There is a wide array of food on offer at Cosmo, with a larger selection than the majority of all-you-can eat restaurants that I have visited, which instantly makes it popular with a variety of customers. The cuisine served at Cosmo is generally Asian in nature, with Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Thai all on offer, however, there are recent additions, mainly aimed at little ones, such as pizza and pasta.
The Chinese food at Cosmo is very enjoyable, one particular example being a variant of sweet and sour chicken, the crispy beef was also very good, and it was present on all four plates of food that I had. The beef and black bean sauce was also pleasant, the lemon chicken however tasted like it had been sitting there for a while, the batter not being crisp and the chicken a bit dry. Although I often get ripped for this, being a valley boy I do enjoy curry sauce, however the curry sauce at Cosmo was very tasteless and unexciting.
I was unimpressed with the Indian food on offer at Cosmo however, I tried the chicken korma and a lamb dish, both seemed to be missing that x factor that is present in a good Indian curry, from the range of curries on offer there also seemed to be a lack of spice, something I am not impressed with as I enjoy a great deal of spice in my curry. One member of our party tried the tandoori pork, however he claimed it was more fat than pork and was not good.
I did not try the sushi, however several in my party did sample it but they did not rave about it. They claimed that it was sub-standard when compared with sushi from other restaurants. A major part of the Cosmo experience are the live cooking stations, offering such things as steak, squid and scallops, all being rather good. There is also a large selection of desserts, however none were particularly good, the fruit was tasteless, the cakes tended to be a bit stale and the ice cream was below par, however this could probably be excused as the desserts are not the main attraction.
Eating at Cosmo is an odd experience, you pay before you enter, then head downstairs where the main restaurant is, this is not ideal as the toilet is upstairs and you cannot leave the main dining area to use the toilet unless you first get a re-entry pass. It is not a relaxing experience eating at Cosmo, and I got the odd feeling that I was always being watched, that, coupled with the whole toilet fiasco, made it feel like something out of an Orwellian totalitarian future. I will say though that the waiting staff were very quick to clear away any unwanted plates.
Price-wise, at £12.99 for dinner time on a Wednesday I did feel it was a bit expensive for the quality on offer, although due to the all-you-can-eat nature you can get your moneys worth, if your appetite is large enough. Drinks were also a bit on the expensive side, a large coke setting me back £2.60, I could have had a pint of Becks for just 20p more, but oh well, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
In conclusion, although the food in this restaurant is not of an extremely high standard, it is not really what Cosmo is about, it's about the all-you-can-eat spirit, which seems to challenge many to test themselves in a competitive way, the more plates of food you can get through the more manlier you are. In this respect Cosmo is a great example, with the shear amount of food on offer from different Asian cuisines. So if you are looking to stuff yourselves until you cannot eat anymore, leaving you with a massive 'food comedown' to deal with which, if you are lucky, will be gone by the next morning, Cosmo is perfect. However, if you are looking for a relaxing meal with really good food I think you are better off trying somewhere else.
Star rating (out of 5) :-
Food: ***
Atmosphere: **
Price: **
Overall: **** (it is very good at what it s trying to be)
