Cosmo Cafe

Convenient when attended training classes at Graduate School USA. Lunch is $ 7.99 per pound. Breakfast is$ 6.99 per pound. Looks a bit dirty and outdated, but that’s a typical buffet style restaurant in this area.
Food is not exactly spectacular, but decent. Service is good. All you do is weigh your plate on a scale. I would come only for convenience to L’enfant Plaza.

Super-​low quality food, expensive, and dirty. I checked out the salad bar today, going for a healthy option, but people rest dirty tongs ON the wet wilted lettuce and other «fixins». Absolutely gross. This place has shut down for failed health inspections before. How is it still open?

I was visiting museums and tried to find sth to lunch on Christmas Eve day. It was so lucky for me to bump into this place, because they had tasty food and even offered half off the price after 2 pm.

Cosmo Café was a gem in the National Mall in Washington D.C. that I found completely on accident. A buddy of mine, who works in DC, told me he was getting married. I decided to make it a vacation. I decided to hitch a ride with him to the National Mall before he had to be at work. One would not know it by looking at me, but I am a big history nerd. I guess I got it from my Dad, who was a history teacher. When I was a tiny fat kid, I was begrudgingly dragged to Washington DC. Now as an adult, I can appreciate the Smithsonian Museums and the monuments. It’s very different from the Walt Disney resorts that have become increasingly popular with families.
I digress, his job started early in the morning and there was no hope for breakfast. This became my mission. I was determined to find somewhere to satiate my cravings for sausage, eggs, waffles, and other breakfast morsels. It only took a few blocks until I found what seemed to be my breakfast oasis: Cosmos Café.
The setup was like a cafeteria, but nicer than the one in your local public school. The clientele is more of a business, government employees, and construction workers. Its far enough away from the National Mall area to keep the tourists away.
How Cosmos works is you take a container, fill it up, and bring everything to the register. They charge you based on the weight of the container. Don’t forget to grab the perfect breakfast beverage, which they had a decent selection to chose from.
The breakfast fare provided was exactly what I wanted. Every and any kind of breakfast combination possible you can imagine. Want French toast with bacon? Pancakes with scramble eggs? A tub of breakfast meat combination? They had all of these options and more thanks to the buffet and grill area. The fare wasn’t exactly world class but, needless to say, I left feeling stuffed enough for the whole day’s historical adventure. The only down side to the entire experience is that the cost per pound is a little high. Other than that I find Cosmo Café is fat kid tested fat kid approved
Stay Peckish My friends

Meh. I came here two days in a row. First day I tried the buffet style selections. The food was decent. Second day tried the ramen and sushi bar. Idk what kind of ramen this was but it was definitely not the ramen I know. I’m inclined to believe this is the top ramen from the grocery store for .20cents a pack. Very very basic. I wouldn’t even consider this ramen. I would have had better luck at the food trucks out front. Sushi is decent though. This is the kind of place you just kinda know what to get. Oo yea, if you aren’t light with choosing from the buffet you could end up spending more $ than the whats worth it for the quality of food here.

I work right above this place and despite the cafeteria feel, the sushi bar is a hidden gem. It is a ridiculously good deal — you can load up a large serving container for 10 bucks — and there is a fairly good selection of fresh tasting nigiri and rolls. The sushi chef also seems to take immense pride in his work, keeping the sushi incredibly organized and occasionally offering special cuts of sashimi.

Forget the buffet, the Korean bibimbap is the best! I’m from out of town and I accidentally found this place after going to the Starbucks next door. I saw the bibimbap advertisement and took a picture for future reference since I knew my group might crave Korean food later and I didnt remember a Korean place popping up on my search near the museums. Sure enough, they did crave it and luckily I had taken the picture since it is not on the online menu! Wow. I’m from Los angeles where Korean food abounds and they did not disappoint my 33 fellow travelers! Even our little travelers ate all of the veggies! We also went back for the Kim-​bap to go (also not on menu) which totally hit the spot. I am so glad we accidently found this place. Try the bibimbap. It’s authentic and delicious. I would go here often if it were in my office building in LA.

Here’s the thing. Cosmo Café is located on the MD Avenue side of L’Enfant Plaza. I could’ve written a review of any of the 10+ food trucks that park at this location every day. I could’ve even written a review of any of the restaurants that actually reside within the Plaza itself. But those who work near the intersection of 7^th Street and Maryland Street know that Cosmo Café is the real gem of this area.
Like many corporate café type restaurants, this place offers a hot bar that you serve buffet style and pay for by weight. And since this place is Asian owned, many of the lunch items are Asian flavor: lo mein, orange chicken, teriyaki chicken, beef and broccoli, etc. But they also offer many great items like fried chicken, lamb, meatloaf, tofu, salmon, and catfish. On top of all that, they also have fresh made sushi everyday that you can also pick and choose buffet style and pay by weight. Lastly, if you’re the traditional type who just wants to order an item and pay for it and go, they have a grill where you can order any number of crazy things from bulgogi burgers to ramen.
I work for the FAA and my building has its own corporate café with food by weight, a Subway, etc… and yet most days if I’m looking to purchase lunch, I will head to Cosmo instead.
Oh and did I mention they also offer breakfast hot bar style too? Yes, scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs with cheese, various types of omelettes, pancakes, scrapple, sausage, bacon, hash browns, tater tots, biscuits, various types of gravy, oatmeal, grits, grilled cheese sandwiches. This place has everything.
I would give this place a solid 5 stars if it weren’t for its cost. But you pay for what you get, and this place offers quality, so I suppose it’s worth the investment.

Extremely overpriced for the average offerings. They hold the 9−5ers hostage with these prices. I paid $ 18 for a humble amount of grub, then asked for a bag and the cashier said «Five cents «…straight face, then I said wow and walked out.

