The Italian Cousin

The food is amazing! Best Italian food! I miss the food from Up north and with a northern family the food meets high standard! Staff is always for delay. The owner comes out and makes sure everything is going great! She has given us great advise On wines to pair with dinner. Everything is perfect about this restaurant.

the owners cannot handle a negative comment, their response is «GET OUT AND NEVER COME BACK» Their business practice needs a lot of help.

Had their Mahi special with gulf shrimp over linguini and it was fabulous. Mahi was cooked perfect and generous portions to boot. You won’t be disappointed here other items that are really good include their bread and Italian wedding soup. And for dessert we cannot forget their limoncello cake… best place in Indian River County for Italian so depending on night may need reservations.

Some friends took me here for dinner. Like the ambiance, the food was pretty basic but really very good southern Italian style fare. red sauce, meatballs, macaroni, eggplant parmesan, etc. You get the picture.
It’s friendly, crowded (for good reason), noisy, busy. NOT the place for a quiet, romantic dining experience. You go there to eat a meal. It’s Sebastian, after all.

I wish that I could give a more food-​relevant review but each time I take my family here we can’t seem to get a table. When my wife an I first moved to Sebastian, we went out with a group and stopped by the Italian Cousin to have dinner. It was a saturday night and very busy, but we figured that we would see what the wait would be like. We were greeted by the hostess and told that the wait would be a couple minutes. Great! After 15 minutes, the hostess told us it would be more like 30 minutes. We figured that we could wait another 30 minutes. So we waited and waited and soon we had been waiting for over an hour. So we left and went to a restaurant down the road. Our bad, we should have made a reservation. It was a saturday night after all…
Fast forward several months. My wife and I decide to give the Italian Cousin another shot, this time making reservations for 7:30. We arrive at 7:30 and are told it would be a couple minutes. So we wait and we wait and the hostess looks very uncomfortable. We heard «it will be a couple minutes» on repeat. An hour later we are seated (hooray!) but by this point we are pretty frustrated. So we wait a couple more minutes for a server until we cannot take it anymore and leave at 8:45pm. So, we went home to make mac n cheese instead. They say that the third time is the charm, but we have exhausted our patience with this place. We have never had such a hard time getting a table at a restaurant. I’m sure this is a great place to eat if you can make it into the dining room. There’s plenty of other places to eat in town.

Great food good time, food is phenomenal nice atmosphere, Service is good went there for New Year’s eve and also went there for a special birthday party you need to go check it out !

The restaurant was just about full and reservations on the book when we arrived without a reservation. Michelle made sure she could accommodate us before she sat us without upsetting her solidly booked restaurant. Dinner was delicious, the wine was perfect and the service was great.
They run a tight ship at Italian Cousin and deliver excellent food for a reasonable price. Without a doubt a gem on the Treasure Coast. Explore the specials!

Cute little Italian eatery in Sebastian. We showed up with toddler in tow in jeans and t-​shirts… A little underdressed for a Friday evening here! Don’t be fooled by the strip mall location… It’s cloth napkins and reservations only here!
There was a cancellation however, and the kind hostess fit us in. We were not fans of the ciabatta bread and dip that came out first (prefer soft bread!) but the salads were delicious and the house dressing divine.
For entrees, I ordered a simple spaghetti with marinara sauce which was an ample size and had good flavor. My husband tried the gnocchi with sausage and peppers, which he thought was well portioned but he was expecting a creamy white sauce instead of the pink sauce it came with. My daughter’s meal was the hit of the evening though– the kids Mac and cheese with a meatball was creamy and the meatball was flavorful (though it was odd it came with ziti noodles instead of macaroni).
We had only water and no dessert, and paid $ 38 plus tip for the three of us — pretty reasonable we thought! When we are sans child, we talked about coming back to sample their wine selection. Overall, a pleasant Italian experience!

While the quality of the food has remained the portion sizes have diminished. We love the food and have been frequent diners, but this is the third time we’ve noticed some not so good changes besides the portions. There’s an air of disorganization, like helter skelter– third time in a row that we waited at the podium for a hostess to come out; third time the waitress appeared to be new and inexperienced resulting in lousy service; and third time our bill was incorrect (over charged). It was loud and cramped like packing bodies into a cattle car. Time for a reality check and going back to basics like they were the first 6 months. We chose to spend New Years Eve here and that was the first of the three poor experiences. Sorry guys, no recommendations from us until we see some changes.

The most amazing experience! Loved the food and the service was exceptional! Lovely evening!

