Eating Out

The Antlers, Ithaca, NY
http://www.antlersrestaurant.com/
Price: $$
Cuisine: Steak and
Seafood (American)
General
Recommendation: Located in the opposite direction most folks head for dinner, The
Antlers is a nice, fairly inexpensive place to go for a tasty meal. The hunting lodge atmosphere is fun and the
staff is nice. With regular specials
every night, it’s a fun place to check out with a few friends or even your
parents. 

The Antlers had been on my list for a while but since I
never drive out there, I always forget about it. Last night, we remembered and checked it out
with two friends, one who had been there before. I’m glad we went though. Without trying to oversell the place (the
food wasn’t that good), I liked the way it was decorated- there was a
stone fireplace and lots of animal heads and such hung on the hunter green
walls. The dim lighting made for a nice
environment and I instantly liked the owner who greeted us at the door. Apparently the restaurant is owned and
operated by two Cornell alums and it’s always fun to support fellow
Cornellians. 

The Food:
I thought that the menu was quite reasonably priced so even
though the food wasn’t so fantastic, it seemed fair for the price. Most entrées come with a choice of garlic
mashed potatoes, baked potato or rice and a side of veggies (cooked carrots
were the veggies the night we visited). They also bring out some tasty garlic bread to snack on- we wouldn’t
have minded a refill of that.

Here are details on our order:
First Course: Smoked Trout, Lobster Bisque, Santa Barbara
Salad
Our friend who had been to this restaurant before was very
excited about the smoked trout. It was a
pretty big piece of trout – I tried it and it was what you’d expect. Just like the smoked fish you used to (or
still may) get in a box around Christmastime from places like Eddie Bauer and
such. It was kind of bony which was
unfortunate but that’s just what happens when you order stuff like that. I think the bisque was fine- didn’t hear much
about it. My salad was actually very
good- the dressing was tasty and the salad was not overdressed. I would order that again for sure.

Main Course: Shrimp and Scallops Special, Creole Spiced
Flank Steak, Tenderloin Beef Tips & Mushrooms, Baby Back Pork Ribs
This is where I was a bit less than impressed. None of the food was bad, per se, it just
wasn’t that fantastic. The portion sizes
were good and there was a lot to choose from on the menu. We went on a night where there were two
specials and it looked like most people in the restaurant were taking advantage
of the lobster special (Live Lobster, $17.95) and it looked pretty good. I
would try something else if I went back there again- maybe the filet mignon or
the crab cakes.

Dessert: Tiramisu and
this interesting Indian Pudding
No major complaints here. Our friend was brave and tried this pudding which was a cinnamon and
sugar tasting corn meal or sorts- served warm in a bowl. It had an interesting texture (which was noted
in the description) but tasted good. The
tiramisu was fine and tasted yummy with our decaf coffees. 

Drinks:
The wine list was very reasonably priced and I was excited
that I had actually heard of most of the wines on there. It’s not an extensively long wine list – it
fills up about half the back of the menu- but it is varied and it seemed like
they had several good choices for wines by the glass as well. The restaurant also offers a full bar and the
bar itself is nice looking and large- it fits in well with the décor of the
restaurant.  

The Service:
The service at The Antlers was pretty good and they didn’t
violate many of The Rules. In fact, the
only Rule they violated was removing plates too early and they almost didn’t do
that. We had all finished our meals-
forks and knives were all angled to 4 o’clock signaling it was okay to clear
our plates- but our friend decided he wanted to keep eating his girlfriend’s
food, so when they came to clear our plates, he prevented them from taking
hers. I only consider it a minor rule
violation because he was chewing when they came up to take our plates and I
hate it when a server takes away your plate while you’re chewing. Other than that, however, the service was
great- our water glasses were constantly refilled and they were happy to split
the bill when we put down more than one credit card. There were bread plates for the garlic bread
and plenty of silverware.  

The Atmosphere:
I really liked the atmosphere at
The Antlers. The hunting lodge feel was
fun and though there were lots of people eating when we were there- including
several large groups- it was never very loud. There are a few different sections to the restaurant which probably
helps keep the noise level down. As I
noted before, the owner is very nice and so is the staff. I would much rather go to The Antlers than
most of the other middle-of-the-road restaurants in the area and that’s due in
large part to the fun atmosphere. 

