Cosmo is situted where Le Monde once was on the Clifton triangle and very near some competition (Wagamama), I would say overall though that they offer an entirely different dining experience.
Cosmo is a buffet style asian restaurant. When you walk in the door, you pay up front at reception for the number of people who will be eating that evening. So for me, on a Thursday evening, it was (rounding up) £12 a head. You're given a bar code that is scanned at your entry into the buffet area (I think where they scan you in may vary depending on how busy they are). Following this, you're taken to your seat, and then your inital drinks order is taken.
Drinks are quite expensive, but it's not unexpected really, as that's the usual with buffet style places in my experience. Came to £5.20 for two cokes. Unfortunately, they do not tell you that this is payable essentially a few moments after they deliver the drinks. If you have no cash, you need to spend a minimum of £10 before they will allow you to pay by card. So, I ended up buying 4 cokes so I could pay by card. This wasn't a fantastic customer experience for me.
The staff were extremely polite and accomodating, especially considering the calibre of some of the diners, I was surprised they could put up with them and their rudeness (it made me feel ashamed to be British!). So a huge respect for the staff from me.
There is a huge variety of food on offer. There is pretty much a guarantee you will find at least a few things you'll enjoy (even if you're not a fan of asian cuisine). 90% of the time each buffet area has a member of staff attending to it, keeping it tidy and stocked up, so this is fantastic. There's nothing more frustrating than a buffet where most of the selection is rarely there (if at all) during your meal. This is nothing to worry about at Cosmo, they are 100% committed to keeping everything available for you.
Aside from the general buffet area, there is a fantastic sushi bar, & 3 cooked on demand areas, where there is a chef assigned to each who will personally cook what you'd like. I cannot remember the name, but there is essentially a fried noodle area, where you can choose from lamb, prawns, chicken and I think, egg. A skewer section and a section where they'll cook you things like scallops, squid, steak etc. You really get a huge appreciation for the talen these chefs have, especially when cooking the squid. It's a great opportunity to thanks to the person who just cooked your food.
Something that wasn't great in the freshly cooked area, is there wasn't exactly a description of what was on offer, and you (most of the time) were eves dropping on the person in front of you to understand what was what. The chefs do try to explain everything they best they can, but their English isn't fantastic. This isn't a criticism of the chefs, but just it would be useful if there was some plaques or printouts explaining my options etc.
All in all, I really enjoyed Cosmo and will be going again. The food quality is good, but most of the food is not quite upto that of Tampopo or Wagamama for me, although the freshly made sushi and cooked on demand food is superb.
Unfortunately, I was made to feel a little like a sheep, and the atmosphere provided by the other customers was less then pleasent. The suprise instant drink charge was also another negative.
So, my final rating is 3 stars, but I'd imagine, given some time to settle in, this will rise! read more