Preface: I completely understand the strain restaurants are experiencing with COVID and I give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to timelines. Called this restaurant ahead of time to hold a table, arrived and was seated right away, then notified there was only one waiter on staff- Max. Max did an awesome job juggling tables on the patio and presumably inside too. Everything was going smoothly until we ordered and the item we each planned on getting was not available. So we ordered the strip steak and the lamb chops- big mistake. Steak was an awful color that looked barely suitable for my dogs. The lamb chop appeared to be cooked three times over. The best part of the meal was the beer and the side of Mac & Cheese. We felt bad for Max having to tell customers dishes were unavailable and then serve terribly mediocre food. We stayed and finished our drinks and moved the food around on our plates until we could pay the bill and give Max an appropriate tip. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE OUT A POOR DINING EXPERIENCE ON WAIT STAFF. Tip them as you would if you enjoyed your experience- they are trying their best under the circumstances. That being said, I would not recommend this place to anyone. Best of luck to Max and other wait staff in the future. read more

Had a great date night here last night. Honestly, the food is a 3, but service brought up this rating. First impressions matter! Caprice, who greeted us warmly, introduced us to the restaurant, and brought us to our table was wonderful. I instantly felt transported out of the Ithaca restaurant scene and truly felt like I was in a nice, upscale restaurant in a big city. Thank you Caprice! So, I need to say this next - the prices are a tad outrageous for Ithaca. 4 drinks, a $5 appetizer special, biscuits, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts came out to $140 before tip. Hmmmm. Don't get me wrong - that's a lot of a food, and we both had leftovers, but this seemed steep. That's even more expensive than Mercato, which I think is the priciest and best restaurant on the Commons. Okay, so before I dig in here, bear in mind that they have not been open long, and I am sure are still working out the kinks. Food Problems: I was so excited for a nice southern biscuit that I bit the bullet and bought the $7 sweet potato biscuits. They were extremely dense, dry, and flavorless unless you had a ton of the honey butter on them. Some pieces of the short ribs were dried out, but some pieces were fine. The sauce on the parppardelle was weirdly sweet. Lastly, and Big Problem here, the desserts were honestly just awful. "Creme brulee" was not even close to creme brulee. Sure, there was a custard (the "creme"), but no brulee. Just fruit on top of a small amount of custard for $9. I guess I'd call this a parfait or something? Name failure aside, it was still just okay. Our other dessert, Milk & Cookies, was aptly named, but just plain not good (basically a large, hard loaded cookie with a side of cream). Otherwise, food was good. We liked our shisito pepper appetizer, we liked the bread service with the F. Oliver's oil & spice mix (nice touch), I liked my Soul Plate which was the certainly the best value of the night - $24 for mac & cheese, fried chicken (great), fried trout, cornbread (meh), and collard greens (really good, even though I don't usually care for them). Note: 2 people could easily share the Soul Plate, or a group could probably share this as a smorgasbord app. And we liked our drinks, which were quite tasty (though not strong). Overall, great service by the host and by our server Gina, nice decor/atmosphere, a fun date night for sure - but I'm not going all-out here again until the food is more consistently good (and I'll probably never get dessert here again - what's the point when Madelines is right next door). read more

This place is a wonderful spot for cocktails and a quick bite. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. Don't be fooled by any of the bad reviews this place is a gem. Highly recommend! read more

I'm not sure what is going to happen with this place. Its fare is too expensive and not special to justify regular community attendance. An $18 burger that pales even to Ale house? Come on. Even the bread they give you feels like it was bought from a grocery store a few days ago. Didn't try the drinks, but someone else in my party liked them. read more

I was in for lunch today. Had the Cornell chicken sandwich. It was full of chicken bones! At this price point a careless mistake like this is unacceptable. read more

We were sorely disappointed today at brunch at Monks. There were at most 3 tables when we were eating. There were 5 of us. Our food was cool to lukewarm, not all brought at the same time. Some of the menu items did not show up as stated - no avocado, minimal goat cheese could not find it in the omelet (!). No butter or jam with dry toast for all. Had to ask for syrup for Waffle. The omelet special was very heavy and definitely not appetizing! As stated in other reviews food somewhat bland - more so it seems the cook is not on top of what they are doing and coordinating their orders. We had been so excited to try it. Very overpriced for the food we received. $93.00 for 5 people with no alcohol and no one was happy with their meal and we are all pretty flexible. Nicely set up - I hear the drinks are wonderful. Have to up their food game QUITE A BIT to be competitive in downtown's market. What a shame read more

We ordered breakfast with the family after staying at the hotel, we were seated at two different tables and arrived at the same time. Our food came out 30 minutes before the other table and we were done eating before they got their food. As for the food I got two eggs over easy and they came out over hard. In addition the usual two eggs over easy with home fries and bacon costs $14 for breakfast. In total our table of three people for breakfast cost over $50 and we had water to drink. Service was slow but polite We will not be eating breakfast at the hotel again for the duration of our stay. read more