Lokelani’s, Ithaca, NY
http://www.lokelanisrestaurant.com/index.php
Price: $$$
Cuisine: French
General
Recommendation: As nice as the waiters are at Lokelani’s, it really is a place to miss
and I won’t be surprised if it’s the next nice restaurant to close in this
area. The menu is tiny and the food
isn’t very good. It’s too bad too
because the staff is nice and the look of the restaurant is actually quite
pleasant. The location also isn’t too bad.  

John and I had been to this restaurant when it first opened
and though neither of us remembered it being that great, we thought it would be
worth trying again. We had a gift
certificate we had bid on at a charity auction to use so we decided to go this
weekend.  We got there just before 9 on a Saturday night
and we were the only table in there. It
looked like a few large parties had just left but there were also several
undisturbed tables. Only one other group
of 4 came in the whole time we were there. Things are not looking good for Lokelani’s.

We went in excited to have a nice meal and unfortunately, we
were very disappointed in the limited menu and my entrée was terrible. I don’t often complain to the waiter about
the food in a restaurant, but I did here and it was too bad that there wasn’t
much they could do to improve it. Our
waiter did offer to bring me something else, but I declined- there wasn’t
anything else on the menu that sounded good. John thinks throwing in one or both desserts would have been appropriate-
I’m not sure I agree- but when the waiter carried back my fairly full plate of
food to the kitchen- I guess I’m a little surprised they didn’t do anything
about it. It was an expensive meal to
not eat or enjoy. For more info on why I
thought the food wasn’t good, see below. And before you do, I must say that I don’t have a problem with a
restaurant taking a traditional item and preparing it a new way- that’s often
quite fun- especially when they prepare it in a new, creative, and tasty
way. That is not what was going on here,
however. 

The Food:
Don’t let the online menu fool you- it’s not actually that
long at the restaurant. Wait! I was on the website last night looking at
the menu and it’s down today. Seeing as
how their homepage talked about the New Years Eve menu, I suppose they decided
today would be a good day to change it. Very
interesting. Well, since the website is
currently “under construction”, let me tell you a little bit about the
menu. There were two appetizer choices
(escargots and an avocado salad), one or two simple salads, French onion soup, five
entrée choices (steak, chicken, veal, lamb, and pork), and two fish entrees (I
remember a tuna dish and a white fish- perhaps tilapia but it may have been a similar
fish). I remember wondering if this was
a special prix fix menu- it seemed really small- but it was the standard
menu. I suppose I was most surprised by
the limited appetizer list. I find that
often, when I’m somewhere with a small menu, I’m usually forced to order
something I wouldn’t otherwise and am usually pleasantly pleased with what I
ordered in a good restaurant. That was
not the case here. I stuck with what I
knew and was pretty disappointed. I will
say, however, before I talk about the disappointing food that the bread they
bring you is freshly made and quite tasty and I was happy that they refilled it
without being prompted. 

Here are details on our order:

First Course: French
Onion Soup and Escargot
A friend who had recently been to this restaurant said that
he thought the French onion soup was one of the best he’d had. He probably hasn’t had a lot of French onion
soup. While I wouldn’t put it at the
bottom of the list of all French onion soups I’ve ever had, it was incredibly
salty. The escargots were presented on a
dish out of their shells which makes for a fairly ugly presentation. They tasted fine but seeing little escargot
bodies sitting in a dish of butter wasn’t very appetizing. Plus, there was so little butter in the dish,
the escargots were not soaked resulting in the bottom half of the pieces
tasting good and the top half tasting dry and crispy. I wouldn’t order either dish again.

Second Course: Lamb
Chops and Steak L’Entrecote
I didn’t complain about the first course because the things
I didn’t like were essentially a matter of personal preference and I had no
major problems eating either dish. This
could not be said for the entrees. John
ordered the lamb chops- something I don’t like to do in restaurants because
they’re generally pretty fatty and his were certainly that. But they were actually prepared well so we
really didn’t have any complaints there. My steak was also incredibly fatty, however, and this is not what one
expects with steak l’entrecote- I think it was a bad cut of rib eye or
something. Anyway, I was expecting a
thinly sliced, delicious cut of beef with a tasty sauce over the top but
instead got a piece of fatty rib eye that had been grilled with some salt and
pepper and then a small scoop of what was supposed to be l’entrecote sauce
sitting in the middle. It was a definite
disappointment. But it gets better. In addition to the meat, both dishes also
came with fries and a salad. The fries
were not frites (the thin, crispy fries that traditionally come with steak
l’entrecote and are so fun to dip in the sauce on the plate- when there is any-
which there wasn’t on my plate). Instead, these were very thick cut fries and they were quite underdone. So I didn’t eat those. And the salad was actually just a plain
spring mix- there was no dressing- just lettuce mounded on the side of my
plate. At first I thought it was just
decoration but there was enough of it to signal that it was meant to be eaten. Where was the dressing? We asked our waiter about this- he said that
people complained about the restaurant using winter vegetables when it was
supposed to be spring so they moved to salad but then people complained that
the salad had dressing on it. So now
we’re eating plain lettuce. That was the
most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. While I appreciate a restaurant listening to feedback from guests- can
the chef really not get more creative than plain lettuce? The entire dish was so half-heartedly
prepared, I was amazed. And since
neither of us remembers being wowed by our meals in our last visit, I don’t
think that this low level of quality was an anomaly.

