Cosmo’s Italian Kitchen

Living on the east coast there is no shortage of good pizza
Now on the west is another story.
The cosmania pizza is amazing
The service is always great and it has a cute Italian family feel

My wife and I have been eating at Cosmo’s for years and have enjoyed dining here. However, tonight about a third of the bread in the basket was old and our lasagna and eggplant parmigiana were cold in the center. Not good for business. Furthermore, the waitress looked like she just rolled out of bed and came to work in her yoga tights. I wonder if Dick Fischer is aware of this. The food quality has diminished and the service has as well. I remember when the restaurant was packed consistently throughout the week. I guess other folks have noticed the change too. Needless to say, we won’t be returning anytime soon.

Excellent food, service, price — couldn’t be happier :)

My wife used to live in Aliso Viejo when we first got married in the early 2000s and we enjoyed coming here often. Cosmos is one of the spots we missed after moving to San Diego. We recently took a trip to Orange County, now with two kids in tow.
Our kiddos split a cheese pizza which our server brought back to the table first (you know how everyone’s kids are hungry and can’t wait). The kids barely touched it since they were full from the bread, which they were practically inhaling. It was there first experience with dipping bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, so they got a kick out of trying that for their first time.
My wife had the meatball lasagna and she enjoyed the marinara. I had the lobster cannellonis in vodka cream sauce. The side of brocolli that came with my plate was very bitter. I soaked it up with the vodka cream sauce so that helped a bit. It looks small at first, but I was pretty full by the end of it. We all split the calamari appetizer which was as good as I remembered it. I imagine we’ll be coming back here again whenever we’re in town. Hopefully much sooner than the 12 year gap.

Finally went back to try Cosmo’s and it was wonderful… Chance was out waitress, she was a delight and service was great. She recommended Penne Ghiottona, 2 of us had it and was awesome. 1 had Calamari and loved it and 1 had Spaghetti Aioli and loved that. So we’re back and happy to be back. The owner was charming as well.

A group of friends were going to meet here for an event between 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Unfortunately, hubby and I had to work and couldn’t get there till later that evening (approx 6:30-ish). But, at least we would be with them about an hour or so to enjoy their company and good food.
Since this location was an hour away from home, I had enough time to check the reviews on Unilocal.Oh my, not a lot of people are a big fan of this place. I would never drive an hour away to have dinner, especially if they are only a 3 star. Unless, we are meeting friends, or we are already in the area. So, I called to see if I can make a reservation and/​or what the wait was to be seated. I was told they don’t take reservations and it was going to be about 45 minute wait, but she was really nice and said she can add our name on the list. At this time, we were about 30 minutes away.
Once we got there, we were seated withing 5 minutes. (Impressive) We ordered a pizza, 2 seafood soups (forget the name), ahi salad, and bruschetta with ahi as appetizers. and OMG, everything was delicious. I love seafood, but don’t care for seafood in soup. Wow, this soup was perfection. (Impressive, again!)
We did not wait a long time for our food to arrive. It was good timing. Not sure what nights the Unilocal complainers came, or how long they actually waited. We came on a Saturday evening, and they were very busy. Not a single seat left open.
Impressive overall and highly recommend.

Food was horrible, and the manager is rude.
I went here with my brothers and sister, we ordered pasta, and it look like soup because the water was not all the way drained, and the chicken was hot and perfect from outside but frozen on the inside, we told the manager about it he said «you are the first costumer that is complaining» but he refused to do anything about it I was so hungry too because I didn’t have breakfast or lunch that day; and you know how they say «when you are hungry everything tastes good» …we just ended up paying and just left and went to Starbucks next door! Complete waste of $ 154!!!

After watching kitchen nightmares last night I am wary of restaurants now. This restaurant is very nice, comfortable, warm with a bar. TV around the place. Food was just OK. I ordered the lobster manicotti with broccoli. I was expecting maybe something more gourmet instead it came out like a premade, gooey mixture, and cheap mozzarella sprinkles on top. For $ 17 it wasn’t so bad though. Prices are reasonable. I think this restaurant could use a real italian menu upgrade actually.

Things have changed quite a bit since our first visits years ago. I have changed my opinion substantially. My biggest complaint was the service which seems to be much better. The food we had the last few times was much better as well. Found out that the owners are very generous to the community so we decided to give them a try again a year or so ago which is why we went back. And have returned several times since. We like the house specials, brucheta, chicken marsala, and the pizza.
There is a wine store nearby and if you buy a nice bottle of wine and keep the receipt there is no corkage fee. Cosmo doesn’t really have any higher quality wines if that matters to you.

This is Italian food straight out of the microwave. Of that is what you like then you may like this place.

