We spent a week in DC and had many wonderful meals. This was one of them. It cost twice as much or more than the rest. The food was good to some dishes very good. The service was adequate nothing exceptional. Like I said, nothing was wrong, but I had nothing or experienced nothing that would justify the prices.

We wanted to have a "splurge meal" while visiting DC. Reading through the many reviews on Tripadvisor before our vacation, we chose Tosca for an evening of fine dining. We were not disappointed.
This is a wonderful restaurant with a very formal style. Its staff is "old world" and attentive, but not intrusive. The menu items were described to us and suggestions were made. Everything we had was excellent, from the appetizers to the carefully prepared and presented main courses. And the desserts were a delightful choice--not heavy, just right. Yes, it's expensive, but for a special night out, it's well worth it. Delicious.

In the middle of DC is a very good Italian restaurant. A very elegant place that one would attend dressed as business casual. The wine selection is large and an excellent selection. The pasta is cooked to perfection and the scallops I had as a main course were delicious. The wait staff is very helpful and enjoyed the interaction. Overall an excellent experience.

Not sure what all the hype is about this place but it is hard for me to believe it is ranked 10th in DC. We just returned from our first trip to DC and spent four days there. My husband chose this place based on its trip advisor ratings. The decor is nice, nothing spectacular. The hostess was so sweet and attentive but the rest of the staff was pretentious. Our waiter was italian and he didn't even give a second to settle in before making recommendations. Of course we like recommendations but for goodness sake...he acted as if we didn't take his recommendation on wine and entrees he would be disappointed. He kept pushing this one type of wine over and over!! The food was average. The foccaccio bread was very good, the sour dough was average. The salads were ok, typical salad nothing special. Super salty though. My husband had the gnocchi....I understand a bit of pesto is good but it was greasy and full of pesto. Pesto overpowered the entire dish. I would not recommend this. We also ordered the astice (lobster salad), the warm spinach salad with pine nuts (not good at all , very greasy) and the tagliatelle.....ok but not great. Very salty. For dessert we split the pecan pie in a wine glass with ice cream. It was good but no way worth $10. We had a nice bottle of wine with our dinner.
This place is ok at best but no way can it be one of the best in DC for italian. Our home town of St. Louis has plenty of places that blow Tosca away....I think Maggiano's beats this place by far!

This is not a negative, troll posting on Tocasa but rather a clarification posting. This amazing restaurant with nice hostess/manager has a strict dress code so be aware before you make reservations.

I know this restaurant is amazing and I hope to eat there someday, but do not show up in casual clothes caught in a rainstorm with 12 year old after spending a day at the Smithsonian American History Museum. We were in DC July 17 – 24. Our family vacation was a “bucket list” item. We wanted to take our 12 year old daughter to Washington DC (where my parents met each other in 1965) and do as many Smithsonian museums, Capitol tours, monument tours as possible without making all three of us miserable in 100 degree weather. We also wanted to partake of the amazing restaurants in the area. I am a regular user/commentator of TripAdvisor so I knew that Tocasa was highly rated and within walking distance of our hotel so I made a reservation.

The weather was 100+ degrees that day and we were dressed casual (t-shirt, shorts, hair questionable, and deodorant questionable). We got caught in a rainstorm that soaked us prior to arriving at the Metro station. I asked a DC native where to find the restaurant. She looked at me and told me where to find it and (in her casual nice work attire) that she would not be dressed enough for the restaurant. Uh oh. We arrived at the location. I’m sure the hostess thought we had stepped out of Duck Dynasty. But they were very nice. The manager came and explained the dress code. They actually tried to find us a table in the back but I (the proper Southern lady I am) discreetly declined and we left discreetly trying not to make a scene. After leaving, I called Brasserie Beck (near our hotel) to make a last minute reservation explaining our situation. We had an amazing meal and spent +$300 there.