Dessert: Chocolate
Mousse and Crème Brulee
Since we hadn’t really eaten our entrees, we decided to try
out dessert. They were out of pear tatin
which is fine- we wouldn’t have ordered that anyway. The chocolate mousse was tasty and I enjoyed
it with the freshly brewed decaf coffee we ordered. The crème brulee was good-sized and not too
bad- the custard was a little thick but it still tasted good. 

Drinks:
Lokelani’s offers a fairly small wine list but the wines are
actually all pretty decent which is nice. We actually found one of our favorite inexpensive wines there on our
first visit: Lulu B. They were promoting
it and so we tried it and actually enjoyed it and are happy that the wine store
we go to sells it. On this visit, we
tried another wine that was new to us: Maison Nicolas Pinot Noir. Like Lulu B., it’s a wine that can be bought
for less than $8 in most wine stores- it’s $30 here at Lokelani’s. I think the Lulu B. is slightly less than
that ($28?). Anyway, they essentially
quadruple their price of wine here which seems a bit excessive but supposedly
standard practice for less expensive wines. For some reason, I always thought that it was common for restaurants to
double and maybe triple the price- quadrupling seems a bit much- even though I
know places tend to mark up less expensive wines at a higher rate, a mark up of
more than 4x seemed pretty high. And now
that I’m thinking about it, I’m more annoyed about it- the wine probably should
have been $25- but hey, they were able to sell it for $30 so apparently our
willingness to pay allows this pricepoint.

 Since we were asked if we wanted something to drink while we
looked over the menu, I’m making the assumption that they serve cocktails there
as well. It was also good that they
brewed us a fresh pot of decaf coffee at the end of the meal.

The Service:
I wrote “The Rules” believing that good service in a
restaurant can make you like a restaurant even if the food isn’t all that
great. Maybe it’s because the food was
actually bad and the restaurant was so eerily empty, but the nice waiter who
did a great job could not fix our experience. The only rule they broke was no butter knives but they did everything
else right with regard to the rules- even my newer unofficial one I’m still
considering about overpouring the wine- he did all that right. Our waiter was friendly and he didn’t
hover. Though he didn’t refill our wine
glasses once, he did keep the water glasses full throughout the night and
offered to bring us more bread to go with our appetizers without being
prompted. 

He also seemed genuinely concerned that we weren’t happy
with our meal- he even went back and looked to see if perhaps there were better
cuts of beef for my entrée to no avail. I suppose we’re a little annoyed about paying for a meal I didn’t enjoy
or eat- even Applebee’s covered an entire entrée once when there was a problem-
this is a decision that should be under his discretion. But I have mixed opinions about the way he
handled it since I wasn’t complaining in an effort to get free things- I really
thought there was a problem with my food. I’m only bothered because I know how other places have handled similar
situations and I left those establishments much happier and have even returned
to them. Perhaps this problem I’m
struggling with is that when I told him about the issues with my food, it sounds
like it had actually been prepared as it normally is and therefore, I most
likely won’t like my next meal I eat there either, so maybe it wasn’t worth the
effort to keep me happy. Maybe.