I hate leaving such a negative review as the first comment, but it can't be helped. My husband and I wanted some place nice for our anniversary, and we liked the menu options of Monks so we decided to give it a try. Our first sign that something wasn't quite right came in the form of our waitress who obviously didn't know what was going on. She didn't know what items were included with one of the options on the menu and only remembered to tell us what items were sold out when we went to order one of them. It happens, we're all new at one time or another, so we laughed it off and enjoyed our small serving of bread. We'd ordered apps and entrees, and our second sign that something might be wrong was when two tables that were seated after us got their apps before us. About a half hour went by when we were approached by a second waiter who said he would be taking over our table. That's when I saw our original waitress leaving. Before we have a chance to speculate what was going on, our appetizers were finally brought out. Yay! Except that less than 5 minutes later, before we'd even finished, our entrees were brought out too. I had the fish, which wasn't bad, but it was smothered in sauce when I'd asked them to go light on it. To add insult to injury the sauce was a tad oily and really brought down what was otherwise an okay meal. We also got the scallops, which were another story. They were over cooked, gritty, and had the feet still left on them. Also, we got the blue crab deviled eggs and there wasn't any crab to be seen. Since it was our anniversary, I figured that we might as well get dessert, since that's the hardest course to screw up. We decided to split the berry creme brulee. On the very first bite, one thing was obvious...it wasn't even a creme brulee! They'd made a panna cotta and called it creme brulee. THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT DESSERT THEY'RE SERVING. I mean...come on. It wasn't bad once we stopped wondering why the creme brulee was so gritty, but it also wasn't what we wanted. We finally got the bill for the sub par meal, and the total came to over $70--and we didn't even order alcohol! Outrageous price for a sub-par meal. read more

Very good food and great for a date night. Drink selection is great. Nice out door seating, although there were "lawn games" and kids walking by stopped and played and made the dinner not as relaxing as I hoped. read more

Like someone else said- overpriced and underwhelming. I've lived in a number of larger and small cities, and Ithaca needs to realize it's not that special, it doesn't know what it's doing, and charging these prices does not make it "on trend." Their wine menu is under par, their menu is blah (the "pretzels" were bland pieces of overcooked dough) and for the prices, I could buy the same crappy bottle of wine at the grocer. they also have the stingiest pours! 6oz? for $12? JEEZ?! The only thing they have going for them is outside seating - but being right on State St, it's loud and congested, not exactly a relaxing atmosphere. get a grip Monks- you're not that cool. read more

Absolutely the best customer service here. Everyone is absolutely amazing and cares about your experience and makes it the best possible. Laura one of the servers is absolutely genuine and amazing never had such a great customer experience. Fun games everywhere for everyone in the family. It has the best food available for any types of cravings. And a good variety. Everything was fresh and with good timing. If I were to ever come back to Ithaca again this would be the best place to come back to. read more

Had breakfast there and needed a gluten free option. Andy our waiter suggested the avocado toast with gluten free bread. It not only looked delicious it was. Beatific presentation. Had to come back today. Andy was a great waiter. read more

Two great morning breakfasts and excellent customer service enhanced our stay. The gluten free adjustments to the entrees recommended by our waiter were spot on. Looking forward to returning. read more

We visited Monks on Mardi Gras and had a fun, low key time. The service is just awesome-wish I remembered the names of the hostess and server, but you know who you are! We didn't eat dinner, but had the special New Orleans style appetizers-gumbo and crawfish sliders, both tasty and plenty of food. For cocktails we had the classic sazerac, and while a bit sweet compared to NOLA, it was tasty and did the job! I see others here have complained about the price-maybe it was happy hour? Or a special night? Whatever, it was much less than we expected. We're going to keep checking it out. read more

I have been here a few times for lunch. I enjoyed the setting, especially the light that pours though the windows in often gloomy Ithaca. Unfortunately, I will not be lunching here again. It was not the service -- our waitor was terrific. They have made a disastrous change to the lunch menu -- switching to a disastrous Nashville themed "meat and three" memed menu and cutting the rest of the menu to bare bones. Now, "meat and three" is nice, especially in Nashville. It also is easy on the chef -- prepare one meat and vats of veggies, etc. However, it is way too heavy for lunch. I did order a small soup and an ear of corn ($6!!!!) that was part of the side vegetables but it was pretty clear the ear of street corn was a warmed over mediocrity. The nice waiter told us the hotel manager came up with the meat and three concept which is also a specialty of her home state of Oklahoma. Well, this is Ithaca -- the home of a fantastic local food and wine movement. If you want a simplified menu easy on the chef -- at least make it feature regional specialties like spiedies, Utica greens or Cornell chicken -- not a heavy fat laden lunch that simply does not appeal. read more

