Nellies Cosmic Cafe

This is genuinely one of my favorite places in my city. It’s the kind of place that gets regulars because of its warm, 70s diner atmosphere. Want to feel like you’re in a movie and eat a great breakfast at the same time? Bam. There ya go.
I suggest this place to anyone visiting Calgary who loves diner food — definitely a must-​see.

Took my kids from school to have lunch here. Server was friendly and food was reasonably good. Our server was an elderly lady, possibly an owner. It was a good family environment. However, when we received ketchup it had spoiled and had a bad smell and taste. It was replaced. We ordered a big breakfast meal and a steak sandwich and shared the food. As there were three kids we had our eggs three different ways (the kids are particular).
After finishing the meal, was surprised with a bill of 46.00 dollars. It seemed very high for a 2 plate meal. we had been charged $ 3.00 each per child drinks $ 3.00 for a coffee, which seemed high.
What I found to be dishonest, however, was that the waitress decided to add an extra 2.00 charge without notice. She indicated that it was an extra charge for having to make three different kinds of eggs.
We didn’t make a fuss, tipped and left.
Overall I wouldn’t recommend this diner. On top of the spoiled food 50 dollars is much too high for a 2 plate meal and dishonesty with billing is disconcerting.

We chose this place for breakfast out of convenience and it’s location. I had read some of the reviews about the food being tasteless but jacked It up to just people being too picky. Unfortunately they were right! The food is so bland! I ordered the bacon and eggs and the hashbrowns were horrible and the coffee tasted like flavored water. You could get a better breakfast at dennys!
I hate that the food sucked because the girls working were AMAZING! We had the best service ever! The cook needs to learn a few things and put some effort in… also please learn to make good coffee!

Why does this place only get 2.5 stars? Service was unbelievable and the food was delicious, we all had different items from pancakes to omelets and poached eggs and all delicious.
It’s quite the place to eat breakfast, your diner dive with good food and super friendly wait staff and unlimited pour of diner coffee.
I would definitely go back!

Great experience! The location is easy to find, and in a great area. The service was both quick, friendly and helpful. The menu had such a great variety, and the prices were reasonable. If you’re looking for a hip breakfast in a cool area-​this is for you.

It was my first time at Nellies today went with a friend to catch up. The food was really good but the server was a complete annoyance she would not leave us alone to even look at the menu just kept asking if we were ready and there was three tables in the whole place filled at the time… and not to mention she spilled coffee on my friend. The booth felt very unsteady as well. Id recommend the place for the food and atmosphere but not the service.

It had been years since I’ve eaten here. After all the media attention regarding health concerns I stopped going. Now being so close, we decided to give it another chance for a Sunday breakfast.
When we arrived I noticed nothing of the décor has changed much, in fact it may not have been cleaned very much either as I noticed layers of dust, 1 cm thick in some parts of the wall décor. The air quality was poor as well so if you have any respiratory concerns (i.e. asthma) this might not be a place to frequent.
Even though being full we were seated quite fast. The menu hasn’t changed much. In fact, it may not have been cleaned much either as they were sticky and oily. Our server was prompt in asking us if we were ready, we needed more time. My wife and I both ordered hash browns with poached eggs and a pancake on the side. The food came out fairly quick. After having a few bites I noticed there was hardly any flavour. I couldn’t taste any seasoning on the potatoes and the Hollandaise sauce had no taste as well. My wife’s order also had no flavour (made sense since we both ordered the same, except mine had sausage meat and she had corned beef). I was going to say something but when the server came by to ask how our food was tasting she didn’t bother to stay long enough to hear our response. Actually, the rest of the stay was like that. She’d be gone most of the time and then show up to ask us something and then leave without hearing our response.
The pancake tasted really good. It was about the only real good thing. It was nice and fluffy and it was huge (considering they charge $ 4 for one pancake it should be big). I also ordered my toast dry but it came with butter. That as well couldn’t be rectified as I waited a good 5 minutes before seeing her again. I decided to just eat the buttered toast instead of waiting any longer.
Nellie’s Cosmic Café is out of this world all right, luckily the breakfast options on 17^th ave have vastly improved and I won’t have to go here for a long long time.

One of my favourite breakfast places in town. It’s centrally located on 17^th, with limited free parking behind the restaurant, so I can easily drive if I’m coming from a distance.
Don’t come expecting classy or up-​scale — expect friendly staff, comforting food, and affordable prices.
Check out the specials board on weekdays — there’s usually something interesting there. On weekends, the brunch menu has some tasty options.

You want the truth on this location well here’s the real deal. This location its like 1970’s all over again but with sass. I been eating here while in town. Myself I have mix feeling about this place. The staff is great super friendly sarcastic condescending and fun all the way around.
The food has been inconsistent depending on time of day. One thing I liked it was always tasty. Breakfast food with a ghetto chic appeal, and flavors. This isn’t your mom and pop breakfast place. You will go There to be seen or just have a great conversation with your server. This is a quality place to kick back that hangover.
The owner super friendly and attentive to its customs. The cooks been there forever.
That’s what makes this place for me. Happy kitchen staff, happy customers.
So I give this place a four star because you can’t beat good consistencies when it comes to breakfast. This is the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth so help me. Well you know the rest. :-)
Keep up the good food one egg at a time Nellies. You have my business while I’m in town.

This place is quite the dive but I enjoyed it, cheap food and it was very tasty! Eggs Benny was delicious:) I think the place is cute with the whole place looking like it was all bought from a garage sale but I loved it haha!