The Atmosphere:
Lokelani’s moved into what used to be Les Deux- another
French restaurant that closed about a year or so ago. They did a nice job making some changes- the
color scheme went from a French Country feel to a bright red and black
theme. The pictures on the walls are all
French images and the music is a mix of French and Sinatra-like jazz which is
nice. It’s not a large restaurant but
it’s divided up in a way so that you can’t see all parts at once, due to
strategically placed low walls and dividers. We got to sit at the window which was a good spot. If you read all this and want to try the
place, I’d recommend trying to get a spot at the window so you can watch all
the people walk by and get a kick out of how few people are able to park in the
parallel spots in front (we must have seen at least 5 cars give up immediately
on spots they would have fit into without a problem if they weren’t afraid to
parallel park). The weirdest aspect of
the restaurant is how empty it always is. I have to say that it’s a great place to take someone who’s hard of
hearing since there is almost no background noise. Not sure what it would be like if it were
crowded though- the tables aren’t all that far apart so one or two talkative
groups could get noisy if the place was full.  

There is a definite Asian theme throughout the restaurant-
the name is Hawaiian so I assume there’s some influence from the family in that
sense. The plates have an Asian feel to
them- black dinner plates, for example. It
was an interesting look and feel to the restaurant- you almost expect the menu
to be more pan-Asian than French when you walk in there. 

One thing that was very off was the quality of the
silverware. The forks were a joke- they
were so flimsy, John spent the entire time he had his entrée bending it back to
it’s somewhat-original shape. We asked
our waiter about it and he laughed- agreed that it’s a problem and that many
other customers have had the same complaint. Why don’t they get decent forks? I also thought that the steak knives could use some improvements. They gave us those large, clunky wood-handled
knives with the rounded tip. Given how
fatty much of the food they serve is, smaller, more pointy knives would make
much more sense for carving out the good pieces of meat. Updating the silverware would help make some
people’s experience much better, believe it or not.

Mahogany Grill, Ithaca, NY
Price: $$
Cuisine: American
General
Recommendation: If you’re in the mood for a fairly tasty steak or a yummy burger,
Mahogany Grill isn’t a bad bet. The
setting is decent and the staff is nice and the food is reasonably tasty. Good for a date or a dinner with a few
friends. Sit at the bar or get a table-
you’ll usually have a nice time.

This review is based on the second visit I’ve made to the
restaurant- this must mean something good if I returned to the place. Funnily
enough, I sat at the exact same table- I was hoping for one not in the bar area
but got the one there anyway- oh well. John and I went on a Friday “Date Night” and we had a nice time. They broke a few “rules” but the food was
good and the people were friendly. It’s
not the restaurant’s fault we sat near a VERY loud man, so I won’t hold it
against them, but in general, I’d say it’s a fine place to go, assuming you are
looking for decent food that’s not very far away from Collegetown. 

The Food:
The food is pretty good at Mahogany and I enjoyed most
courses we ate. Most entrées come with a
house salad and they bring you some home-made chiabatta bread (which we had to
ask for since no one ever brought it) that comes with some sweet, garlic butter.

Here are details on our order:
First Course: Chicken
Pot Stickers
We learned how to make pot stickers in the cooking class
that we’re currently taking over at the Hotel School so we like to try other
kinds of pot stickers when we can, and these were pretty good. I liked that they had corn in them, along
with ginger, green onion, chicken (of course) and some other tasty things. They came with a thicker plum sauce which was
also tasty.

Main Course: Filet
Mignon, Medallions Oscar
Both steaks were cooked just right and the cuts of beef were
good- minimal gross fatty parts. The
Medallions Oscar was a filet with some Lobster pieces and béarnaise sauce (I
ordered béarnaise on the side with my filet- a move I recommend). The veggies were quite butter-soaked, but
yummy! The cheesy-bacon mashed potatoes
that come with most entrées are good but there are a lot of them- neither of us
finished them, but that’s okay.

Dessert: Volcano Cake
Not sure why we got dessert. The dessert menu is a dessert platter which is always fun- most of it
looked pretty good- standard, but good. There was a cheese cake, a carrot cake, a flourless chocolate cake, a
peanut butter and chocolate cake, a key lime cheese cake, and a volcano cake
(there may have been one other thing but I can’t remember…). We went with the volcano cake based on our
server’s recommendation- she told us it was a brownie with molten chocolate
melting out of the middle- it was more of a cake with some warm fudge in the
middle- which was fine. I don’t love
cake and was pretty full so I only had a few bites, but it wasn’t a bad dessert.

Drinks:
I was less than impressed by the wine list- given that the
place serves steak and lobster, I would expect at least a 2-page wine list, but
the entire wine list is only one page long and there are very few options-
you’re either ordering a $29 bottle of wine or a $40+ bottle of wine. We enjoyed the wine we ordered, however. They also have a full bar. We’ve stopped by this bar a few times in the
past- it’s right next to Just a Taste which always has a long wait so we’ll
sometimes go over to the Mahogany Grill and grab a drink while we wait. The bartender is pretty prompt and the drinks
are good.

