ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — There’s an easy way to tell Cosmo’s is one of the most popular restaurants in Orange Beach.

Drive along Canal Road just about any evening spring through fall and see the cars lining the roadway, parking across the street and streams of people heading to the little shopping area that holds the eatery.

“It’s been steady,” Brian Harsany, who owns Cosmo’s with wife Jodi, said. “Every year we’ve seen growth. And hopefully with this area growing the way it is we’ll continue to see that.”

So much so, city officials began hearing concerns about the safety of parking on the street or across the street and people walking across the road to get some to the restaurant’s fare.

“But there is a desperate need for parking there and we have been asking him for quite some time to do something,” Director of Community Development Kit Alexander said.

When an empty lot next door went up for sale, Harsany saw a way he could address those concerns.

“We are very, very pleased that’s he’s going to be expanding that parking lot,” Alexander said.

Work has already begun on the lot.

“He is removing trees that are unprotected and at such time as he wants to expand and improve the parking lot he will submit for planning commission approval,” Alexander said.

Harsany says the lot is an important project to the future growth of the popular eating place.

“We’ve been very fortunate with the business that we’ve gotten and making them safe when they are here,” Harsany said. “I’m just doing the preliminary work and then I’ll give a plot to the city for their approval and once we get that hopefully we’ll have it in time for spring break.

“We’re making sure to leave as many trees as we can and we’re going to do a gravel parking lot so the water can get down and we won’t create a ton of runoff.”

A customer review mentioned parking woes and also caught Harsany’s eye .

“We actually had a write up where somebody gave me a one out of five because they couldn’t find a parking spot and went and ate elsewhere,” he said. “But I got the one out of five rating because I didn’t have the parking.”

Harsany has operated the restaurant named after the family dog since 2006 and he and Jodi also own Maggie’s Bottle and Tail, a store with in the same shady complex that offers specialty beer and wine as well as novelty pet products.

The Harsanys also own Cobalt, a restaurant that has beautiful views and a unique menu on the east side of Perdido Pass.