Review of Cosimo's Italian Restaurant

My husband I moved to Westfield about 3 years ago. DO NOT DINE HERE if you have gluten issues. My husband is celiac, and cannot ingest any gluten, so the fact that they have gluten free options was appealing. When we first ate there when we first moved to the area, we spoke to someone on staff and they assured us that they were educated on the issues of cross contamination. So, we've been eating there for 3 years, ordering the gluten free pie about once a week, and a regular separate pie for myself. Recently, I arrived early to pick up our pies, and was able to watch them prepare the pies while I waited.

This restaurant is a horror story for a gluten sensitive or celiac person. The pizza maker was sinking his hands into a bowl of flour to make the regular pies, then taking his hands covered with flour and pulling out the gluten free crust and using his flour filled hands to grab the toppings to spread on my husband's pie. The pies are cooked on the exact same rotating shelf in the oven as the gluten pies, put into the oven using the very same paddle as the gluten pies, and toppings are spread with flour covered hands. The foil liner in the bottom of both boxes were grabbed by the same hands. Also, before preparing the pies, the pizza maker unneccesarily opened both boxes fully and left them wide open, right next to the bowl of flour that he was using. I'm sure flour made it into the boxes during the pizza making process

Bottom line - It's known that one takes a chance of a possible grain of flour contaminating your food when dining anywhere as a celiac. But the fact that there is absolutely no conscious effort to safely prepare the food assures that each and every pie is most assuredly cross contaminated, no doubt. My husband has been eating their pies once a week for a very long time. His health and quality of life have been compromised. It was extremely upsetting.

I would not recommend ordering ANY of their gluten free dishes here, as they have absolutely no knowledge of cross contamination issues.

Celiac friendly?

No