Cosi

Not a bad place for lunch. I do think the serving sizes are a little small for the price point. The place was clean and the buffalo blue sandwich that I had was pretty decent, just left me hungry about an hour later.

The guy at the sandwich station seemed personally offended that I asked for a sandwich with just cheese on it. He then asked me what kind of bread I wanted by holding up two pieces in his hand and saying «do you want this one or this one?» and then staring at me. I don’t know… why don’t you try saying what kind of bread it is instead of waving it in the air at me, since they both look exactly the same from 3 feet away? I was also sad there were no free bread samples. That being said, the sandwich was delicious. I also ordered an iced tea and later ordered a second. No free refills, so I spent about $ 5 on iced tea… no big deal. The cashier was nice, at least, and there were plenty of open, clean tables. Every single person there had their laptop out and were intently staring at their screens, so if you want to fit in here, make sure you bring a black laptop and stare at your screen angrily.

I’m baffled by all the negative comments. I’ve never had problems with the service here. I’m not a big hummus fan, but I love their hummus sandwich because it comes with lots of fresh basil on a really tasty thin whole wheat roll. Totally fine for a quick lunch at the office.

Wish I had looked at Unilocal first. Ordered a sesame bagel with veggie cream cheese well toasted, and got to my office with an untoasted poppy bagel and traces of what I assume was cream cheese.
Since I work close by, I returned and asked for my original order. Upon learning they in fact did not have sesame, I asked for a plan bagel sliced to go with the cream cheese on the side — did not have time to wait. Returned to my office with the bagel sliced, and a hard lump of dried out cream cheese that was God-​only-​knows how old.
Disgusting. Avoid this location.

What has happened to Cosi? I remember years ago when it was a great, upscale, rapid (not fast) chain eatery with good service and great food. When they opened their store in downtown Philadelphia, it was an awesome place to have some post-​gym lunch or breakfast with copious hydration with iced tea, or just to drink some good java and watch the people go by. I used to be a fan… Well, no more…
Fast forward a decade and transplant a large number of Cosi’s to Washington DC. A bit of saturation marketing but it would be awesome if they still had the same business model of good service and good food. Unfortunately, the chain has slipped in both…
Entering this Cosi in the Farragut West area, one is confronted with used napkins on the tables. And employees who can barely speak English. Before you accuse me of being racist, I’ll tell you that yes, I am Latino, and I still think it’s necessary that any employee that deals with a wide assortment of customers, needs to have both the language skills and courtesy necessary to deal with the mainstream. Plain and simple… Ordering here was a hassle. I asked for the lemon chicken salad with double meat and it took me about five minutes to make myself understood. Finally I spoke in Spanish and got my message through… I wanted double meat, not a double salad…
The Cosi I used to know, had a huge iced tea dispenser with free refills of iced tea. Nowadays, you have pre-​measured iced tea cups and have to pay for each one. FAIL! But before I realized that, I was looking for the iced tea dispenser. I asked the cashier who seemed to be upset with me for asking a question, and pointed with her lips somewhere out there. I kept on asking and she kept on pointing with her lips. Then I asked a fourth time and with a sarcastic face, she asked a fellow worker to get me a cup from the ones buried in ice. We could have saved another five minutes if she had just told me that.
Then came time to pay. As I had asked for double meat, the employee who dispensed the salad told me that it was an additional $ 1.50 for the double meat. I was OK with that. But the cashier charged me the basic price. Then I said that she should have charged me an additional $ 1.50 for the additional meat. And then she started arguing with me. Damn! Is that the price of being honest, to be berated by the cashier?
Last time in this place…

Only came here today because I didn’t have an umbrella and it’s a short distance from my office. The quality of food is definitely not what it used to be. I did the taste two, where you pick two of the following: a side salad (signature, greek, or caesar), half sandwich, or side soup. I got the signature salad and a tomato basil soup. The salad was barely edible. The lady who made it put way too much dressing and the lettuce was starting to wilt. The soup was the only thing that kept me from starving today. Checkout was very slow, as they only had one register open. The other register was used to order soup. I really don’t understand why they separate the soup from the salad and sandwich stations. They also didn’t give me bread, which is the only reason why I go to Cosi. There are much better places to eat on M street.

I regret not looking at the other Unilocal reviews before getting my salad to go. I wish public transportation was more reliable because I would return the soggy, wilted, smelly green thing that I purchase and demand recompense.
I regret not taking a closer look at what I purchased. Well that’s enough for regrets today. I’m off to Happy Hour.

After all the reviews on the salads, I’m glad I only got a sandwich. It was mediocre but then again I was hungry. The T.B.M Chicken Sandwich is what I got and I definitely think it was tasty for a quick later dinner. Didn’t experience any issues with the staff but the lady at the counter was a tad bit rude (I’m beginning to see that as a trend at most places now in DC so it doesn’t even phase me… they all seem to be upset to have a job). Other than that, not too bad. I’ll go back. Not for salad but I’ll go back.

Ummm… yeah. I was a huge fan of Cosi before I encountered this one. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I haven’t had any problems with the staff. However, the food here is less than par compared to other Cosis I have experienced.
Don’t expect fresh lettuce in your salad when you come. It’s wilted and nasty looking. Once you throw in the dressing, it turns into a gooey mess. Also, I came for breakfast one morning to pick up a bagel and there were fruit flies surrounding the bread and the serving bar where all the breakfast sandwich ingredients were located. Talk about being grossed out and losing your appetite.
I don’t know what the deal is with this location, but it needs to get its act together. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I won’t be back, because the café is so close to my job and it’s really quick for lunch compared to my other options, but it looks like I’ll be bringing my lunch to work more often as a result. I don’t plan to patronize this place too much if I can help it.

Salad unexceptional. Restroom gross. Furniture trashed. Music blaring.

I second all the comments posted previously. The staff is unorganized and rude, the salads are wilted and getting smaller by the day, and the sandwiches, while probably your best bet in terms of quality and limited complexity, are simply overpriced for what you get.
FYI, if you order the Sesame Ginger Chicken Sandwich, don’t expect to get ginger… that’s extra!
With a number of other salad and sandwich shops in the area (not to mention a host of ethnic lunch spots), walk the extra block and avoid this mess of a restaurant.

this place keeps getting worse and worse. When I started going here a few years ago the food was good. Now the salads keep getting smaller and the lettuce isn’t fresh. Also, the staff is kinda surly.
I’ve had better luck at other Cosis but this one sux. Shame too, b/​c it’s right by my office so I used to go here for lunch all the time.

I have been dying to review this place. I eat here only because of its convenience.
The staff is simply horrible I am trying to think of a good way to articulate how lazy they are, and I can’t. If I ran ANY business (other than a chain fast-​food place in a major business area with few other options — ahem) this way it would be out of business very quickly.
Example: I once asked them to put salt on my sandwich. The lady making it told me to get salt at the stand opposite checkout. Ordinarily, I’d do so without complaint. But there hadn’t been any salt in there for two days — just two containers of pepper. So I told her there was no salt. First, she accused me of lying. Then, when I told her to check for herself, as I had run into the same problem the day before, she went and checked and then came back and yelled at someone to go get salt from the back. Of course, no salt in the back. Meanwhile, she wouldn’t prepare my sandwich (and there was a nasty line backing up — as usual). She made me wait another 15 minutes while she sent someone TO MCDONALDS to get salt. I told her I’d be fine, it was cool — no sending some poor guy to MickeyDees, to no avail. She swore up and down to fix it, etc.
Sure enough, next day I go in… no salt. Or the day after that.
Seems silly, I know, but its just symptomatic of their level of sheer incompetance.