Rayburn Cafeteria

Rayburn Cafeteria, what is it good for?
Salad station & specialty station. There is also a pizza, fries and burger station (aka clogged arteries station) that is so-​so. Better off with salad or specialty.
Time crunch?
For hill staff that work in Rayburn, this cafeteria is quick, easy, and convenient.
Lobbyist?
Better to choose off the hill spots unless you have back to back meetings.
Tourists perk?
Elected official sightseeing.
Tell me more:
When I worked on the Hill, I would eat at Rayburn on certain days (ie when they served their Singapore street noodles). Otherwise, for a variety of options I recommend walking the 4 minutes to Longworth cafeteria — more options!

Fresh sandwich choices and a very good variety of specialty sandwiches. I ordered a fit sandwich, tea and chips –all for $ 8, so prices are very good.
It’s definitely convenient and I really appreciated not having to leave the building to find good lunch selections. Yeah!

Decent for what it is. Longworth is definitely better though.

It’s ok, but the selection pales in comparison to Longworth’s cafeteria which is just a short walk away.
For grabbing a quick drink or snack though, it’s a good bet. Careful on the by-​weight items, as you can pile up the $$$ quickly.

I used to work in Rayburn and really enjoyed going to their cafeteria. My favorite things are definitely their breakfasts. In fact, this morning I went back for a Committee meeting and stopped by beforehand for some breakfast at the Rayburn cafeteria and ordered 2 donuts — blueberry (what a great idea!) and regular glazed — both were extremely fresh and I had a wonderful time.
It’s not my favorite place for lunch, but it’s a great breakfast place — lots of variety, extremely fresh, and such great prices!

I don’t really have much to say about it, except that the salad bar is great, and the fried catfish is… fried catfish, and is thus good. It’s a government cafeteria, don’t expect it to be a Michelin-​rated institution. Prices are high, but it’s DC. The breakfast foods however, are fairly cheap, and also fairly delicious.
3.0 out of 5.0. You could do worse, but c’mon, it’s an office cafeteria; don’t expect miracles.

I have only been here once and only tired the salad bar. The salad bar does have a great selection of items. However, I was not tempted to try the sandwiches and the hot bar. Overall, a pretty good cafeteria.

For a place that teems with awkward fitting suits, Rayburn is shockingly good on the food front. A great salad bar– we’re talking wasabi peas, dried cranberries, tofu, healthy-​looking chicken, lettuce that appears to be fresh, perfectly seasoned and toasted croutons, non-​soggy pineapple? I mean this spot is great! It’s like a Whole Foods salad bar, and it’s in a shockingly attractive federal government cafeteria setting. IMPRESSED
Minus one for cost. I got a side of one of the hot items and paid an obscene amount (like $ 3 for some steamed broccoli). But otherwise, highly recommended

For a cafeteria the selection and quality is quite impressive. Nice salad bar with a variety of usual and unique goodies, a couple of soups each day, make-​your-​own sandwiches and pastas as well as pizza and hot food bar. A plus for 20 oz coke and pepsi products (this is the government, so they of course can’t show favorites), and a fountain machine. Ample seating and you never know who will be sitting next to you. The price is on par with other DC lunch places.

Just had to add a footnote. The Burger that the two lobbyists recommended was none other than Ray’s Hellburger. It’s in Roslyn
just across the Potomac. One can take the Subway there from DC.
Of course, our President and Vice President just stopped there for
lunch the other day. I could kick myself for not getting there first. Oh well,
one can’t do it all in 10 days. After all it took the «P» and «VP» 100
days to get there… Next Trip for sure. (:-)))

If you’re ever in DC, for whatever reason and your only option is Rayburn or Dirksen, run away and get an ACTUAL meal.
Lots of gross food, but at the same time the salad bar’s okay. Had a bagel once and it was rock hard… rather gross. Outrageous pricing too for the quality of food they’re giving you.
Then again, it is a cafeteria.

The cafeteria looks amazing (for a cafeteria) when you walk in but that’s pretty much it. They dedicate a whole room to vending machines– anywhere from a hot dog vending machine to the typical candy/​soda machine. I headed for the Taqueria because it had the longest line. I ordered the chicken taco salad which consisted of corn chips, chicken, salsa, jalepenos, and lettuce. Okay, now it wasn’t awful, it just didn’t taste delicious. Edible.

I actually think the salad bar here is the best of all the food available in the government buildings. I’d eat in Rayburn over Dirksen or any of the others ANY day. The salad bar has tons of fixings.

Buying green vegetables for myself is difficult since they all seem to rot before I can eat them. So whenever I’m feeling vitamin-​starved I hit up the office cafeteria salad bar. It’s a baby step above Fresh Choice, mostly because of the spring mix and edamame and banana pudding with Nilla wafers. Otherwise, the selection is a little thin.
The cookies here taste like they are packed with delicious trans fats and the Starbucks coffee is much better than the cheap stuff (I know we’re underpaid Congressional staffers and shouldn’t be paying so much for coffee, but jeez that house brew is almost as awful as the Folger’s french roast stuff we brew in the office).
Despite the shortcomings, and perhaps bolstered by the new «light and fit» healthy selections, this is the best calorie-​for-​dollar deal on the hill.

Seven hours a day the Rayburn serves up big scoops of disgusting, neatly packaged in a box to go. Painfully slow and woefully inept, the captive audience that is Congress keeps this place humming. Detractors say this place makes them yearn for prison food.