We had a Birthday Dinner at the Heights. The food and service were top notch. Our favorite was the…read morelava cake and crème brûlée. Do yourself a favor and at least stop for dessert.

Had dinner at The Heights on a relatively busy Saturday evening…read more We had the Pan Seared Duck Breast, Jumbo Shrimp and Paccheri Pasta and Strawberry & Chèvre Pizza. All pretty solid except the duck being a little more done than we liked. Unusual combination of ingredients on the pizza but it worked well. The Lava Cake Soufflé for dessert was a nice finish to the meal. Friendly staff and our server George was terrific.

Our meal at Gala Osteria was delicious -- authentic Italian dishes. I loved the tagliatelle and the…read moredessert with maple syrup grown locally. Our waiter Steve was very attentive and gave great suggestions. Don't let the somewhat odd location discourage you from a fabulous meal.

Delicious pasta! Better than Thompson and Bleecker and perhaps my favorite restaurant in Ithaca!…read more We tried the eggplant roll appetizer which was warm and very cheesy. The anchovy salad was also good (I prefer the white anchovies which they used). The salad was also quite generous with the cheese. I enjoyed dipping the warm bread in the leftover eggplant cheese/sauce. For mains we tried the chicken, black spaghetti, and the pappardelle. I love mushrooms, so the pappardelle was my favorite. A rather simple buttery sauce which allowed the flavor of the mushrooms to really come through. Delicious! I don't usually like to re-order the same dish when returning to restaurants, but this was so good when I come back I will definitely be getting this again! Black spaghetti and chicken were also good- no complaints here. For dessert we tried the panna cotta which was a tiny bit on the runny side though I am just being picky. It was very tasty and not too sweet. The tiramisu was also good (on the boozier side). The desserts were rather small but the mains were all quite hefty portion sizes. Reservations were rather inconvenient to snag though definitely not too hard. Overall, I really enjoyed Gola Osteria and will have to return to try more of their pastas!

Solid Great friendly ambiance…read moreWe had: Bacon wrapped cheese filled dates Fried chicken - skin layer under batter isn't the best but chicken was tender Pork Schnitzel - on a buttermilk sauce with two fingerling potatoes. Duck fat fries - nice crunch. Overall a no frills restaurant- good solid choice for a weeknight out.

The Rook is located a couple blocks north of the Commons. The staff were very pleasant and…read moreexplained everything on the menu. The menu itself is short and focused, while the interior of the restaurant features wallpaper with anthropomorphic animals, and large windows. I opted for the Burger, and my wife the Salmon. We also ordered the grilled dates and collard greens. I also decided on a Ginger Beer. They serve Goslings (since 1806), with all 47 grams of sugar, over ice and a lime. Highly recommended on the ginger beer flavor scale. The Burger came with a massive amount of their duck-fat fried fries, certainly more potato than burger. I also liked the burger with the added bacon. But my wife's Salmon was even tastier. It featured a nice hunk of fish, skin-on, crispy, and not some half-or-quarter fillet that other places might serve. Plus, it comes over a bed of green peas and canneli beans and green asparagus sauce on the bottom, and a small bed of frisée on top. The combination with the lemon cream leads to very satisfying bites. The grilled dates wrapped in bacon, with goat cheese, Marcona almonds, and honey were presented as a drumstick. The collard greens were nice, though on the saltier side. Seating here can be had inside or out. The bathrooms are located in the hallway next to the restaurant.

Making a reservation is very important as well as keeping your reservation. The atmosphere here is…read moreabsolutely amazing. We arrived on time, was seated within the first five minutes. Denise escorted us to a lovely table overlooking the lower dining area in front of the beautiful view of the lake. We loved the ambience of it all. Even though it was a busy evening, Casey, our waitress did an exceptionally beautiful job taking care of us. Our food came out as expected, drinks were beautifully presented, and the food was delicious. Thank you for a wonderful evening during one the busiest times of the year. See you again very soon.

Horrible service and management. Go elsewhere. Bad with allergies. Lawsuit waiting to happen…read more Food as a whole was decent. There were some hits and some misses. First off, the table we were seated at was way too small, so my dad sat at the end and all of the waitresses/waiters kept bumping into him. One even dropped some silverware on him. No apologies were made. We also made sure to note on our reservation AND tell our waitress that we have severe nut allergies at the table and they brought us a charcuterie board with nuts on it. Only because someone recognized a nut in one of the crackers did we double check after it was brought out. This happened again with the chocolate pudding. This is absolutely unacceptable. You cannot give customers who tell you they have a severe nut allergy nuts. This is how people die. Management handled this horribly. The hotel manager pretended to be the restaurant manager but then realized after talking with my dad that she, in fact, had no clue what was going on in the restaurant and corrected position as being the hotel manager midway through the conversation and went to get the ACTUAL restaurant manager. The restaurant manager herself was rude, curt, and made no effort to apologize. Perhaps this is because we were here for graduation dinner so there is a lack of incentive to win over a potentially returning customer. The service here is some of the worst I have ever experienced. Additionally, we were also never notified that they have off-menu desserts. It was only after we had already ordered that we saw someone with carrot cake that we asked. The person we were eventually able to wave down to inquire about the other desserts was rude- he gave very little explanation and when we asked about nuts in the desserts his answer was "I don't know." We had to explicitly ask him to ask the kitchen. Our waitress never cared to elaborate on the additional options not listed on the menu. Our water cups were also almost always empty- this is a minuscule mistake in the larger picture though, but still something to note. As for food, the bread was dry, the charcuterie portions were tiny (we also saw as we were leaving that they gave other tables different charcuterie boards... theirs had grapes and an abundance of crackers, which appeared to be Ritz and Club crackers which are nut-free... while ours was small and barren), and the appetizers as a whole were lackluster. Mains were solid, the chicken marsala portion was generous, noodles were mediocre though. My steak (ordered rare) was slightly overcooked. These are small mistakes in comparison. I still enjoyed the entrees as a whole. Dessert was okay. The cheesecake was slightly grainy. I liked the pudding the best. Pavlova was fine, not my type of dessert. The one redeeming quality is the view of the lake. Nonetheless, I strongly discourage everyone from coming. Save your time and money.