The Service:
It took
our waitress quite a while to show up but when she did, she was very nice. They stuck to all but two rules- no butter
knife and removing plates too soon. In
fact they seemed to be in a huge hurry to keep our table clear- They actually
waited to remove our salad plates until we were both done, but they removed
John’s while he was still chewing- talk about a way to make someone feel
rushed! Then they removed his plate
first during dinner which was unpleasant. They also do an interesting thing with the bread- it comes out as a loaf
on a board with a large knife- you get to cut it yourself. This is all fine- I just wish we had a butter
knife to use as well.

I’m
also beginning to think that overpouring wine is becoming an epidemic and I
might have to make a 6^th Rule about it. It’s possible that I might be a little
over-eager about the wine since we’re in a wine class right now, but it’s not
good when you order a bottle of wine and the server fills your glass almost to
the top. While I do appreciate a large
pour when I only order a glass, I want to be able to actually enjoy the wine we
order by the bottle. When they fill it
so high, we can’t swirl it, smell it or do much else other than drink it. Given the waitress’s propensity for
overpouring, we were actually glad she didn’t do a good job of refilling our
wine glasses. We did always have full water
glasses, however, so I guess they only half-broke that rule.

The Atmosphere:
Mahogany Grill is a nice local
establishment with cherry wood paneling and brass bars. There is a lot of local university
paraphernalia hung around the place and it’s pretty laid back with a flair of
niceness to it. There’s a bar area which
is pretty big as well as a restaurant part- the two are divided by a low
wall. I’ve never sat in the restaurant
area- I’m always in a booth in the back of the bar area which is a pretty loud
part of the restaurant, but that’s fine. The restaurant is nice enough to bring a date but isn’t so intimate,
you’d feel weird eating there with some friends. The menu is varied enough, you can get out of
there having had plenty of tasty food without spending a ton of money (getting
a burger and a beer, for example), or you could make it a more expensive meal
(filet mignon and wine). As with most,
if not all restaurants in Ithaca, you can wear jeans or more casual clothes-
but it’s a good place to go if you want to wear something a bit nicer as
well. The staff is friendly and everyone
there seems to be having a good time.

Watercress, Ithaca, NY
http://www.watercressithaca.com/
Price: $$$
Cuisine: Eclectic
American?

General
Recommendation: If you don’t go out to eat a lot, I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant-
there are several better restaurants around here. However, if you’ve already been to most of
those and you’re looking for something new, the food’s decent and the servers
are very nice. 

A friend discovered this place recently and no one I’ve
talked to has ever heard about it. It’s
been open for about a year now and it has only just gotten on to our
radar. I went with four of my girl
friends on a Tuesday night around 9 and there were two other tables with people
at them and though it was late, it seems like we’re not the only people who
haven’t heard of this place. It’s in a
weird location (just past the Triphammer Mall) and the sign is tiny. You may have driven past it before and never
noticed it. It’s a pretty good sized
place and there is plenty of parking there, however.

The Food:

The menu offered quite a bit of variety which is why I’m not
exactly sure what to call the cuisine. There are fish, steak, chicken, and vegetarian options, though most
items contained fish of some sort. The
restaurant uses a lot of locally-grown produce and organic items. The quality of the food was fine but no one
raved about any of their own dishes once during our entire meal. I see this as a pretty strong sign that none
of the food was offensive but everyone had definitely had better before.

Here are details on our order:

First Course: Soup
Special (tomato and pesto), watercress salads
The soup came in a large bowl and was a lot of soup. It was tasty but it was heavy and would have
been better as a smaller portion. The
salads were good sized and well received.

Second Course:
Fettucini with mussels, crab cakes (appetizer), swordfish special, salmon
I actually enjoyed my fettucini quite a bit- the sauce was
good and there were plenty of mussels in the dish. Two of the people I was with ordered the
appetizer crab cakes for their main entrée. The cakes were reasonably sized (2 per order, each about 3 or 4 inches
across and fairly thick) and they came with a fairly spicy sauce that was a
little much for one of my friends- it was a lot of the same taste. This would have been a better dish to order
as an actual appetizer (not an entrée) and share with one or two other
people. The two fish entrees were fine-
though I hear that the swordfish was better.

