FULL REVIEW of Cosmos Cafe and Market at Universal Stella Nova Resort

A brand new Universal hotel has entered the chat.

With the addition of the new Epic Universe theme park, Universal also announced that it would be building three new hotels. On January 21st, 2025, the new Universal Stella Nova Resort officially opened its doors and we checked out everything — including the food. Come with us to review the hotel’s main dining location, Cosmos Cafe and Market!

Background

According to Universal, this hotel is inspired by “the infinite vastness of the unexplored universe, where galaxies spiral ever outward and unknown worlds revolve around unnamed stars.” That theme continues into Cosmos!

This is a quick service dining location similar to what you’ll see at the other Universal resorts. You’ll find a variety of food options (we’ll get into that more later), Starbucks drinks, and refillable resort mugs.

Atmosphere

Cosmos Cafe and Market is located right off of the lobby. It’s easy to spot! First, you’ll see the Market section. This is where you’ll find coffee and quick bites for those days when you want to get going.

If you keep walking, you’ll find plenty of seating and stations to grab food.

The seating also has tons of outlets so you can charge devices while you hang out and eat.

This spot serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and you’ll find American classics like burgers, paninis, fried chicken, and pasta on the menu.

Food and Drinks

During a media event before the grand opening, we were able to try some of the breakfast items! That includes the Bananas Fosters Pancakes. The batter tasted good, but they were a little chewy. This could be because we got a sample size to try out, but here’s a look at the full size pancake. The topping had that sweet caramel taste, and we were happy with the big chunks of banana. Quincy is not a huge sweet breakfast person, but she would get this again.

We also tried a mini pancake with a berry compote and whipped cream topping. The cream had a Cool Whip taste to it, which wasn’t bad, but wasn’t what we were expecting. Out of the two toppings, we’d pick the Bananas Fosters.

The Monkey Bread was moist and had plenty of cinnamon. A couple of the bites we took were dry so we wish that cinnamon sugar mix was rippled more throughout it, but that was our only constructive criticism.

The Cream Cheese Stuffed Croissant with Fruit Compote was not our favorite. It had an overwhelming amount of cream cheese and jam in the middle, so you’re really ordering that with a side of croissant.

We also tried a slice of Spicy Chicken Pizza which was fun. The chicken on it was grilled and had a slight buffalo flavor, but wasn’t really spicy. There was some sort of white sauce under the cheese, but no red sauce — which some people we talked to wished it had. This isn’t going to please everyone, but if you’re looking to try something different, this could be for you. Quincy was a fan and would get this again.

We returned on opening day to try something for dinner. We ordered the Salmon Fried Rice, which is a specialty here that is only available for dinner for $19. It’s a pan-seared salmon fillet with Asian vegetable fried rice and sesame-ginger vinaigrette. You get a big piece of salmon over a lot of fried rice, so it’s a nice portion, although it’s still a little pricey for a quick-service option.

The salmon as well-cooked and we’ll say that it’s one of the best theme park salmon dishes we’ve had. There was a nice crispy skin on it with flakey meat that fell apart when you put a fork in it. We’ll admit we weren’t expecting much with the rice, thinking it might be like what you’d get in the freezer aisle at your grocery store. Instead, it was more like what you’d get at the mall — it’s not true Asian quality, but it was still flavorful with loads of veggies in it, including sprouts.

However, we didn’t get much flavor from the vinaigrette, but that’s our only complaint.

Magic or Tragic?

So, was this restaurant magical, or should you eat somewhere else? Well, it depends. Cosmos Cafe & Market could be a great option for you if…

Magic…

You’re looking for a quick solid and hearty meal. Everything here will fill you up and satisfy those hunger pangs if you’re wanting to grab a quick breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
You need a quick restaurant for dinner after being in the theme parks all day. This restaurant is solid enough that you could grab dinner here multiple nights and still not get bored with the options.
You have picky eaters in your party. There’s enough variety at Cosmos Cafe & Market that pretty much anyone in your group should find something they like, including kids.

Tragic…

You want something more unique. This is standard quick-service fare, although the salmon does set itself apart a little bit. However, the rest of the menu is pretty classic.
You want a sit-down table service experience. This is a quick-service restaurant, and although there is plenty of seating, you’re still not getting that full table service experience.
You’re not staying at Universal Stella Nova Resort. If you’re staying at the hotel, it’s a great option, but it’s not so great that you should travel from other parts of the Universal area and go out of your way for.

Stay tuned to AllEars for more Epic Universe updates.