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Shamshiry Express

3.4 (52 reviews)
InexpensivePersian/Iranian
Open • 11:30 am - 9:00 pm

Shamshiry Express Photos

Business Info

SHAMSHIRY EXPRESS ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Loud
Dogs allowed
Good for kids

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Recommended Reviews - Shamshiry Express

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Wednesday special
Christopher S.

The fourth installment of my "Kabob Kompendium" profiling various joints in the region that can be broken down into a set of common criteria: 1)ethnic focus 2) kabobs 3)side dishes 4)rice 5)condiments 6)bread 7)dining experience 8) unique dishes 9)x-factor(s). 1)Ethnic focus: Persian The hallmark for Persian cuisine for me is the unique preparations of their rice dishes, with combinations of fruits and nuts or herbs and legumes, and they have a rotating set of daily specials showcasing these rice dishes depending on which day of the week you are coming in, as opposed to the parent restaurant where all options are available on any given day. 2) Side dishes: one gets a quarter wedge or a raw onion and a charred tomato so nothing too exciting here. The tomato makes sense to me since it adds a tart note that can be mixed into the rice, but I haven't quite figured out how to make do with the raw onion other than for a good cry over the lack of better side dishes. Fellow Persian yelpers feel free to enlighten me. 3) Rice: well cooked fluffy basmati rice w/ a touch of saffron. The flavored rice specials are good but not exceptional compared to other Persian joints I've frequented. They definitely do not skimp on quantity so one can definitely easily make a single entree stretch to 2 meals to go easy on the wallet. I've been told one can request the desirable crispy panfried rice at the bottom of the cooking vessel aka tahdig (the Taye Diggs of rice, haha) so bonus points to make up for the sad side dishes. 5) Condiments: no yogurt sauce (although perhaps on request?) but there is a spicy jalapeno relish which adds a spice note but lacking umami so one is left with an abundance of carbs from the mountain of rice and the complimentary pita bread, with a paucity of seasoning. 6) Bread- ultra thin pita with a nice crisp on the edges with good central chew, but sorely in need of flavor either in the form of wrapping it with meat or a good dipping sauce 7) Dining experience- take out only, but accepts call ahead orders which are promptly made to order in 10-15minutes 8) Unique dishes: the daily specials and the ever-so intriguing "Tongue Sandwich" prominently displayed on their wall menu...so many questions, what animal, what style of preparation, what condiments, what type of bread. Cat got your tongue or curiosity may have killed the cat? Perhaps I will experience both upon making this order. 9) X-factor: While I am no self-proclaimed expert on takeout Persian food, I do consider myself a bonafide bargain hunter on good lunch deals, and the daily special is definitely excellent value for quantity with respect to quality. While some 4.5 star experiences are downgraded due to upcharge in price, this one is a 3.5 star food experience elevated to 4 stars based on value and prompt service. Looking forward to checking out their actual restaurant to weigh in on their sit-in dining experience.

Sarah A.

Shamshiry Express (SE) to get your ground beef Kabab and rice. Every time we have a potluck I always come to SE and get about 20 orders of them. Not a bad deal at all but sometimes they don't give you enough rice, sauce, and bread so be sure to check. Staff is very nice and always get a nice tip from me. Sometimes they will help you take your stuff to your car but majority of the time you have to do it yourself which is fine. I keep coming back here for whenever I have big orders.

Shirin polo

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6 months ago

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4 months ago

Good and delicious food- very clean and better prices ... I enjoy going there every week

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10 months ago

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9 years ago

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8 years ago

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2 years ago

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7 years ago

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7 years ago

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6 years ago

This place honestly has the same quality food as the main location, it's just not special and should be better.

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4 years ago

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9 years ago

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6 years ago

Best damn kabob in the DMV, hands down. They remodeled the place, so its super nice, the food is amazing , everything is fresh...

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12 years ago

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14 years ago

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7 years ago

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5 years ago

Chenje Kabob is first class. Melts in your mouth. Kubideh is also excellent as is Service!!!

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6 years ago

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11 years ago

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7 years ago

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6 years ago

I heard their sandwiches are good which I have not tried it yet but their daily specials are totally tasteless and horrible.

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9 years ago

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6 years ago

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Where is a current menu? Not even a Facebook page, link goes to main restaurant.

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Joon

Joon

4.3
(610 reviews)
1.4 mi
•$$$
Private events
Large group friendly

Fantastic service, cute little elegant ambience, loved the velvet upholstery and interior decor…read more Complimentary valet was deff a plus. Came here with a friend for my bday brunch. They brought out complimentary little cakes with candles, super cute. We did the a la carte entree option, I ordered lamb potato hash which was delish. Deff would come back! Pro tip: If you're using Waze, it may not take you right to the restaurant entrance! I ended up driving right past it and looped around just to be able to find it.