Dessert: Flourless
chocolate cake, bread pudding, orange frozen thing
We were having a good time talking so we ordered
dessert. The menu had some interesting
options which was fun. The cake was
pretty standard- good, rich, and appropriate in size. I didn’t try the bread pudding but those who
like bread pudding said it was good. The
orange frozen dessert hit mixed reviews- it was quite good at first but the
immediate aftertaste was a strange spice that sort of burned the throat. It was certainly one of the strangest
desserts I’d ever had and most people couldn’t really eat it. 

Drinks:

Fairly small wine list, but choices were fine and the prices
were reasonable. The red options were better
than the white options and we ordered a bottle of red that was quite good. They also had a variety of different beers,
including some interesting micro-brews. See “Service” section for notes on pouring the wine.

The Service:

Though the service broke several rules, they were pleasant
and didn’t rush us out, even though we were the last table eating. Unfortunately, the broken rules made the
overall experience a bit less pleasant. First, they cleared plates while others were eating. Obviously some of us were eating faster than
others (that’s what happens when people order appetizers for dinner), but it
just became more obvious when the plates were cleared quickly. Secondly, they didn’t keep water glasses
full- I was so thirsty all dessert! It
would have been fine if he left a carafe of water at our table since we were a
“larger” group but we only saw water come by once. 

I also had issue with the way they poured the wine. Basically, they over-poured the wine in all
the glasses and left a tiny amount in the bottle. This was annoying because I had received the
smallest of the pours and didn’t want to look like I was hogging all the wine
by pouring myself some more but any pour out of the bottle was going to be the
rest of it. I do NOT condone overpouring
wine at all- in fact I’d almost prefer an underpour- but the way he served the
wine was just unpleasant overall. 

I have no complaints about silverware and we all had bread
plates. They had hummus and oil dipping
sauces so we didn’t really need a knife (but with 5 people, two plates of
dipping sauces would have been appropriate). And we had no problems splitting the bill- our server even brought them
out individually as they ran and had plenty of pens for us.

The Atmosphere:

The atmosphere of the restaurant
was kind of strange. It’s a big space
and you sit in a big, open room. We had
crayons on our table- there was brown paper on the table tops to write/draw on-
which was kind of strange. The walls
were nice (sponged gold/orange color). In
general- it was like the owner couldn’t commit to a look. It could use a more intimate setting or less
so- it was too casual feeling for the menu. If it wants to be a more family space, booths and more noise-absorbent
things would have been more appropriate. To be more fancy, a dimmer, more intimate space would have been
appropriate. There is also a bar at the
front of the restaurant, apart from the dining area which is a neat idea-
though I’m not sure anyone uses it. It’s
a good spot to have if the restaurant became popular and there was a wait- it
keeps the noise away from the dining room and was nice looking- I wouldn’t mind
hanging out in there for a few minutes if I ever found myself in there again.

Dijon Bistro, Ithaca, NY

http://www.dijonbistro.com/Menu.html
Price: $$$
Cuisine: French
General
Recommendation: Pretty good but don’t worry if you don’t get there for a while. Probably best for a date or with a group of
3-5 friends. You’ve had better
everything elsewhere but for a small town, it’s a nice change of pace.

Everybody’s been talking about Dijon lately. It’s new- it opened in November, 2006 and
apparently people are just starting to go there and the common view is that
it’s quite good. We went on Saturday
night around 8:00- there were 4 of us and we didn’t have reservations. It’s a small-ish restaurant so we had to wait
for about a half hour for a table and since they appear to only have a beer and
wine license, we ordered a bottle of white while we waited. I recommend reservations as there is not
really an appropriate waiting area for you to stand around in.

The Food:

In general, the food was good. The size of the courses was large- you do not
need to order as much food as we did- and the entrees were all very good
sized. Some of the things we ordered did
not taste like the classic versions of what we were expecting but overall, the
quality of the food was nice- it wasn’t heavy like some French food can be and
we certainly were served plenty of food. We probably could have stopped at just the appetizers- none of us were
really hungry enough for our entrees- so we didn’t order dessert. The menu looked pretty good for dessert,
however.

