Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Review: Cosmos Pizza & Grill

Name: Cosmos Pizza & Grill
Address: 143 Marshall St, Syracuse, NY
Phone: (315) 472-6766
Neighborhood: University Hill (Marshall Street)
Website: www.cosmospizzagrill.com
Menu: View Menu
Cuisine: Diner Food, Traditional American, Pizza
Restaurant Hours: 7 AM to 1 AM Monday-Wednesday, 7 AM to 2 AM Thursday-Friday, 8 AM to 2 AM Saturday, 8 AM to 1 AM Sunday
Parking: On-Street
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Take-Out: Yes
Delivery: Yes

Operated out of the same tiny location on Marshall Street since it opened in 1959, Cosmos has been providing late night eats and classic quick-to-order American cuisine to SU student, alumni, and Syracuse locals for decades. For lack of a better description, it's a diner on the inside complete with an open kitchen, small booths, a long counter, jukeboxes at the tables, and quirky colored walls.

The smell of homefries, onions, burgers, and pancakes on the grill is enough to get your stomach growling while you look over the huge list of options on the menu. Offerings at Cosmos include burgers, sandwiches, chicken wings (which can be ordered up to 100), salads, pastas, pizzas, subs, and breakfast options served anytime.

The order...

Vanilla Milkshake: $3.69
6 Hot Chicken Wings: $3.99
Small Mozzarella Pizza: $4.59
Total money spent with tax & tip: $15.50

Though advertised as so, the milkshake was neither "thick" nor "creamy". It did have a subtle sweet flavor, but it wasn't really mixed well and was very much on the watery side.

Pictured here are hot wings served with celery and blue cheese. And yes, I really need a real camera.

These certainly had that nice, classic hot sauce flavor, but the actual wings were meh. They were served extremely hot (temperature-wise) but the chicken tasted a bit old and dry. For what it's worth, the blue cheese was a little off-putting, bland, and had a similar consistency to ranch dressing. A little disappointing dunking a wing into not so great blue cheese and having nothing stick to it. I probably wouldn't get wings again.

Pictured below is Cosmos authentic New York style pizza prepared from fresh dough, special recipe sauce, and topped with 100% whole milk mozzarella and imported Romano cheeses.

The bite marks are mine. I was starving.

There was a lot of sauce and it could have used some more cheese, but I thought this was ok overall. I really enjoyed the thin, flat, and crunchy, almost slightly-charred crust (which is baked on bricks for that uniqueness) and the tangy tomato sauce, but the cheese was pretty bland. I'd get pizza again here, but would try out some other toppings.

Overall, it's a cool place that keeps it simple and has that unique throwback charm. And I'm sure that if I were an SU student, I'd love going there for late night eats. Good menu, value, and portions. Despite the mediocre food experience, I'd go back for breakfast or to try out some other things on the menu. I've heard great things about their Toasted Honey Buns (or THB as they're known - served with a dollop of butter or scoop of ice cream) and am kind of kicking myself for not ordering them, so if do end up going back, I'm most definitely trying them out.

My rating of Cosmos Pizza & Grill:

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