My friend moved away a few weeks ago, but she missed the DMV so much she came back to visit last…read moreweek. So that means we had to grab dinner. We made a reservation for Joon in advance. The ambiance felt luxurious and elevated, and there was even complimentary valet parking right outside the restaurant. To start, our server brought a piece of pita with a small plate filled with feta cheese, chimichurri (?), and an herb-seasoned butter. I loved the soft texture of the pita, and my favorite was the feta cheese. HUMMUS - 11 +14 for braised lamb shoulder Another friend recommended the lamb hummus to me, and it was delicious but very heavy. The pickled onions really helped cut the fattiness of the dip, and the lamb was very tender. PISTACHIO SOUP - 16 The soup was super thick, so it was very filling. Overall, pretty savory and delicious, just incredibly dense. My friend and I agreed that we should have just gotten one bowl of soup to share instead of each getting one because we were pretty full at this point. LAMB CHOPS - 58 Sadly, this one was a bit of a miss. I don't think four lamb chops were worth the price of $58. The lamb chops, while flavorful, were really chewy and tough to eat. However, the rice (chelow rice with tahdig) that came with it was phenomenal. When our server placed the bowl down, we could smell the warm, buttery smell instantly. I could literally just eat the rice on its own because it was seasoned on its own. SAFFRON & ROSE WATER ICE CREAM - 16 This came with two scoops of ice cream and a cookie in the middle. The cold dessert was a refreshing way to end a heavy dinner on a hot summer day. While it wasn't incredibly sweet, we thought it was sweeter than most ice creams. The saffron and pistachio flavors were very prominent. Delicious, and we were very pleased with our dessert selection. I'd like to revisit Joon eventually because I think I would have much preferred their chicken harissa and their kabob selections over their lamb chops. I saw other tables order platters of kabobs and those looked phenomenal. Joon is also on inKind, so we were able to pay with the app and save on our meal.

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Joon
7 Sin Nowruz 2025
7 Sin Nowruz 2025
Haleem Bademjoon

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Haleem Bademjoon
Aracosia McLean

Aracosia McLean

4.8
(478 reviews)
3.1 mi
•$$$

Loved my lamb dish! Surprisingly reasonable pricing when you at opening/lunch too!…read more Nice cozy but elegant vibes. Great to take out your family or significant other. Interesting art on the wall and nice bathroom. Park on the parking garage below or on the side street/lot nearby. Make sure if you don't finish your lamb and ask to put it in a takeaway box go specify that you want your lamb scraps. Learn from me because my waiter tossed all my lamb and just boxed up the rice likely thinking I was done with them. Big bummer since I was looking forward to my leftovers but oh well.

Overall it was a good experience! We absolutely loved the bread and the difference sauces that…read morewent with it. The pumpkin dumplings and pan fried veggie filled dumplings were great as well. I thought my salmon wrap and the chickpea side was ok. Interesting flavors for sure. As for the service, there was always someone filling up our waters and our waiter was very nice checking in every now and then. The only downside of the experience is at the end when the waiter was boxing up all the food for us. Very sweet that they do this but when boxing up my partners food, they only boxed up the rice and they got rid of the lamb that he was looking forward to eating more of later. So that was kind of a disappointment for us. I think if we go again, we would request to box our food ourselves since I'm not sure why they decided to get rid of all of his lamb.

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Aracosia McLean
Aracosia McLean
Bread - good.

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Bread - good.
Reston Kabob

Reston Kabob

3.9
(402 reviews)
6.5 mi
•$$

Whenever my husband and I come back from a road trip, we almost always order Reston Kabob. The food…read moreis consistently good and a generous portion, so much so that you can easily get 2-3 meals out of the salad. From my experience, I would recommend ordering in person because they lost our online order one time and, if you order online, you can't choose your own combinations of kabobs and/or proteins (I personally like ordering the falafel and gyros). Food Ordered: * worth trying - [Salad*]: I usually like to order the salad base. Out of the kabobs and proteins I've tried, I would recommend the beef kobeeda, falafel, and gyros proteins. I have also tried the veggie kabob, which isn't bad, but not as good as the aforementioned proteins, considering it's only grilled vegetables. I liked the flavor of the chickpeas but I prefer a more melt-in-your-mouth texture in my chickpeas like the ones at Charcoal Kabob. The chickpeas at Reston Kabob were a smidge gritty. Also, I have to highlight the sauces that come with the meal; both the green sauce and the white sauce have the perfect amount of acidity with the green sauce being bright and herbaceous and the white sauce being creamy and not too yogurt forward. My husband and I really like the white sauce here, so much so that we bought a bottle of it recently haha. - [Samosa*]: I don't think I've ever had a bad samosa and this tastes like your typical samosa. - [Baklava]: I tried the one with pistachios and the one with walnuts. Comparatively, I liked the one with walnuts more because the pistachios tasted a bit off to me and the pistachio flavor was a lot stronger versus the milder flavor of the walnuts. The only reason I'm hesitant to recommend it is because I thought it was soaked in too much syrup, making it a bit too sweet for my preference. As a heads up, each order of baklava comes with four small pieces. Would I go back?: Most definitely! Reston Kabob is a tried and true restaurant in my book and is in our rotation of restaurant options when we're in the mood for takeout.

I had really mixed feelings about my experience here. I went during lunch time and the food took a…read morereally long time to be prepared. I figured this could be a good thing if at least it means the food would be served hot. When the food finally arrived, I didn't have any issues while eating the food. I thought the overall flavor was decent. Within an hour or so, my cousin and I experienced an upset stomach and didn't feel well for at least 24 hours. I'm not sure if this was a one-off experience, but I would not go back to this restaurant because of this alone.

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Usually they are not busy
Usually they are not busy
Reston Kabob
The beef kabobs and gyro meat.

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The beef kabobs and gyro meat.

Shamshiry Express - persian - Updated June 2026

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