovated Montgomery Mall. The parking lots were still full, but it didn't have the cachet it used to.

    I moved to Gaithersburg in the early 1990s, and at that time Rio was a wasteland, the mall was half-occupied and not many people were interested in driving out that far. Muddy Branch Shopping Center was always full, but exiting the shopping center was a nightmare because left turns weren't allowed. But during that decade, as the legal battles were fought over developing the farmland, development happened and the traffic on Muddy Branch and Great Seneca exploded.

    Festival at Muddy Branch was almost empty for years. For some reason, people didn't want to drive down into that area. It was only after the number of immigrants in the area grew that the shopping center was fully populated.

    Started working in downtown Rockville in the early 2000s, before Town Center was built, and it was a pretty low-key area. I really liked Magruder's and the bakery.

    Nothing lasts forever.

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  8. Replies
    1. I do not recall seeing anything clearly labeled halal anywhere on the menu, but you can see all of their dishes here:

      https://www.silverdiner.com/menu/chef-selections

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  9. Restaurants in Gaithersburg MD from Burgerim Gaithersburg and see it's menu for Home Delivery in Gaithersburg. Order now at Visit Restaurants in Gaithersburg MD

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