Here are details on our order:

First Course: Mussels, Frites, Steak Tartare, &
Pate. For some reason, our waiter
felt that because we had some white wine in our glasses when we sat down, he
insisted we order mussels and frites to start with. So we did. There were a lot of mussels- more than enough for the 4 of us- and there
were plenty of frites as well. Though
according to the menu the mussels come prepared in the standard way, these had
a tremendous amount of parsley that really overtook the plate.  More wine and garlic and much less parsley would
have improved this dish. So ordering the
frites was somewhat of a waste since we didn’t really enjoy dipping them in the
sauce. The steak tartare was large and,
as usual in restaurants, came with very few toasts- however the bus boy
immediately brought us more when we asked which was nice. The steak tartare itself had much more of a
pickle-y taste and less of the dijon and egg mixture that I’m used to which was
unfortunate- I probably wouldn’t order it again. The pate, however, was a good choice. It was a decent sized piece and it wasn’t too
creamy. I recommend the pate when you
go- but be sure to order some toasts or extra bread- it didn’t come with
anything to spread it on other than the starter bread you get which was kind of
odd.

Second Course:
Chicken Pot Pie, Braised Short Ribs, & Hangar Steak. I really have no complaints about this
course. All the entrees were huge (the
pot pie was more than twice the size of a regular one) and it seemed like everyone
in the restaurant was carrying out food to-go when they left- we did as
well. The Short Ribs were a special on
Saturday night- you can view their nightly specials online- and they were quite
good. The steak was prepared well and
the pot pie wasn’t too heavy.

Drinks:

As I mentioned earlier, it looks like Dijon only has it’s
beer and wine license. Their wine list
isn’t longer than a page but they do offer a nice variety of wines at
reasonable prices. We were pleasantly
pleased by the suggestion our server made for our red wine based on what the
group had ordered for dinner and enjoyed the white wine we started with as
well. Another interesting thing to note
with regard to drinks is that the water was flavored with fresh lemon which was
a nice and pleasant surprise. More
restaurants should do that.

The Service:

This is probably what will make or break Dijon. I wish it were not true, but they did manage
to break two of The 5 Basic Rules. There
were no bread plates. Interestingly
enough, however, instead of leaving us with a bread basket, the server brought
over butter (in a tiny cast iron pan which was cute) and then placed a slice of
bread on the paper-covered table in front of us. This helped me know that it was apparently
okay to put my bread on the table. Unfortunately, there was no butter knife so all four of us had to use
our knives to get the butter out of the tiny butter pan. They also neglected our wine glasses the
entire dinner. This rule is half broken
because the bus boy (who was excellent- quiet, quick and helpful), kept our
water glasses full the entire time. But
we did pour our own wine throughout the dinner.

In addition to breaking two of The Rules, the service, though
friendly, was somewhat awkward. Our
waiter was friendly but a little too involved in the conversations at our table
when he was around which some people may like but we thought was sort of
strange and uncomfortable. I was also
kind of annoyed that the mussels were sort of forced on us and would tell
people to order mussels if they want to try them but don’t let their waiter
talk them into ordering anything there. I was pleased when he offered to recommend a bottle of wine- I thought
that was nice and doesn’t often happen in restaurants when it should. As far as timing goes, I think the food came
out in a reasonable amount of time. I
suppose our appetizers took a bit long but it wasn’t a major issue.

The Atmosphere:

There isn’t really much to the atmosphere at Dijon.  This is probably one of the main reasons I’m not more excited about the place overall.  It’s meant to be a French Bistro and so the floors
have black and white tiles, the tables have white table cloths with dark
colored chairs and there are roosters everywhere. In fact, the rooster theme is so prevalent
throughout the restaurant (there was even a little puff rooster on my pot pie),
I was surprised that the name of the restaurant didn’t have something to do
with roosters. Other than that, there’s
not much too the place. It’s in a dumpy
little strip mall and is fairly narrow and short in size. It’s an open room so it’s certainly not what
I would consider intimate by any means. The lighting could be a tad bit darker and that might help but that
would also be hard to do in such an open space. It’s not a place to go in a large group- they only have smaller-sized
tables- and though some of these tables can be pushed together to accommodate
groups, the acoustics and atmosphere would probably mean that group would take
over the entire restaurant. I think the
idea of Dijon is nice and it certainly is a nice option for a small town like
Ithaca, but both the service and atmosphere could use some work.

The Aurora Inn, Aurora, NY (Upstate NY)
http://www.aurora-inn.com/dining.html
Price: $$$
Cuisine: American Country
General Recommendation:  Highly Recommend for dates, visitors, or a fun
evening with a few friends.  The food and service were good, the
building and restaurant are elegant yet cozy and you should have a great time.

