Image: Agnolotti del Plin
Last Updated: May 2022
Current Status: The remodeled dining room is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday. Take-out remains available.
Overview:
Tosca serves elegantly-plated Italian cuisine in a fancy room among a crowd where many are little concerned about the price of the meal because many of them are either not paying or are writing it off. The cooking is excellent. Tosca has a history of finding talented chefs and the tradition continues. Dishes teeter just on the edge of going “over-the-top” but then seems to pull back to merely indulgent. Scallops atop a creamy puree is where many would stop, but Tosca adds “eggplant jam” and dollop of roe. The signature short rib agnolotti comes with a rich, deep brown sauce. Among all the pasta and main course offerings, only one appears to be vegetarian, a cheese ravioli with mushroom sauce.
Of course it is expensive, though if you avoid entrees (which start at $40) and split a dish or two it comes in at roughly $100 a head. Throw caution to the wind on the food and add a nice bottle from the deep wine list, and it quickly becomes a different category of dinner. Which is Tosca’s trick, to be fancy and formal enough to count as special, but not be too expensive that it directly competes with tasting menu places. Despite its attempt to be a bit more casual coming out of a shutdown, it can’t help itself. Sure the maître d’ no longer wears a tie all the time, the space is a bit brighter, the mood a little less subdued, but at its heart Tosca is serving Northern Italian cooking that is rich and pleasing in a formal setting. Decadence is in its DNA.
Summary:
Cuisine: Italian
Neighborhood: Downtown
Address: 1112 F St NW, Washington DC
Website: http://www.toscadc.com/
Reservations: Opentable
Other Critics/Voices:
Washington Post: Tom plays publicist for the newly re-opened spot. 3 Stars in 2017 (scroll down for the 2015 2 Star reprimand). 2.5 in 2011 (dead link, but Eater had the dining guide list).
Washingtonian: Preview of refresh. Top 100 in 2013; 2012; #33 in 2011, #33 in 2010, #23 in 2009; #20 in 2008;
Lori Gardner (Beenthereeatenthat.com): Write up of a 2011 Restaurant Week visit