Shamshiry

Address: 8607 Westwood Center Dr., Vienna, VA 22182

Phone: 703-448-8883

Neighborhood: Vienna

Cuisines: Middle Eastern

Opening Hours: Open daily 11:30 to 11.

Wheelchair Accessible: Yes

Kid Friendly: Yes

Price Range: Inexpensive

Dress: Informal

Reservations: Not Needed

Website: Click here to open in new window.

Best Dishes Pilaus; skewers of lamb, Cornish hen, or spiced ground beef; feta cheese with fresh herbs; dilled yogurt; Salad Shirazi; saffron ice cream with cherry juice; shaved ice with glass noodles, rosewater, and lemon juice.

Price Details: Appetizers $2.59 to $4, entrées $5 to $15.

Special Features:
Kid Friendly

Chelo means “cooked rice” in Persian, and kebabs at this mirror-lined family restaurant arrive alongside an enormous mound of saffron-topped grains. They’re delicious with a raw egg cracked on top—your server might assume you don’t want one, so be sure to ask—which cooks quickly as you weave it through the rice.

Our pick of the meats: the chelo kebab kubideh—juicy ground beef fragrant with spices. Chicken fans should experience the gamey, crisp-skinned Cornish-hen kebab, served on the bone.

Also good: Salad Shirazi, with diced cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions dressed simply in olive oil and lemon juice; panir sabzi, goat cheese served beneath a mound of fresh herbs; Persian tea.