This was spur of the moment, first restaurant I saw, moment. When I sat down and ordered I started to read the Unilocal reviews and became a little apprehensive. I began to inspect the place: it’s old, but was very clean, the service was good — a paper in the morning with breakfast and hot coffee. Seemed like there was quite a few regulars. Food came fast and the hash browns were delicious. I had the California omelette which left much to be desired. Over all it seemed like not a bad place, but I would look for somewhere else to eat the next time I was in the area,

Sat on the patio because it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and was brought coffee promptly. My coffee was always hot and refills were readily available. I wanted to get a Nellie’s favourite, so I went with the California omelette. It had way too much avocado in it for my liking, but that’s just a personal preference. The hash browns were cold, but the orange and pineapple garnish were delicious. Service was not that great. My friend wanted to have spinach salad instead of hash browns and the waitress responded terribly with great hesitation and lack of confidence. She needed to check with the chef and check for a potential extra charge etc. My friend simply ordered another item off the menu that didn’t involve salad. I like milk in my coffee, but got a crate of cream. When I asked for milk, it took five minutes and I was presented with a basket of solely milk; this won’t solve the problem for the next guest having an option. Not sure if I’ll give this place another go.

It was fine. After all, its a diner and breakfast! Eggs bene with salmon was well prepared and the hollandaise was fresh.
Service was adequate and
is tiny, so it is amazing they can actually manage the entire menu!
And…that is the biggest problem with this Nellie’s in particular… There are always people waiting at the door… and due to no fault of anyone, you feel incredibly rushed. Hurry to order eat pay get out!
And thus, this should be known going in.
If this was dinner, or even lunch… could not do it.
Because the prices are high and, I could cook it at home with out the extra push.
But all in all, no reason not to «pull up to the pump» at this diner… just be prepared!

Why do people keep trying to rope me into going here? I know it’s downtown and suppose to be ‘quaint’ but I can’t take it anymore!
The last time I was here was in the fall with a few friends (their idea not mine.) We were seated in a booth by the windows. They had the door blocked open and didn’t seem to care that the restaurant was infested with wasps! My husband killed approx 10+ wasps in our short time there and might I mention wasps are nemesis? I HATE wasps.
The food has never been outstanding, the prices are ridiculous and wasn’t it not that long ago that they were shut down for health code violations and fined a bunch of money? Yuck. No thanks!

Terrible! Went there for a breakfast on Saturday morning because Galaxies line up was too long. Waited at Nellies for nearly an hour after I placed my order and then when I finally got it l, my soft poached were completely hard. Sent it back and the. My boyfriends wasn’t any good either. Only saving grace was that our waitress was very kind and thoughtful. Definitely wont be returning.

Went here on a whim… My friend looked up the reviews on Unilocal and we almost backed out. But really it was fine. It looked clean, the staff were friendly, the food was very fast, not cheap, but it’s downtown Calgary, so what are your gonna do.
I had a western scramble. The eggs were great, the hash browns might not have been fresh out of the pan, but with the ketchup and Frank’s hot sauce in the table, they were good. Fresh fruit and big portions of toast that wasn’t dripping with butter like some places serve it.
Whoever said they had a tonne of health violations, you’re wrong, you can look these things up online. Their record is not spotless, but its absolutely on par with 95% of the other restaurants out there.
No real complaints, it was good

Nellie’s used to be THE place to go for breakfast, but I think the bar has been raised in recent years by the plethora of breakfast-​focussed joints that have opened in town. The food is okay, but the rating gets dropped due to the general discombobulation of the service (both hardware and human). Not every table has menus and the various condiments. Last time, I ordered the Ukrainian lunch, but got the Ukrainian breakfast. I’d correct it with the well-​intentioned waitress, but was really hungry by the time it came out. If the food came out faster, and you didn’t have to wait for a table, it would be decent, but Nellie’s needs to work on these things before I’d return.

Quite possibly the worst breakfast of my life. Looked cool from the outside, even the inside looked kind of neat. My girlfriend and I each ordered your basic bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast plate. The scrambled eggs came looking a little pale and cooked without any seasoning at all. Bacon tasted a little funky. Half of the browns were raw the other were cold and soggy, there were visual traces seasoning on the browns, but I believe it was just paprika and was clumpy and just nasty. The toast was okay. Oh and all of that came to $ 30.00.

Nellie’s… it’s alright. I think the lineup at the door is because of the slow kitchen staff and the fact that some people just haven’t branched out to better brunch locations yet (there are better).
I was here for brunch today with a couple of friends. It didn’t take us TOO long to be seated by a rather surly youth. I’m glad our server was a bright and chipper blond.
What Nellie’s did right:
My coffee… every time I looked down it felt like it had been refilled for me. Awesome!
Our service… like I said, our server was bright and chipper and on top of our orders. We were sitting right next to the order window and heard her send back even orders of toast that weren’t up to par.
Food… once we got it, it was pretty good food. I ordered the morning maple blt. It could’ve used a bit more bacon, but the maple syrup was a great touch to the blt and my hashbrowns were nice big pieces of potato grilled to a crispy outside and soft inside.
What needs work:
The time it takes for those food orders to come out. I’m glad there were three of us to keep the chatter going and that we weren’t in a hurry. One couple beside us walked out after they had been waiting an hour for their food.
Nellie’s, pick it up. It’s the first time I’ve been back since the news hype almost two years ago. You’re still in business so that part must be a lot better… It’ll be another while before I try you again, at least on a Sunday.

I just get this general dirty feeling from Nellie’s…
Maybe I’ve been tainted by the disgusting charges against the breakfast diner, but my dislike for the food started beforehand. Though I know people who have always & will always love Nellie’s, I just do not like it. On more than one occasion after breakfast at this restaurant (especially the 17^th Ave location), I have felt yucky and sometimes downright awful. It’s just too heavy and greasy, the oil tastes heavily recycled and the eggs always have that yucky smell & taste that eggs can occasionally get. The food relies on grease and salt to make it taste good. We make far better breakfasts at home for a fraction of the price.