Toosso Pakistani Kitchen

Somehow this restaurant manages to be authentic Pakistani yet just suburban enough to keep the local white peoples curious. Completely halal, spare and simple in its offerings, the menu reads like a \"Best of\" album A-side. There are no real losers on this menu, then again, you can\'t get a kaleji (liver) fix here. There\'s plenty of parking available in the lot outside, shared with a NASA credit union, so go ahead and bring the 2007 Lotus Elise Type 72D. Check out Tooso on weekend days for halwa puri ($9), a classic, decadent Pakistani breakfast -- a poori (fried bread), channa (chickpeas), halva (a sweet made from semolina, sugar, cardamom, and clarified butter), and mildly-spicy potatoes graciously presented on an elementary school styrofoam lunch tray. The tikka boti (in American known as \"teeka masala\"), malai murghi, and reshmi kebab all are worth the $4-5 but be aware they are probably smaller than you expect. Give the bun kebab a chance ($4) -- it\'s a Pakistani style hamburger made with spiced minced beef and experience the revelation of what a hamburger could be. The mirchi fries ($3, spicy french fries), are thin, freshly-cut strips of potato that are a bit different than most french fries and are worth adding on. The haleem special on the weekend ($10) is decent, but this author has had better and would pass in favor of the halwa puri special. Faluda is a bizarre desert combining ice cream, milk, rose syrup, basil, and vermicelli (yes, spaghetti) that rivals a Ben and Jerry\'s milk shake and is the dessert of choice, though the kulfi ($3) is pretty decent. Chai ($2) here is acceptable. Overall, a worthy 4/5 stars for quality and a 5/5 stars for trying something a little different. Incidentally, this author finds it hard to believe it took some genius in the town of Hamburg to be the first to conceive of combining bread and ground meat. I\'m pretty sure in the interval of 8,000 years since grain was first milled that somebody thought of that first. Same goes for you, Earl of Sandwich.

The fries are nice. They were unable to verify if the meat is Zabihah Halal (hand-slaughtered) and where they buy it from.

Very unique Pakistani items, specially the roasted chicken and bun kabob. On weekend the it gets really crowd thoh duo to limited space. Price is decent.

Word of mouth praise convinced us to patronize this restaurant. Toosso means to stuff yourself. However that\'s not the case. Its NOT an All you can eat buffet style place. To my surprise it turn out to be a limited menu single room informal casual self service small restaurant. No goat or Lamb karahi here. What\'s with that? Our order consisted of a mildly spiced Chicken Tikka BBQ (kabob) plate with sliced onions & chutney. Mildly spiced Dum keema (Onions fried grounded beef) etc. Third item was Bun (Shamie) mild ground beef Kabab. I had to add salt to each item as it had very little or none. I know its bad to add salt but I like to taste my food & without salt it doesn\'t. Food is fresh & served properly on regular china plates or bowls. Paper cups for drinks. For dessert we ordered Faluda with kulfi. It was average at best. Service is good. Friendly staff. Management is mostly invisible or shy to face customers. Overall I settled for 3 stars based on food taste which is mild & tasted nothing like any authentic Pakistani Dishes. Pricing is moderate based on what items are on the menu. No seafood. Not even Lahori fried fish. No goat or mutton. No Desi Chai or dood-puthie chai, not even Kashmiri chai. Did I cover everything? I should be getting paid to write this detail long review. Don\'t you think?

Food is great. Relatively pricey (as the rolls are very small and need at least two to get anywhere near being filled). Definitely a hot spot in the Sterling area. I\'ve heard numerous things about the Falooda, but am too poor to pay $6-7 for... essentially a pudding with noodles in it lol (Iranian Faloodeh is amazing, though).

Great tasting Nihari and Halwa Poori, very big portion too of these. Nice lively place for family, very very busy during weekend breakfast around 11 am and can be difficult to find sitting place and you might have to wait to be seated

Food is average Pakistani food but service is horrible. We were 16 people and one of our guest ordered Chicken Tikka but instead they brought chicken tikka role. Explained to them that they had made a mistake. They brought the chicken tikka out in 15 minutes but also charged us for chicken tikka role which was clearly their mistake. when pointed it out they did not remove it from the bill even though no one had touched it. We pa the bill and left that chicken tikka or them to eat. Will never go there again.

Food is ok...Atmosphere is nice and unique (using soda bottle tops on the walls), sometimes they have a movie playing on the wall via projector. However the food does not excite me, when they first opened their chicken tikka and other dishes were excellent. However as of late I find their dishes to be pretty bland. They make a good falooda for desert.

>Full Halal >Very popular with locals & families on w/e >Service is good; be patient when they're busy >Atmosphere is upbeat >Food was spicy & delicious >Prices were reasonable

Food is good. Chicken tikka is the main dish. Lunch is really good and it's affordable. Only thing is the customer service. I called to order, the guy put me on hold for 15 minutes, then another 5. I went there and they weren't even that busy. Need to get rid of that guy, I went back tonight and he was rude again. Other than the owners son, the experience is good.

Food is decent. Typical pakistani style bun kabob. Pretty spicy dishes so beware. Staff wasn't very friendly or accommodating and food was kind of expensive. Not my kind of food but I can see the appeal.

Not good at all

Food is good , but the stuff specially the desi guy usually at front around lunch time is full of attitudes and dis-respectful , make fun of people with less English conversation skills !

Nice place ! Like it a lot.