Live down the street from this location so it’s very convenient, come in every so often it’s always ok.
Last night must have been an off night because everything was bad. Horrible service, the place was probably 20% full at most. Had hungry cranky kids which at most places they will bring there food out first, it came the same time. How can it take so long for a kids pizza and pasta? Ordered a coffee, they bring it to me Cold… So I send it back. My wife and daughters pasta and lasagna sauce tasted burnt and was not good, had to complain about that. Nothing worse than going out to dinner and spending money and having a shitty meal and bad service.

This place was HORRIBLE!!! They had completely horrible food. The food was watery the sprit was just sugar water and they messed up on my aunts food TWICE! And the manger was absolutely gruesome. He had the worst attitude yet. The only high point about our whole trip was our wonderful waiter and the bread. I beg please do not go here signs may deceive you.

Came in tonight at 8:00 pm. Ordered an appetizer, wine and a pizza. Our server told us our Pizza had to be remade because first one was burned. No biggie, we were enjoying the wine and atmosphere. The food was pretty good. By 9:00 our server was clearly ready to leave… walked past the table twice with take home box and the bill. Paid our bill, boxed up our leftovers. Enjoying the wine, listened to another couple from the bar asking when your restaurant closed… they felt pressured to leave… they left. Then 9:25, we were still finishing up the carafe of wine we paid for, and the employees were putting the chairs on the tables and all of the lights came on. We decided to leave, confirmed your restaurant closes at 10:00… But they were slow tonight… too bad for us I guess.
Disappointed :(next time will probably choose a restaurant that won’t be in such a rush to leave.

Heard a lot of good things about this place. Service was very good. Food was fine. Not great but still good. A little bland. Nice family atmosphere.
I will probably go back and give it another go.

Terrible! From a party of 6 ppl, 1 order wrong, 2 sent back because they weren’t fit to eat. Bread cut in little teeny pieces, AND stale. They were highly recommended too, very disappointed

Service horrible! Food quality beyond bad! My 7 year old daughter could make better red sauce, and lasagna!!! Bread was stale and BAD!!! Too many other choices to waste your money here.

On a recent visit to California, my husband and I had dinner here with some friends. Cosmo’s is casual but has a nice vibe with good service. We bought a bottle of wine just a couple doors down a the OC Wine Mart and were able to enjoy during dinner. Menu selections are what you would expect to see at an Italian restaurant and some specific to the restaurant. I ordered the minestrone soup and the chicken parmigana. First, we received bread and had the option of using oil and balsamic vinegar as a dipping sauce. The soup had a lot of veggies and was tasty. Dinner was OK, nothing special. I’ve had a lot of chicken parm’s in my day and this one wasn’t memorable. I will say the portion size was huge and had some leftovers.
Cosmo’s is reasonably priced but honestly, I’d rather go someplace else for good Italian food.

I used to eat here regularly but when I stopped by last week I was very disappointed in the service, quality and taste of the food and the overall cleanliness of the dining area. Everything was bland.
Will never return.

One of the nice family Italian restaurants in the area, looks like it’s been here for many years. Also it looks like it’s been a favorite for many years, they have regulars who come here with their whole family and they seem to like the place a lot, but for a new eye it looks a little dated. OK, once you sit down and order some wine (the house Chianti carafe is really good and a great price too) and some food –you understand where it’s coming from. I had all kinds of pasta and (eggplant) lasagna but my favorite is the Two Sausage sauce Capellini (literally 2 sausages on top of Angel hair pasta with some spicy sauce! Mamma Mia!) The service was great always, they even have a loyalty card, but you have to have that with you, they won’t find you by the phone number or name). It’s on my way home so I’ll stop by to try other favorite dishes here.

I’ve had their baked pasta before and it was good. This last visit, I was less than impressed. However, I was at the OC Wine Mart next door and was hungry for some pasta. I asked Julie L. if it was ok for me to order pasta from Cosmo’s and bring it over to dine at the wine bar. She said it was ok with her.
I wandered over and took a quick look at the menu. It was a Friday evening and they were pretty busy. I went with wheat spaghetti and 2 meatballs. Pretty simple order. I asked the gentleman behind the counter if he needed my number to call me when it was ready. He said he didn’t need it as it would be ready in 5 minutes. Sure enough, they called my name shortly after for the to-​go order. It was definitely fast.
However, the girl who gave me my order didn’t give me utensils, crushed pepper flake, or grated parmesan. I know they serve pizza so they would have these items on-​hand. I had to walk back and ask for utensils. I forgot about the peppers and parmesan. One bite and I regretted my decision. I wasn’t impressed. It was a $ 15 meal that I could have made at home. The marinara was watery. The meatballs were small and dry in texture. I should have ordered some of their baked pasta instead. They did give me cut up pieces of ciabatta to go with the meal but it didn’t make up for the watery pasta. How disappointing! At least I was able to salvage it with some wine at the wine bar.