Cosmos Greek Restaurant — Restaurant in White Rock

My family went to Cosmos on Saturday evening to celebrate Father’s Day, I had made reservations at 5:30pm. Over the many years we have been going to Cosmos we’ve celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and date nights. We had always received great service, regardless of 2 people or 25 people.

Sadly, this changed on Saturday. We arrived at 5:30pm, the restaurant was not busy yet, there were lots of empty tables everywhere. To my surprise we were led to the very back corner of the restaurant. I asked if we could sit closer to the front or by a window. I was told “they were all first come, first serve” and it was a very busy night because of father’s day. This statement confused me because we were there first, (the tables by the windows were mostly empty) we were there for Father’s Day and I did make reservations. The lady treated us as if we were a HUGE inconvenience to her. She repeated herself many times, saying it’s Fathers Day, we are busy, the tables are first come first serve. She told me even if I made reservations, they could not guarantee a table at the front. They gave them out as they were available. I was still very confused because nothing she was saying made any sense to me. We were there first!

As we arrived in the far back corner, she said “they could sit us outside”, and pointed to the furthest corner from the street. After I declined, she was clearly very annoyed with me and said “well you could sit up front, I will show you a couple of tables” I said ok, she took us to the front window seats which were almost all still empty. She said, “I suppose you could have one of these two tables” I said I would love to have this table at the front. She said “Fine, I will have to rearrange all my table seating’s.” Still very confused because she had told me you could not reserve window seats, they were first come first serve.

She had made us feel very unwelcome, and thought we should just leave so we wouldn’t be such an inconvenience to her. In the end we decide to stay and make the most of “Our Father’s Day” trying not to let this experience ruin our evening. It was made clear to me that many customers were longtime friends, longtime customers or perhaps family members, she greeted them by name and was very warm and welcoming. She checked on some tables, very happily and was very professional. I guess we were not part of “The Favorite Group.”

Much to our dismay, our server added to our dissatisfaction. She was snarky, non-interactive and her demeanor was very off-putting. Our whole family have been in the restaurant industry at one point and our son is a Sous Chef at one of the leading restaurants in the lower mainland. Customer service is very high on our priority list when it comes to the restaurant industry. Cosmos did not live up to par. Made us feel unwanted and insignificant.

Based on how my family was treated, we all agreed we probably will never go back to Cosmos. I do not want to feel like such an inconvenience to a restaurant. There are many other restaurants in White Rock which will treat their customers equally and with great customer care.

I will end in saying the two window tables which were behind us, sat empty our...

My partner, sister, two nephews and my partner's mom came out to White Rock for a spontaneous visit, and decided to sit in (via reservation) at Cosmos Greek Restaurant after calling and confirming Vegan options.

Upon calling, they let us know there are 3 vegan options. They kindly shared the options with us over the phone and they sounded great! She asked if we would like to book a reservation and I said that would be lovely (after confirming with everyone).

Upon sitting down, the atmosphere has a nice family environment, felt warm with the fireplaces and definitely has a Greek flare with the walls, ceilings and style. The table was a little small for 6 people.

When the server came to take our order, I asked if she could show me the vegan options in the menu and she said they didn't have any.

My partner and I decided to order the Vegetarian Souvlaki without the paneer and other non-vegan cheeses like feta in the Greek salad.

IT WAS A LOT OF FOOD.

The food was sub bar. My partner and I shared the plate and the best part was the Souvlaki. Sadly there were only two - because they were SO good. The Rice tasted like Uncle Ben's, and the potatoes were nice, lemony, although not my favourite as they weren't crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. What gets me is the 1 olive each dish on the table had within their Greek salad - which was really disappointing.

My sister ordered the chicken Souvlaki and said the same about the rice and Greek salad. She mentioned the Chicken was overcooked.

My partner's mum ordered the Lemon, Chicken Rice soup (she doesn't remember the name) and she would give it a 4/5 and says it tasted authentic.

My nephews got fries and chicken fingers / fish and chips for the other one, and they shared a small kid's pizza which they loved. They had enough food for the next day, which they were excited about.

The service was really good and I enjoyed the artwork on the walls.

The food was filling but not top quality. I would have rather had smaller portions but absolutely outstanding meals. For the price, it isn't what I was hoping for, and a lot of our family members agreed.

Prices: $28-$30 per plate. We didn't get a discount or substitute for not choosing cheese.

Kids received kids menus and colouring pages. Unfortunately, the coloring pages didn't come with crayons or pencils for the kids.

I think the next time I'll try Greek food will be in...

I went to this restaurant tonight after reading the reviews and hearing how great it is. We sat outside on the patio to enjoy the nice weather, however as soon as we sat down we were forgotten about. After sitting for 20 minutes with no service what so ever and waitresses walking by us, I asked the buser girl if there was someone who could take our order. She returned 10 minutes later asking if anyone had come by and I said no. Then she went away again and returned to take our order. When she brought our drinks, she told me that infact there wasn't a server for us and that she would be helping us out. We ordered calamari to start, and when it was given to us it was complete mush. We tried to eat it but it was awful, so I sent it back. When it was given back it was in the same state, and I looked it over to find it was sitting in a bath of oil that was making it soggy and inedible, so I sent it back again and we went without a starter. My son had a basic ceasar salad and it was mediocre. My other son had fish and chips and I had the moussaka. The fish batter was so soggy I didn't let him eat it and sent it back. I have never seen anything like it. My $25 dollar moussaka came with broccoli, carrots and rice/potatoe. I was told there was a salad but I never got one. The food was extremely bland, cold, and the vegetables were so over cooked they were mushy. It had the quality of bad cafeteria food. The manager refunded the meals and as she was speaking to us another table also exclaimed how awful their experience had been that evening. I go to a lot of restaurants in the local area and this is definitely the worst experience I have ever had. The lack of service and the poor quality of food is something I have never experienced before, and it is what gives this restaurant a 1 star rating. I was so excited to try this restaurant, however we will not be returning based on...