Place to go for nihari and halwa poori every weekend

Had chicken Tikka. They were not even close to Pakistani taste. I was hungry, so ate the parathas with chicken tikka. No Taste Place was nice and clean. Staff courteous

Excellent, charming place. Simple menu. Affordable cost. Good service. Great food.

Great tasting fresh food. Everything we tried tasted great, especially the falooda and chicken tikka. Nice clean and nicely decorated restaurant. Would definitely go again.

Excellent Food and Place. We had heard about this from lots of friends and family. It was worth the time and travel. We had their chicken tikka, and biryani. Portions were enough for us both. Their "rotis" were very nice and well made. At the end, we had Falooda which is really famous as well. Highly recommended! Reasonable Prices! Cant wait to try their halwa poori for breakfast on the wekend ;)

We went there like a week ago and I figure out that place is a rip off place because there entrees is cheaper then their dessert like Flauda which is not acceptable by any mean.The only thing we like was Chicken tikka.

Limited but very focused menu, halwa puri and Nihari is awesome. Chicken Tikka is great as well. We are there 2-4 times a month with kids :)

The food is pretty good esp. their chicken tikka, boti rolls, and nihari but I would have given 5 stars if the place is little bigger and ofcourse clean! It bothers me when people are standing on my head and on the top floor is messy. They definitely need to work on that!

Ate yesterday...Food was decent. Today, the place was a dump. Not clean. Plenty of people cooking, no one cleaning. The girl who was taking orders, collecting $$, was cleaning. If you call wiping the table with a dirty rag, cleaning. Nonetheless, the food is decent. Ambience, if clean is trendy. Wifi doesn't work. 4 stars is a stretch. Really 3.5.

Heard a lot about this place, and was pleasantly surprised. The food is excellent, I was in DC on a week long business trip and ate at this place on four different days. I tried everything on the menu and thoroughly enjoyed the food. Best Chicken Tikka outside Pakistan!

This place is really amazing. It's trendy and stylish. Food is high quality. Prices seem pretty good too

Nice small desi decorated restaurant. Ordering is little bit slow but chicken tikka excellent done and other portions of meals are small and nicely presented.

I drive 15 miles every Saturday with my friends and family - this is a legit pakistan place. Tika boto Roll paratha , halwa puri, nihari are all my fav. So far not even a single bad thing I have taste there .... Fully recommended !

an elegant classy cafe with small limited menu..a place to bring your non-pakistani friends to sample the food and socialize in a nice setting..i think this is what the owner intends..to introduce pakistani food to the non- pakistani americans..the interior is obvioulsy professionally done with lots of uniformed employees and a corportae chain type feel..yes the portions are a bit small . but their only like 5-6$ so u can get 2 items and it will be like regular restaurant prices.. ..(finally a place where u can bring your non-pakistani friends and not feel embarrased by the unprofessional staff and dirty tables with frowning moustache waiters that is becoming all to common with "pakistani food joints" ..:)..)

amazing decor ! didnt have food just got the menu as passing by ..looked like an american chain inside clean and contemporary

Excellent falooda and best chicken tika in DC metro area

nihari is awesome, faluda is the best I have had in US so far. Rolls are OK. Very reasonable prices. Would definitely go back anytime.

Faluda was way over priced and not made correctly the kabob roll was by far the worst I have had. It seems they nuked the kabob an threw it in a pita bread.

Portions are small but food is excellent. I would definitely go back again.

Portions are small but so are the prices. Food is very fresh, service is great and atmosphere is unique and clean. My favs are the weekend halva puri and nehari. I also recommend the falooda.

Picked up Chicken Biryani and Chicken roll. Both were excellent. Actually reminded me of the Behari Kebab roll on Tariq road Karachi. They also have the infamous Apple Cider soda from Pakistan. Food is authentic, specially Biryani. Not unlike other biryanis where they mix rice and chicken qorma and call it a biryani. Highly recommended, I would definitely keep going as its very close to my place.

Small portions. You end up getting two entrees that ends up paying more. However the food is good!

Excellent restaurant for anyone looking for a unique yet authentic desi dining experience. Our whole family was impressed with the decor and cleaniness of the restaurant. We ordered Bun kabob, Keema Samosa, Spicy Fries, Nihari and Chicken Tikka roll. Everything was mouth watering delicious. For dessert, we ordered 'Kulfi' - a perfectly smooth, sweet and creamy flavor (yummm). Its a must have esp. for kids! Reasonable prices, great service, delicious food - I would highly recommend it!

Went there for lunch, and had the Bun kabob, samosas, chili fries, and keem roll. The food was all very good - the owner was very nice also - he mistakenly had charged me twice for a roll, and I did not notice. He came by when I was eating and returned the money to me in cash. I would highly recommend. Authentic Pakistani taste and good quality!

It was a experience! Excellent Pakistani fast food at excellent prices! Courteous people! We had reshmi kebab and chicken tikka rolls and we loved it! We look forward to having halwa puri someday!

As soon as you walk into Toosso, you realize the hard work that has been put into the decor that brings the essence of Pakistan to you. There's a wall full of Kites; another wall is made of bottle caps; the third wall has diner style seating with seats resembling milk cans used traditionally in villages. As for the food, the price and quantity is great. We ordered halwa poori, which included 2 pooris, halwa, chholay, aloo, and yogurt. Normally this stuff would cost 10 dollars. Here it was half price. Though not listed on the wall menu, they also serve traditional chai (tea). The quantity for tea wasnt much, but it was refreshingly fresh. Overall, I would love to go there for dinner. The prices seemed reasonable, and the menu was mouthwatering.