Glenwood Pines jumped out at me given its great location on the west edge of Cayuga Lake just a few…read moreminutes from the heart of Ithaca. I figured it'd be a good, no frills lunch option with some distant lake views based on the pictures I'd seen online. There's no formal wait service as you have to order food/drinks at the bar, and also head back to the bar to pick up your food when it's ready. Food is served in clunky plastic take out containers. It was a slow wait as it took 20-25 minutes for them to prepare the food. While waiting, I had a chance to explore the interior of the place, and was quite impressed with their collection of bobbleheads on display. Some were of presidents, while many were of pop culture like superheroes/villains and animated television characters (I liked their line up of Simpsons bobbleheads)...definitely gave off some quirky dive bar vibes. We ordered a local beer, mozzarella sticks, a cheeseburger, and a chicken sandwich. The mozzarella sticks were the frozen food service kind without much of a taste, and served with bland marinara sauce. The cheeseburger was quite small and also lacked any seasoning/flavor. The side of onion rings were also underwhelming and not worth the cost. The chicken sandwich was probably the best of the items we ordered, but was mediocre otherwise. All in all, the food was average at best, with nothing being particularly memorable, so worthy of an overall 3/5 Yelp rating from me. While I wasn't expecting a gourmet meal, it seems many of the reviews you find online are inflated due to the views of Cayuga Lake off in the distance. While it's a really nice location, they could do better in terms of food quality, so I likely would not return, and recommend others to drive an additional 8-12 minutes into Ithaca for better quality food.

Great place to watch sports. Excellent crab cakes and…read morejalapeño poppers. The deep fried mushrooms were just so-so. The happy IPA on tap was delicious. Order at the bar. Bus your own table. Enjoy the view of Cayuga Lake.

We had breakfast while staying at the Watkins Glen harbor hotel. Had omlette and coffee. They have…read moreoutdoor patio seats facing Seneca lake and the view is beautiful. Since it was raining, found a spot with the window facing the lake. Dinner menu is also good, but pricey. Good service!

We came here because everything closes early. So my friend picked this place, first the service is…read moreamazing. The food was alright nothing to repeat. We ordered the shrimp bisque, it had shrimps but it didn't have a good shrimp broth flavor. Then I ordered the lobster ravioli and that was a bit better. It was good and I would have the dish again but the raviolis could have been fresher, the texture of the ravioli was a bit chewy. The place is quite nice and you have a beautiful view to the docks with the boat. I would not come back. My friends' steaks were overcooked and they returned them but the waitress was amazing she was very kind and efficient. They did give us chocolate covered cherries which was a nice touch.

I have been going to Cent-Dix for 10 years and let me tell you this restaurant doesn't disappoint,…read moreand is probably my favorite in Ithaca. We are talking about great execution on basic french dishes here with excellent service on the commons. It's also the most elegant of the restaurants in the commons in my opinion. None are particularly elegant, but Cent-Dix feels the nicest. A must get is the beef tartare. It's so good, it's better than many tartare's I've had in france. Just hands down an easy winner. To cut it's richness I think you should get the Frisee aux Lardons. No matter the table size this is a perfect salad. You can always get more salads or greens, but if the table size is 2 or 6, everyone will like this. The fat, acid, bitterness is perfect. Steak frites are amazing, but even better is the cote de bouef on Saturdays. Either way you won't go wrong, but this restaurant does steak so well, and has good wines to pair with the steak. I've personally never had room for dessert, but everyone always orders it and I have some. It's good, but my favorite is that the espresso machine is always running after dinner for a nice pick me up before my walk on the commons!

One of the better restaurants in Ithaca!…read more I enjoyed the coursing- they did a very good job with timing. Service in general was very good. I also like the flowers on the dishes. I came with a friend and we tried the pear appetizer, mussels, leek and gruyere tart, and the ricotta gnocchi. Honestly, everything was really good. The gnocchi was pillowy and the tart did not have a soggy bottom. For dessert we tried the Pear frangipane which was also good. Quite a strong almond flavor and a little on the sweet side. Overall very good, I would recommend!

This was my second visit and it was even better than the first! Good cider on tap. I was able to…read morehave the Southwest burger substituted with a black bean burger and it was fantastic! The fries were seasoned and hot. Who doesn't like hot fries?! Thank you for not rushing us to order. Great visit!

Food was quick, service was fantastic, ambiance has a good vibe, and the wings were solid. It's…read morehard to find good wings in the greater Ithaca area but aside from being maybe a little too saucy, these were a solid option. Plenty of parking, and enough TVs throughout to make it a good sports watching option too.