We were walking Friday between the Holocaust museum and the Air and Space museum looking for something to eat. Were we seeing a lot of food trucks, but it was so cold outside, we needed to get indoors. We stumbled upon this self-​serve café and were very happy we did. The selection was huge. You serve yourself buffet style and the weight of your container determines your price. They had everything from baked ziti to orange chicken. I tried quite a few items and most were very good. I did see a grill in the back where you could place an order for a burger. For two, our total with drinks was $ 24, and we both were very full when we left. If the weather was nice, I would def be more inclined to try a food truck, but if you are in this area looking for something decent and quick, you can’t go wrong.

Had a great tasting late lunch at this location. The staff was very helpful and friendly. The buffet food selection looked delicious and wholesome. I certainly would not mind coming back here in the not too distant future. What I had for lunch totally agreed with me 2014%.

good buffet options

DO NOT EAT HERE! They have been closed at least 5 times recently because of health code violations. Chicken stored with sausage at the wrong temps. Seriously, this place is not safe to eat at. I’ve gotten sick from their salad bar and breakfast bar more than once. I work in this building and see them cleaning the floors with some strong-​smelling product BEFORE PEOPLE ARE DONE EATING. Food is still out and they are cleaning. I’ve worked in this office building for 7+ years and no one I know will eat there.

Surprised by the recent Health Dept closure last week due to roaches/​rodent problem. They must have taken care of things over the weekend because they were back open today. Giving it two stars because they are usually busy all day, but believe they could do a lot better with cleanliness. Wherever you eat you have to be cautious — hopefully the owners took the closure seriously and start thinking about providing optimum service to their customers instead of just making money and ignoring necessary upkeep.

While waiting for the Air and Space Museum to open, I realized my morning’s avocado and banana smoothie just wasn’t going to cut it. «I want a biscuit with meat.» Unilocal steps in and tells me the nearest option for such a hankering is McDonald’s inside the museum. «Hmmmm, maybe the meat biscuit can wait.»
I once heard Roger Ebert say he rated movies based on what they were trying to be, not on what he thought they should be. I try to do the same with restaurants. This morning, Cosmo Café was trying to be my alternative to McDonald’s; a convenience store with a «let us make it for you» deli and a «make it yourself» pay-​by-​the-​pound food bar. I made a biscuit with turkey sausage and eggs florentine on it. Sorry, Mickey D; Cosmo and I make better sausage biscuit.
Thanks, Cosmo Café for satiating my breakfast meat craving, my preference for anything but McDonald’s, and my sinfully prideful inner food snob.

Mediocre food… non-​caring workers… WAYYYYY overpriced. I am sure the scales are not calibrated as relatively nothing in the carton prices out as high as a reasonable helping.
I work very close by and try it every now and then just to see if they ever fix things. I have been trying this for 5+ years now… still the same issues.
I tried it again today. First time in @6 months. My not-​so-​large salad, 1 slice of grapefruit and ½ scoop of mixed veggies was $ 12. When I asked the lady at the register if they ever calibrate the scales, she said, «It’s $ 7.39 a pound. It’s not my fault.»
Lovely dining experience.
Try the Wall Street Deli ½ block away. They are nice there and their food is so much better.

Tried this place when we were nearby being tourists. My first thought was that it’s not easy to find, even knowing the address!
Aside from that, it’s wasn’t bad, especially if you’re on the go and don’t want to sit on the ground (by eating at the food trucks) after touring all day. There are quite a few choices on the buffet, though I wish there had been more options that weren’t Chinese food. I’d expected more variety, but it could be something that changes daily.
Still, I enjoyed the broccoli and chicken. It was fairly busy, but that wasn’t surprising given the area. It probably wouldn’t be one of my top ten places if I lived in DC, but it’s good when you’re on the go and need something that’s not a burger and fry!

I work really close to this cafeteria, so my options for lunch are; this place, my work cafeteria, McDonalds, Quiznos, or a bunch of lunch trucks. Don’t get me wrong, I have a pretty decent selection of food options, but I really think this place is quite a deal.
They have a really large selection of food items, including a bunch of sandwiches/​hamburgers/​and other grilled items they make, as well as a buffet of different types of food, including Chinese, Italian, American, etc. They even have a sushi bar where you can get around 12 pieces for 12 bucks. That’s cheaper than the supermarket.
I usually get a sandwich or the hamburger combo, which includes fries and a drink for less than $ 5.50 total. Let me just say, that this hamburger is a 100 times better than McDonalds and still cheaper than a Big Mac meal!
Anyway, I’m not sure what all the complaining is about regarding pricing. If you go to the food trucks, it’s going to cost you just as much, if not more, so this is a great option for lunch.
The only downside is that it gets quite crowded at noon and there aren’t many tables/​seats to sit at this time.

An overpriced buffet that has terrifying food at lunch (it’s OK for breakfast), an excessively long line for greasy sandwiches and quesadillas, mediocre sushi, bad coffee, and everything you would expect from an office cafeteria.
But if you work in the building, it’s there.

I’ve eaten breakfast in here a couple of times.
The first time — I sampled their breakfast buffet. It’s not all you can eat, but rather pay by weight. There is a large selection of breakfast foods — but none of them are executed well. In fact, they are rather ordinary — from corned beef hash that is merely heated up, to massive clumps of bacon, to dried out tater tots. If I were rating this place solely based on the breakfast buffet, it would be a 3 star review.
But you can also get made to order breakfast sandwiches — on your choice of bread or Croissant (no English muffins). These can be hot and tasty! I opted for the Sausage, Egg, and Cheese on a Croissant.
Delish!
You can also get a wide variety of made to order sandwiches at lunch time.