We went to the Aurora Inn on Friday on the recommendation of two different Cayuga Lake wineries (Kings Ferry and Montezuma).  Both recommenders mentioned that the food and atmosphere at the Inn would be wonderful and a bit romantic and they said it was okay that we were in jeans.  So off we went and in short, we had a great time and I do recommend going there if you’re ever in the area. 

The Food:
You can go online and check out the menu in full, if you’d like.  They call the cuisine classic American country fare.  You have a choice to do the prix fix menu which is $42 and you get an appetizer, a soup or salad, an entree and dessert.  Both John and I did this.  From a cost perspective, I thought it was a great deal considering the amount and quality of the food.

Here are details on our order:
First Course:  Baked Brie in Phylo Dough (me) and Calamari (John).  Small note: the brie dish takes a bit longer (about 15 minutes), but they bring you nice, warm fresh bread to keep you happy).  The calamari came with some sort of aioli sauce on it which was an interesting and different take on that dish.  John enjoyed it.  This course was fine but I’d probably order something else as a starter- maybe the escargots or the tuna tartare next time. 

Second Course: Spinach salad (me) and a White Wine Fennel Bisque (John).  I enjoyed the spinach salad- it wasn’t too tart like many can be and the sugared walnuts were a nice additon.  John seemed to enjoy his soup. 

Main Course: Filet Mignon and Sweet Potato Gnocci (me) and Pan Seared Sea Scallops (John).  My meat was cooked well and quite juicy.  I would have liked to have seen a slightly better cut of meat- this one had a fairly fatty section I couldn’t eat- but I didn’t need that much meat and I really enjoyed the good parts of it.  And the gnocci was fantastic- as was the sauce.  I would DEFINITELY recommend the filet.  John’s sea scallops were fine.  As usual for scallops, there were only a few on his plate so he probably would have ordered something more substantial but the scallops were cooked perfectly and presented well.  You won’t be disappointed with either entree.

Dessert:  This is where the prix fix menu gets you.  Neither of us wanted dessert but it was included.  I think that the Aurora Inn could have done a better job with this part of the menu- there wasn’t really anything I wanted and ended up going with a lemon tart which was fine.  John got the creme brulee and they did a nice job with it.  In my opinon, creme brulee is pretty hard to mess up but I’ve seen it done and this one was tasty.  If you’re a big dessert fan, however, this might not be your favorite restaurant.

Drinks:
The restaurant has a full bar but the wine list was fairly limited.  Considering that the Inn is located at the edge of NY State’s largest wine region, the list boasted few NY wines and a limited number of other wines.  This surprised us a bit.  Fortunately, the wines on the list were very reasonably priced.

The Service:
The service was friendly and our server did a nice job.  We had ample forks and no one took away our plates too early.  My only real complaint was that we had to refill our own wine glasses.  But they did a good job keeping our water glasses full.  Since it was just John and I, we didn’t split the bill but I have a feeling that we would not have had a problem if we had given them two credit cards. 

The Atmosphere:
This may have been a primary reason for me enjoying the restaurant so much.  It’s a cozy, beautiful Inn with a fireplace, a small bar and dark wood tables.  The view of the lake was absolutely wonderful- we lucked out getting there before it got dark out.  If you go for dinner, go just before it gets dark to take advantage of the great view of the lake.  The restaurant is like a house so there are several little areas which makes it both intimate as well as a great place to have a small gathering.  I really enjoyed being there. 

Stay tuned for reviews of the following in the next few days:

The Aurora Inn, Aurora, NY
http://www.aurora-inn.com/dining.html

Dijon, Ithaca, NY
http://www.dijonbistro.com/Menu.html

Maxie’s Supper Club, Ithaca, NY
http://www.maxies.com/index2.html

I have 5 main rules when I go out to eat in a restaurant.  They’re the underlying ways I assess whether or not I enjoyed my experience as well as whether or not I would ever recommend the restaurant to others.  I feel very strongly that you can have a wonderful time at a restaurant even if the food is just mediocre (and vice versa)- it’s all about the service and the ambiance and the company you’re with.  That being said, I thought it would be fun to start a blog based on my own contrived rating system for restaurants I eat at.  After reviewing my year end credit card statement from last year and seeing that I spent over 25% of my spending on restaurants alone (and that’s just my statement, not including what John spends), I feel that I have reasonable experience on which to base my judgements.  I have also worked at a restaurant before so I do have a frame of reference other than just as a consumer.

The 5 Basic Rules: