The menu looked impressive but the food was not up to our liking at all. They were kind enough to accommodate our large group on 3 tables but we had 3 servers and 3 checks (we were told about that in advance; I couldn't quite understand the logic behind it). Two of the three servers were good; the third one was really bad. There was a point I had to go in to the restaurant to help myself with silverware cause he just didn't come to check on us. We had ordered the Panang curry, Kerala curry, steak, tofu buns, sweet and sour eggplant. I don't think we will go here again because none of us liked the food. read more

To be honest, I came here for the appetizers and the alcohol. Mia is specialized in SEA fusion cuisine, but I personally think they try to do too much with the food and as a result, the dishes turn out to be quite unsatisfying. One of the best things we had there: - Their foie gras - Their NZ lack of lamb - The creme brulee (well, they were just above okay). - Their lychee mojito I saw that people recommend sushi, maybe next time we'll give it a try. read more

Stumbled on this restaurant after told there's a "3 hour wait" on Aurora. Our waiter was excellent and recommended some great dishes. By far our best dinner in Ithaca. Everything was fantastic. read more

Every single bite was mouthwatering, flavorful and delicious. I was in the area on a road trip and Mia's restaurant really made my night. The location is lounge like, the decor warm and inviting with a hospitable staff. Anytime I'm up that way, Mia's is a must! read more

Upsides: Service was excellent. Seated right away, server was friendly & helpful. Food arrived quickly. Tofu salad was amazingly delicious as was the local bottle of wine. Downsides: very expensive for the quantity (small lovely looking plates) and frankly, the quality didn't seem to match the price. Quite fancy in presentation, but, well... aside from the tofu salad, everything was more like 3 stars. As if the whole thing wasn't well thought-out or something... Cases in point: Vegan chocolate torte was pretty, dusted in cocoa powder & soooo yummy, only, you had to use a knife & fork to cut into it because it was served so cold it was nearly solid! Partner's lobster/fish masala was flavorful, but there was no way to GET to the lobster, w/improper utensils and no damp cloth for fingers. Boo. Bottom line: I felt like the menu was so varied, there was no one specialty or focus, so everything suffered a bit much for the expense ($230 for 4 people)! read more

Totally a disappointment, we have reservation but receive a temporary table set in the middle with everyone walk around. Service is terrible, they don't take plants away until we told them to do so, and we feel ignored during the whole dinner. Finally the food sucks, curry are watery，cocktail tastes like pure alcohol. Don't go to that place it's waist of money. read more

Excellent pan-Asian tapas restaurant with really good food and cocktails (some interesting ones, too, with jalapenos or sea salt or other innovative combinations). Everything was tasty and beautifully cooked, but I'd particularly recommend the pork tenderloin, the melt-in-the-mouth selection of sashimi, and the beef with sticky rice. The service was also very attentive and polite. read more

Food was good, compared to other restaurants in Ithaca. However, we had such a terrible dining experience here. Just because we didn't have a reservation, we were asked to finish within 90 minutes including the waiting time. And the server kept coming to us, asking if we had finished eating, what a bad experience, which is something that would not happen in a good restaurant. I understood that it was very busy but obviously some servers were just standing there and not doing anything while we were waiting for someone to serve us. Very disappointing. read more

I should have read the signs. Didn't disinfect the table between guests. Didn't bring menus or the drink menu. Didn't refill water during a two hour experience. Had a two hour experience because waitress didn't put in tapas orders and then blamed the kitchen. Watched everyone around us getting food even though they were seated an hour after us. Food was so-so. I won't go back. read more

Met a friend, her parents, and a few others there for tapas. The FOH staff were very attentive, neither my water glass nor wine glass got close to empty during the meal. Our waitress was great at making recommendations as needed. The ambiance and decor were great. The food was all delicious. Our friends parents did all the ordering so I didn't know what all of the dishes were supposed to be, but it all tasted very good. I even ate a bit of something with coconut milk and peanut sauce (which are things that can be overwhelming/offputting to me) and it was subtle enough to be good. read more

Pretty nice restaurant in the town, enjoyed the various option of tapas, but the non-alcoholic drinks could be better. Definitely recommend the Thai basil wings, pork bun, and squid! read more

See all

We had high hopes for this place given the great reviews, but unfortunately they fell short and didn't quite meet our expectations... It's a dimly lit multi-floor restaurant that has the ambiance that's great for a date or small, intimate gathering. It's eerily quiet, almost too quiet, as it makes you feel as though you can't even talk to whom you're with. The bar area is small, cool decor, but not very welcoming to sit and have a drink/eat. They don't have any drafts, which is fine, and a non-extensive beer menu, but a nice cocktail list. Our waiter was attentive and service was pretty good. It's a tapas-style restaurant and we split four different entrees: Lotus Fritters - these were super tasty and dipped in the sauce, they were fantastic...can't go wrong with most fried things Truffle fries - standard fries with truffle oil...there are a lot and definitely proportionately, too much for two people to eat...nothing special, but they do pack a fair amount of truffle if you're into that Samosas - they had some indian spices to them, which was nice, but both chutneys they came with are terrible...if you're going to make the samosas authentic, at least try to make the chutneys authentic. The tamarind one was extremely thick and didn't sit well, while the other one was slightly sweet, but didn't have much of a taste to it. Tofu Bao Bun - they were a bit salty, but the bun itself was pretty good (not dry)...definitely add some hot sauce to it to get a little flavor/spice Overall, I think the restaurant doesn't know what cuisine they want to be in and try to mix too much into their dishes. We were originally intrigued that it had a mix of Indian / Asian dishes, but after trying different dishes, they're a bit random with their menu and their flavors (truffle fries seemed out of place...). read more

I don't give out 5 stars lightly. This small restaurant in Ithaca could stand up to any restaurant in any city. Tapas style portions, wonderful flavor combinations, creative takes on classic drinks. Our waitress was wonderful, recommending some great choices. This is our new go to spot for our weekends in Ithaca. read more

Some food is good, some isn't. Our server was sweet but somehow a lot of our order got messed up -- it took them about 10 min. to even come over and ask if we were ready to order. We ordered grilled korean beef and they brought us lamb, which was NOT what we expected and as people who don't eat lamb it was pretty gross and not a good mistake to make. We also ordered scallops and never got them. The food is fine and they have a great selection so I'd go back. read more

My wife tells me I didn't like her much until we had dinner at Mia. In retrospect, she is right. This place is so great I accidentally fell in love. Great service. Duck is dope AF. Great tofu. Great salads...the dressing may be some sort of love potion. Listen, it's not like my wife isn't great--she's fine. Good even. But I can't honestly be sure whether I fell in love with her or with Mia's. Maybe I'll never know for sure. If we get divorced I'd still say 4.5 stars... read more

I went for a group dinner of maybe 20 people after a museum opening at Cornell. The restaurant is quite nice, but it feels like a Spanish restaurant, even was playing Spanish music. To my surprise, it was Thai/Asian Fusion. The food is like fast food Thai and quite boring for such a large fancy looking restaurant. None of that bothered me as much as the grumpy waiter we had. The young man acted like a 80 year old crotch-y grandpa who would grumble below his breath and answer questions and say thank you sarcastically. Many of our group was from Asia and didn't speak much English, this seems to frustrate him more. Which is also strange because he was Asian... I couldn't wait to get out of there. read more

Flavorful Asian fusion cuisine, friendly and efficient service, and a competent bar. I've eaten here twice on trips to Ithaca, and both were excellent meals. On my most recent visit I had the chicken curry. The sauce had deep flavor and just a bit of heat, and the chicken was super tender and moist. The menu features a good range of cuisine and price points, including a squadron of small plates, as well as entrees between about $15 and $30. We got out of there with dinner for three, including two plates of naan, for under $60 before tip. On my next trip I'm hoping to try out some of the creative house cocktails. read more

Overall terrible experience. Do not recommend. I am not one that really cares about service nor do I really rate restaurants on Yelp, but I felt I had to review this restaurant. Me and my girlfriend were an afterthought here. We waited 10-15 mins for someone to take our drinks and when a waitress finally appeared, she admitted that she didn't know who our server should be. Water was never served until we asked. Couples that showed up after us were served their food before us. Despite the service being bad, I was willing to give the restaurant a second chance hoping that the food tasted as good as the menu read. Also not the case. We ordered the clay pot thai shrimp. It was incredibly bland. The chicken tikka was also bland. I should have known better. When a menu offers every cuisine under the sun, it often means they can't do any of them well. read more

I'm sorry to give Mia 1 star because their food is pretty good, although it has slipped a little since they recently lost their Exec. Chef. But the service is horrible. We went with a party of 10 for my birthday. It was a busy Friday but we called ahead and were seated in the "overflow seating" area with only 2 other parties. When we ordered, we made it clear that some of us were ordering tapas to be served with the others' entrees. They brought out some of the food a while later. We began asking the server when the other food would be ready after 10-15 minutes. He said he would check on it and didn't come back until we asked again. When he disappeared, I asked another server if she could check on the food. After another 1/2 hour or so had gone by, some of us were nearly done with our meals, and I asked to speak with a manager. Another 15 or so minutes, the manager came up and says 1 minute until the other food is ready. We are all ready to leave at this point and were going to be late to a show. The manager said we could take the forgotten food to go for 10% off--did not agree to comp those meals--then we waited for a long time to finally get the bill and half our party left hungry. Overall a waste of time and money. Find your delicious pork buns elsewhere! read more

I think this restaurant would appeal to people looking strictly for aesthetics rather than good food. It looks somewhat fancy, so I think people must assume they are getting fancy food, but it's low quality and mostly very disappointing. We ate on a week night and the restaurant was not busy -- maybe 4 tables in the restaurant while we were there. We ordered a few appetizers, entrees, and 2 glasses of wine each. Our bill was 100.00 + tip, for two people. The appetizers we tried included: (1) "roasted" beet, arugula & watercress with a ginger lime dressing -- The beets were boiled - bloated, tasteless, unseasoned. Definitely had not been roasted. There was no taste of real ginger. There was candied ginger in the salad, which did not really go with the other flavors. The dressing had no taste of ginger. (2) Vegetable samosas: these were OK, but tasted like they came from a box. (3) Lotus Root Fritters: these are completely tasteless until you put the bottled chili sauce on them. This is the same chili sauce that we buy in Wegmans and it completely overpowered the fritters. We tried the fritters without the chili sauce and then just tasted an oily and under-seasoned fritter. We started to worry about the next course after trying these appetizers (for good reason, it turned out). Entree: I tried the Dahl. This was inedible. Literally inedible. I have never had such a disgusting combination of spices in one dish before. The spices did not go together and made a totally simple dish taste utterly confused. I left most of this dish in the bowl it came in. My husband tried the Mussamund Curry, which looked more like a stew without the normal curry sauce typically seen in curry dishes. He ate his meal, but was disappointed with the flavors as well. The service was alright, but not to the level you may expect. Spotty and uneven and not quite up to par for what is presented as a somewhat nice restaurant. Our server was pleasant. The other server was not very pleasant and we were glad not to have her. I don't think we'd return if this was 1/4 of the price, but certainly won't spend 100.00 on a meal this poor ever again. Oh well. read more

Wow. Ithaca has sunk to a new low for overpriced low-quality food with horrendous service, and it goes by the name mia! None of the dishes I ate or anything I saw on anyone else's plate in the entire restaurant warranted the price charged. The menu also lacks from any seriously developed theme/etc.--it is too over the map. Asian food is great, but to make a pan-anything menu requires more than just a grab-bag approach. And let's be honest, when you can't cook a portabello mushroom correctly, should you really be in the culinary business? I might be willing to overlook some negatives in the dining experience if the waitstaff are actually kind and courteous. But no, at mia it's the standard ithaca approach of 'clearly i am better than waiting on you at a restaurant, but i'm taking this job until i find something else.' I particularly enjoyed the entire staff not knowing what the hell to do when the fire alarm started going off. Considering the history of structural fires on the commons, I actually take fire alarms seriously, and would hope that the management would inform and educate their staff to do the same. And asking a restaurant to play good music is always asking too much, but can you at least not play horrible, I mean HORRIBLE, elevator smooth jazz mixed with crappy adult contemporary? So, no, I won't ever go back there. And no, I won't recommend it to anyone else. I'll actively suggest you don't go there. It's not worth the try. read more

Food was adequate but the wait staff left much to be desired. The waiter was inattentive at best. And much of the time he was no where to be found. So many other great restaurants in Ithaca- I probably won't be back. The food was just not noteworthy enough to make up for the poor service. read more

I am surprised to read the bad reviews about this restaurant because our experience was very nice! My husband and I were in Ithaca staying at a B&B as a "gift get away" from the children. We had reservations for Thai Cuisine, but got a call saying that they had a family emergency and would not be open. We made reservations for Mia's instead, although no one we knew had been there. We both really liked the decor and the atmosphere. We thought the food was five star, the only thing wrong with our evening was the service. The service was "three star" while everything else was five star for us. We shared an appetizer of chicken samosas. We both agreed they were delicious. I had the Panang curry with chicken and my husband had Thai spicy seafood bouillabaisse. I had asked the waiter if there were mushrooms in the Panang curry and he said he didn't know, but if there were he would be sure they were left out. Of course there were mushrooms in the dish, and of course they were also on my plate. No big deal, I picked them out, but it was bad form. This waiter was also a little slow with drink refills and the check. He was young and he would benefit from some training. I didn't feel that customer service was on his mind at all. I also asked the waiter if he could recommend 1 of 3 dishes I was interested in, and he said "It's hard to know" - I got the feeling that he had never eaten the dishes!! I wondered if he had ever eaten anything at the restaurant! Not a good feeling if the wait staff hasn't sampled the food where they work. That is something the owners should rectify. Both my husband and I thought our entrees were five star. Mine was a perfect compliment of sweet and spicy. I did wish there was a little MORE of it. I felt the rice portion was a little small, and since I picked out 1/3 of my dish with the mushrooms, the portion felt a little small. My husband did not have the same complaint. Both of our deserts were outstanding. My husband had the Crème Brûlée Trio and I had the Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate Mousse. I definitely won with my selection. Two of his creme brulees were very good but one was a little flat. That is a hard desert to make stand out because it is so widely available. Mine was unique though and VERY delicious!! If it had not been for the poor service it would have been a five star experience. When the bill is so high for two people it is a let down to have anything annoying interfering with your enjoyment of the place. So other than less than stellar service we had an excellent night. I would definitely go back though and highly recommend it to anyone! read more

Mia serves some decent food in a really well done environment. I have had better but I would definitely return just for the pork buns! I went here for dinner after months of anticipation based on all the good reviews and the familiarity with the owner's other restaurants. I have to say that the food was a bit hit and miss. I wanted to see how a diverse number of dishes was prepared, so my friend and I had a number of dishes from the left side of the menu. Our line up consisted of tom kha gai, raw sampler, crispy duck roll, BBQ pork buns, foie gras, and baby back ribs. Lets get the bad news out of the way. The tom kha was way too sour and rather thin in terms of texture and amounts of ingredients. The foie was pretty disappointing, thus ruining my perfect streak of awesome foie dishes. The foie was cold with no sear on the outside to add a level of texture and flavor that I am used to. It was also pretty awkward to navigate the dish as the puff pastry on the bottom was very tough and hard to cut through without demolishing the delicate foie. I don't think the baby back ribs were even baby backs. They tasted like spare ribs, and much like the foie, they were inexcusably cold. They were tender but not enough to effortlessly fall off the bone like I am used to. The flavors were satisfyingly and distinctively umami, though. Now the good part! The pork bun was a pleasure to eat and the number one reason why I can't wait to go back for another round. The bun was perfectly steamy and soft. The pork was extremely well prepared and the crispiness contrasted with the softness of the bun. The daikon provided a third texture to the dish that was all tied together with the sauce. This dish was fantastic and definitely the best item on the menu that we had. The raw sampler was very well prepared as well. All three fish were wonderfully fresh and paired with sauces that synergized each bite. I really appreciated the translucent ruby color of the ahi tuna. The only aspect of this dish that I wish was different was the presentation. It was hard to share this dish as it was served in tasting spoons. Otherwise, it was perfect. The crispy duck rolls had lots of great flavors with the freshness of the herbs playing a large part in the flavor profile. The roll itself was thick enough to give the dish substance and was fried perfectly crispy. For all dishes, the presentation was simple and clean, which was a great example of how less is more. The interior of Mia is very well done. There are plenty of colors that are stimulating and simply just work. It is a tasteful mix of different designs elements and colors that makes your eyes wander. The one aspect that I thought was really interesting were the tables. They edges were tapered to give an impression that they were wafer thin and delicate. I just thought it was pretty clever. The service here was OK. Our server was training someone and really didn't explain the menu very much, which is OK, but some introduction would have been nice. The pace was pretty good but they brought out our 6 dishes in two rounds of 3. The table was a bit crowded. I also think the duck roll took a bit longer to fire so the foie and ribs may have been sitting in the back, hence why they were cold when they arrived. I would have liked to have given 4 stars but the cold and sometimes awkward dishes dropped it to 3. I think it is a good restaurant but I have higher expectations considering the price. I will definitely return for some BBQ pork buns sometime in the near future because I walk by this place every day and one of these times, I'm going to stop back in. read more

This place was AWESOME! Number one thing on this menu are the Porn Buns. Lord have mercy those are dangerously good. The pork is crisp on the first bite and melts in your mouth on the second bite. Everything else was great too but nothing compared to the pork buns. They claim to source mostly sustainable or humanely treated meats and seafood which is a huge deal to me. The atmosphere was nice, and I love that it's right downtown. Service was good too. I will be back a many times as my arteries allow me to eat the Pork Buns. read more

What a fun spot with great cocktails. The food was fantastic to say the least. I recommend the sautéed vegetables with truffle oil and the Mia's Mai Tai!! read more

A few friends and I decided to have a nicer-than-usual dinner and were pleasantly surprised to find Mia a great restaurant. Other than being painfully expensive, I found their enormous 16 oz. steak delicious and their alcohol selection superb. Additionally, their desserts are VERY GOOD. As recommended by a relative, the crème brûlée was amazing. All in all, a great place to go for good atmosphere and food, for a hefty price tag. read more

Not so good for vegans. They literally had zero options, and the dish that they created was... penne with some uninspired veggies. I wouldn't have minded, except that they charged us waaaay too much for something I could have made in my own kitchen with my eyes closed. For an Asian fusion restaurant, I would have hoped for at least one interesting dish that didn't have meat or dairy. The staff was nice enough. The ambiance was nothing to write home about. read more

Great miso soup, philadelphia roll and shrimp spicy salad. Perhaps the best sushi in Ithaca.

went here for a quick pre-concert dinner -- 2 of us shared tapas-- roasted brussel sprouts with miso sauce, diver scallops in a chili sauce and Grilled Portabella satay in peanut sauce. Every one had it's on unique flavor profile, but all were delicious-- and was cooked perfectly. Service was quick, but not rushed and our server was very pleasant. I would definitely go back when I'm in town again. read more

Came here recently for dinner with my boyfriend. We did the tapas menu sharing 6 items and a bottle of wine. Breakdown of what we got: - Fresh roasted Beet salad- this was simple and delicious - Nuta- This was mix of various different seafood with vegetables- similar to a ceviche. We really enjoyed this! - Sweet potatoes julienne fries- quite possibly the best sweet potato fries i've had (in a while at least) They were crispy and seasoned perfectly - Cambodian style marinated beef tenderloin- the flavoring on this was unique but worked and was super tasty! - Mia BBQ pork buns-- we loved this as well. The BBQ sauce was very sweet but worked well with the dish. - Gelato- i believe we had the vanilla bean Gelato. This was delicious and a generous serving (between the two of us we couldn't finish it). Overall i had a great experience with delicious food and good service. Our bill came up to about $125 including tip for both of us- which isn't bad considering we got a whole bottle of wine with that! read more

Interesting place. Came here with a large group. Food - 4 For the most part it was good. Kale salad, veggie samosas, shrimp in curry, pork short rib, tofu salad. Beef with veggies was the only negative. The beef was like rubber and not well cooked. We tried one dessert, but were too full to enjoy it. In general, a good fusion menu with pretty tasty food that is not out of this world. Atmosphere - 4.5 Restaurant and bar provide for flexibility to grab a drink, eat a meal. Upstairs they have a larger dining area for private parties, which seemed like a great option. I can see how it get crowded, but it rarely does. Service - 3.5 At first, they were very friendly. They were were very efficient with drinks and food. The only negative was that as people were eating they asked them if they could take the plate away (multiple times). That was a bit off putting. Otherwise, decent service. Value/Price - 3 It's probably too expensive for what it is, but given our occasion it came out to about $80 per person with about 2 alcoholic drinks per person and we were very full. read more

A great American style Asian restaurant! There are at least two type of ethnic elements in one dish. I ordered the pork ribs bun tapas, which is perfectly done and savory (recommended). For the main dish, I ordered the chicken curry, and my gf got the beef ramen. I glad she likes her ramen, but I found the soup and beef in that dish was overly sweet and oily (maybe that's the idea). I'm not really a fan of a Indian style ramen. My chicken curry with white rice was average. I really want to give them a 3.5 stars. read more

We ordered many different plates to get a lot of variety and we were pleased with everything we ordered. Cambodian tenderloin from the grill was amazing and we had to order a second plate. Will be going back again to try more of what they have to offer. read more

Four of us arrived for dinner on a Saturday evening. The food was outstanding. I had a Asian stir-fried scallop dish that was ample and perfectly prepared. The scallops were not watered down as is often the case in lesser restaurants, and all the supporting dishes (we ordered four appetizers including an exceptional pot-sticker treat) were as good as the main courses. The five-stars are deserved. No grade-inflation here. read more

I absolutely love the sea bass and used to get that every single time I went. I tasted other dishes there but that was always my go-to. I love the arugual salad as well and their sorbet is excellent. Now that they have tappas though, it is really easy to fill up and not have room for sea bass. On the tappas, my faves so far are the calamari with sriracha, the prawns with curry and the pork buns!! They have a nice wine list and the wait staff is always helpful and friendly. Fabulous restaurant! read more

Been there a couple times. Great place to go for some asian fusion food with a slightly above casual atmosphere. Nice small plates and entrees. Highly recommend the panang curry and the thai Mussamund beef curry. They used to have live music on sundays--not sure if they still do. read more

Mia Restaurant - Close dish is Panang curry. Far dish is Thai Mussamund beef curry. Both good. Panang is particularly good. - Asian Fusion Near Me - Ithaca, New York

We had a great meal here, we like the lobster dish and the crispy BBQ best but overall we like the food and the cocktail is excellent. Our server is very polite and attentive. read more

This is probably my favorite Asian fusion restaurant. It is one of the only place that embodies the flavor of Asian culture including India and fuse with western food. Small plates are awesome. Their Creme Brulee is to die for. This is my all time favorite dessert here. I would really recommend this place if you visiting ithaca. read more

I was really impressed with this place, especially after reading the prior reviews about the service. The food was great - I would highly suggest the Natu and the Alaskan Crab and Vietnamese Sausage Wontons. The server though was really impressive. Not too pushy and gave great suggestions for the menu. I'll definitely be back! read more