Was hoping for good dining because I liked Luna when they first opened. The large dishes on other people's tables looked good, but we tried several of the small dishes to share. Prices are pretty high, $18 for a burger, so expectations are also high. Brussel sprouts were okay, they should be since they're on quite a few of the dishes. Scallops were eh, one was bitter, one was good, one was inedibly salty, and the brussel sprout salad that came with it---I've never had raw, shaved brussel sprouts before, but if you do serve it, just google how to properly prep a brussel sprout. They still had the stems on them! on a RAW brussel sprout! To add to a weird experience, the service was just odd. A couple next to us was chatting away with their menus, for like 30 minutes and they had to ask to have their order taken. Then dishes came out and they didn't know which tables they were going to. "did you order this?" is not something they should be asking when there are only 10 tables in the entire restaurant. Waitstaff walked around looking at the floor and not towards anyone who was trying to get their attention. Sorry, won't be coming back for a long time. read more

Outrageous prices. Bad food. I was so excited to try a new place in town. The cocktails were only OK. The food, awful. We ordered the sweet potato bread puff things. They were dry and completely tasteless. The atmosphere is wonderful, But I will not be spending that kind of cash to give them a second chance. read more

The only reason why people are saying these things is because they're angry that the Marriott is blocking the view of their precious lake. Seriously, go try the food for yourself. I'm reviewing it on my website, but it does not deserve two and a half stars. Everyone is incredibly friendly, professional, and the food is inventive and tastes far better than almost everything else in Ithaca. This place is as good as Mix, Maxie's, Bandwagon, Just A Taste, Cent-Dix, or any of the other amazing restaurants in Ithaca. I'm including Mercato when I say Cent-Dix because the two restaurants are from the same people. read more

Comfy, classy bar with outstanding drinks and service, perfect for our early evening get together for busy professionals!

The cocktail program at Monk's is outstanding - really first rate. And I have more than a little expertise in this area, having nursed a 2 year obsession with the art of mixing drinks. The menu is just spectacular, with classics and original creations, and reads like something you would find in a New York bar. The emphasis here is on technique and great ingredients. You aren't going to find sour mix margaritas or frozen strawberry daiquiris (I happen to love daiquiris and margaritas and other sours when made as they were many decades ago, with fresh juices). Instead, you will find a perfectly-made Old Fashioned or Manhattan, and a variety of well-balanced and tasty original drinks. The space is well laid out, inviting and cozy, and is a great place to spend a few hours. Bravo!!! read more

Possibly the worst restaurant in Ithaca? Feels very much like a hotel restaurant (because it is a hotel restaurant). Every time I've gone there, the service has been really bad--they'll forget about you, treat you condescendingly when you make basic requests, etc. It's also extremely overpriced for what it is, and their cocktails are pretty uninspired. Normally I don't like to write negative reviews of places, but this one feels so out of place in Ithaca and disconnected from the spirit of this community. And some of the folks who work there are pretty rude. read more

Great space. Haven't tried the cocktails so I don't know if they compare to the quality of Argos or Mercato. My $16 burger tasted like lighter fluid and the fries obviously came from a pre-cut-then-frozen bag because they had that mushy interior texture. Always looking for new places in Ithaca and it was worth a try. read more

I went here for the first time with friends because the other downtown places were packed. We arrived around 5:15 and were able to quickly get a table for a party of 6 which was great. The place has nice decor and atmosphere with a decent drink menu. The waitress was friendly but didn't know much about the drinks available and I don't mean annoying detail questions but what the alcohol was in their special cocktail of the night. The place where they lose all their points for me is their prices, which are out of control. When I'm ordering grouper tacos where you get a total of 5, appetizer sized tacos for $18 and my husband ordered a "monks burger" which is really just a bacon cheese burger with their matchstick potatoes (think matchstick shaped potatoes chips with rosemary salt on them) for another $18 I expect magic and received just average for the area. Don't get me wrong it wasn't bad and had the prices been more in line with the area, probably about $12 for each of those items, I probably would have been happy with it. They have some opportunity here but need to address their prices. read more

Service was great, ambience was pleasant, food was hit or miss. The featured appetizers from 5.30-6.30 p.m. for $5 is a good deal and we loved the Southern mac and cheese. The bread pieces served at the beginning were cold and could use a dip. The roasted tomato and pepper soup and the crispy brussel sprouts were delicious but the charred cauliflower and broccoli was a disappointment (felt uncooked). All in all, though, a good experience, we are planning to go back to try the breakfast menu. read more

not impressed and unless you improve your menu and lower your drink prices, I see this place closing within a few years if not one