Having heard good things and reading the reviews, my husband and I decided to give this Italian eatery a try. Since the season is upon us, we called for reservations and were asked to come at 5:00 as they were booked solid. That was a bit early, but it was okay. The service could not have been better. Neither of us were a fan of the ciabatta bread they bring out first, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing! At least we wouldn’t fill up on bread! I had the salad which was nice and my husband had the soup — a tomato bisque, I believe. He liked it. He ordered the Veal Parmesan and I ordered the Chicken Parmesan. Now, I loved mine but my husband wasn’t overly thrilled with his — and this man loves veal. He thought it was very bland. He has no desire to go back.
One other thing, even though it was early and there were only 4 – 5 tables filled, it was quite loud. I would imagine when packed, it might be hard to carry on a conversation.
So, I liked it, he didn’t. I think it’s worth a visit, but make sure you call ahead for reservations!

Great Italian food. My wife and I eat dinner here once a week. Fair prices for a decent portion of food. I love the fresh homemade marinara and their bread. It’s like the Italian bread I’m used to up in the ny/​nj area. They also have a simple but great early bird menu. Give it a try. You’ll love the spaghetti and meatballs or the chicken parmigiano

Very good authentic Italian food. Owners were very accommodating and super nice. Had the mahi and shrimp special. Very delicious– big portions! The veal parm was very good too.

Favorite spot in Sebastian! Excellent food and warm and welcoming service. I’m an ex chef and the dishes are absolutely delicious. Someone is making sure it’s consistent and superb. A hidden gem, trust me.

Taste– lasagna was delicious, served hot and the red sauce is legit. New ravioli special was excellent, enough portion and a good mix of flavored. Italian wedding soup was also a hit. Bread with oil and pesto was a nice starter, different take on the usual Italian bread.
Touch– very
Smell– if your family has some Italian heritage, it smells like grandmas house with sauce cooking on the stove, just perfect.
Sight– old school Italian
Sound– loud since everything is in one room
Emotional– very professional staff, the restaurant was full yet we didn’t mind taking it all in. Enjoyed the meal and interacting with the staff and owner. If you are traveling through, this is a must stop. We talked to a couple who traveled an hour one way just to dine. Enjoy it, we sure did.

My wife and I went there the other weekend with some friends. We started off with Fried Mozzarella Sticks which were proclaimed excellent and a very tasty grilled Portabella Mushroom.
3 of the group opted for the Italian Cousin Salad, a chopped salad with a Gorganzola Vinegarette that they all liked. I haad the Italian Wedding Soup which was very good but a touch salty.
For entrees my wife had Chicken Francese which she liked. 2 of us had Chicken Parmesan, which I felt disappointed me. It was a fried breast that had not been pounded thin and was dressed with a nice marinara sauce and some grated Parmesan cheese rather than the usual Mozzarella.
For dessert I had the Canollis which were run of the mill and a Grappa.0 My wife had the Limoncello cake which she liked.

Service small tasty wine list the usual dishes but done very very well !!! Only one experience but I look forward to a return visit!

This is our second time here and I must say this is by far the best Italian food I’ve ever had! We had the lasagna and chicken Parmesan and it was so delicious! The house salad was incredible with the house dressing!
We visit the area several times a year and will definitely be back!
Judi and Jasmine are the best ! They checked with us throughout our meal to see if we needed anything! The limoncello cake is the best!
The restaurant is wonderfully decorated and very inviting!

Pros: great food, excellent for vegetarians, customizable to taste and diet
Cons: a bit loud, service could use some improvement.
Overall: highly recommended
We went on new year’s eve. Called ahead to ask if they could accommodate vegetarians. After a short convo we already knew the place would be welcoming and the staff will be very friendly.
When we arrived, we were greeted by the owner who also is the host and head chef. Even on NYE she took time to go through the menu with us and understand our dietary restrictions. Based on that she recommended linguini with veggies in carbonara and fettuccine in spicy Alfredo.
Both dishes were amazing! I got the fettuccine which was accompanied with a healthy serving of variety of vegetables bathed in plenty of delicious alfredoness. I would have picked up the bowl and licked it clean.
There was a slight lapse in service — we didnt get out table bread till we were half way done with our tomato bisques; we ordered mozzarella sticks which they forgot about till i reminded them; and we waited a long time between appetizer and entrée. But since it was NYE and the food was being custom made for us, these errors were more than excusable.
If i ever go to sebastian again, there is no doubt i will be returning to the italian cousin. In the meantime i will keep wishing i had a real italian cousin who could cook like that.

Family atmosphere, excellent service, PHENOMENAL food. I got there for the Early Bird menu and prices were beyond reasonable. House wine — I had the merlot — was quite tasty as well. We will be coming here again!