Cosmopolitan Cafe - Double Bay

Tonight's meal was more than disappointing.

The cosmopolitan has been a double bay icon for decades, home to the older frequenters of the bay as well as chicken soup and late night coffees.

It's recent refurbishment and reopening last Friday sparked interest among young and old once more. Last Saturday evening we ventured down to see what it had to offer in the way of late night snacks.

As far as coffees were concerned, the prices were average for Double Bay but the tiny glasses left much to be desired. The prospect of ordering a tower of gelato (fit for 8) excited our party of seven but when it came down to it, no one was up for the feat and so a simple chocolate sundae was ordered to share between two.

After a considerable wait for five coffees and one ice cream (at 10:30pm) the coffees arrived and the ice cream made its way to the table only to be worn by the waitress a couple of feet away.
When the very small, very over-priced gelato finally made it all the way over, it was more of a soup cross ice cream than a frozen treat.

Though i did not personally taste it, I was told it was not at all good and its presentation was definitely lacking. At around $12 for two scoops of chocolate ice cream - you'd expect it to at least be well presented.

Just under a week later I ventured back to the Cosmo to sample dinner. My party this time were considerably older. One diner had eaten lunch here earlier in the week and said she would not be back but was still willing to sample dinner before passing a verdict. I believe the verdict has now been passed - and not in Cosmo's favour.

I ordered the duck which was very fatty and very tough in a thin, oily, tasteless sauce. It was accompanied by crunchy broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and two boiled potatoes.
The fish was also ordered and was a very small portion for $32.00. I was told that the Cabbage Rolls were fine in taste but appeared quite messy in presentation.

Once more the waitress was bumbling about and the manager was persistent that we try the home made gelato (a mistake I would not be making this evening).

The all day menu is not sufficient for dinner, the portion sizes are small and the flavours just aren't there.

Lastly, complimentary bread was served (not offered but served) with the main meal, as opposed to before the meal, which is very strange and quite useless. Had we known there was bread we would not have ordered french fries before the food arrived.

Will not be going back.