9 Restaurants In And Around Ithaca, New York, Worth Every Mile Of The Drive Upstate

A vegetarian restaurant has been proudly feeding one small upstate city for decades, long before veggie plates felt trendy. I love a kitchen that got there first and simply kept on cooking through all those years.

Most visitors come for the gorges and waterfalls, which makes total sense on a warm sunny afternoon. Then dinnertime rolls around, and that trail map quietly gets swapped for a menu instead.

Creative chefs around town love to experiment, so dinner can feel like a fun little surprise every time. A city this small has no business cooking this well, and I mean that as a huge compliment.

Every mile through upstate New York feels shorter when a really great meal waits for you at the end. Just save a little room for dessert, because you’ll probably linger a lot longer than you planned.

1. Modern Ohana

Pacific Rim flavors have officially arrived in upstate New York, and they brought a whole lot of personality with them. Modern Ohana at 205 Elmira Road in Ithaca serves bold, tropical-inspired cuisine that feels like a mini-vacation on a plate.

The space is open, airy, and decorated with just enough tiki energy to make you forget you are in the Finger Lakes.

The menu stretches across breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner, which means there is truly no wrong time to show up.

Modern Ohana offers a special Sunday bottomless brunch experience for private groups of eight to twelve, while weekly specials like Wednesday slider night give guests more reasons to visit.

Modern Ohana has also advertised an all-you-can-eat steak night on Sundays, although visitors should check the latest specials before making plans.

Every dish is built around fresh, homemade ingredients, and the kitchen takes that seriously. Modern Ohana recently rebranded from Mix Kitchen and Bar but kept the same ownership and chef, so the quality stayed exactly where it should be.

The Friday tiki fish fry alone is worth planning your whole weekend around. Few restaurants in Ithaca manage to feel this festive while still delivering genuinely great food.

2. Stone Bend Farm

There are pizza places, and then there is Stone Bend Farm, which operates from a geothermal greenhouse on a working farm at 196 Porter Hill Road in the Town of Enfield, with a Newfield mailing address.

Yes, a greenhouse. Yes, it is as cool as it sounds.

The whole setup is part restaurant, part farm experience, and entirely unforgettable.

Wood-fired pizzas are the star of the show here, with options like the Classic Red, Classic White, and the sweet-and-savory Roni and Onion pie that has earned serious devotion. Shareable plates like Momma’s Meatballs made with local Italian sausage and Twice Fired Carrots with rotating pesto round out a menu that celebrates local sourcing at every turn.

The farm is open on weekends, typically Friday through Sunday, and is dog-friendly, which already makes it a winner. Fair warning: the restrooms are currently PortaJohns while the farm raises money for permanent facilities, so plan accordingly and bring your sense of adventure.

Stone Bend also hosts cooking classes and educational experiences throughout the year. Supporting local farmers while eating exceptional wood-fired pizza is genuinely one of life’s better arrangements.

3. Food Lab Bar + Kitchen

Science class never looked this delicious. Food Lab Bar + Kitchen on the lively Restaurant Row at 113 N Aurora Street in Ithaca treats every dish like an ongoing culinary experiment, which means the menu keeps evolving and guests keep discovering something new with every visit.

The concept blends American gastropub energy with global flavors in a way that feels natural rather than forced. Lobster bruschetta and nori steak taco bento boxes are the kinds of menu items that make you do a double-take before ordering two of everything.

Small plates and hearty mains share equal billing, so you can graze or go all in depending on your mood.

Open-air seating makes warm Finger Lakes days even better, and the kitchen handles gluten-free and vegan-friendly requests without breaking a sweat. Food Lab is open seven days a week, with Saturday and Sunday brunch starting at 10 am for those who like their weekends properly fueled.

Operated by ITH Hospitality, the restaurant replaced the former Luna Inspired Street Food and has clearly leveled up the location. Experimental cooking sounds risky, but Food Lab makes every experiment taste like a success.

4. Thompson And Bleecker

Named after the Manhattan intersection where the owners shared their first New York apartment, Thompson and Bleecker brings a genuine piece of urban sophistication to the Finger Lakes. George and Milany Papachryssanthou poured that personal history into every corner of their craft pizzeria and wine tavern now situated in the historic Barr Building at 211 E Seneca Street in Ithaca, New York.

Neapolitan pizza is the main event, and the kitchen handles it with real reverence. Crisp crusts meet premium toppings, with San Marzano tomato sauce, Greek oregano, and Greek olive oil appearing throughout the menu as signatures of the house style.

The panzanella salad is a smart starter before the pies arrive.

Vegan cheese options are available for plant-based guests, which is a thoughtful touch that does not compromise the overall quality of the menu. The atmosphere manages to feel refined and welcoming at the same time, which is a harder balance to strike than most people realize.

If you have ever wanted a genuinely elevated pizza night in upstate New York without driving to Manhattan, Thompson and Bleecker is the answer you did not know you were looking for.

5. Moosewood

Few restaurants in the entire country carry as much culinary history as Moosewood. Founded in 1973 as a worker collective in Ithaca, New York, it helped put vegetarian cuisine on the national map long before plant-based eating became a trending topic.

A James Beard America’s Classics Award in 2000 confirmed what locals already knew for decades.

The menu emphasizes seasonal ingredients from local farms, with rotating specials that keep the dining experience fresh.

Dishes like Spicy Coconut Curry, Red Bean Jambalaya, Black Bean Burger, and Linguine Al Tartufo Nero show the kind of creative range that has kept this place relevant for over fifty years. Vegan and pescatarian options round out the offerings nicely.

You will find Moosewood at 215 N Cayuga Street, with the main entrance on Seneca Street, open for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch. The atmosphere is historic and thoughtfully decorated, quiet enough for real conversation but never stiff.

Beyond the restaurant, Moosewood has sold more than five million cookbooks, proving that the influence of this Ithaca institution stretches far beyond upstate New York. A meal here is genuinely a piece of American food history.

6. Farm To Feast

Breakfast in Ithaca just got a serious upgrade. Farm to Feast at 121 W State Street brings a creative blend of Japanese and Korean flavors to the morning table, operating in collaboration with the K-House Karaoke and Arts Hub in a setup that already sounds like the most interesting building in upstate New York.

The signature toasts are built on homemade shokupan, a Japanese milk bread with a pillowy texture and gentle sweetness that makes a perfect base for toppings like Ginger Maple Sausage or Honey Gochujang Bacon. Ramen made with bone broth simmered for multiple days, Japanese-style sandos, and artisan baked goods like ube mochi muffins and miso caramel cookies round out a menu that rewards the adventurous and the cautious alike.

Local sourcing is central to the kitchen’s identity, with ingredients like pork from Cudlin’s Meat Market keeping the community connection strong. Farm to Feast is open Monday and Tuesday from 9 am to 2 pm, and Wednesday through Sunday from 9 am to 3 pm.

Hours are limited, so arriving with a plan is smarter than arriving with just hope. The food here is the kind of thing you will be thinking about on the drive home.

7. Simeon’s American Bistro

Claiming the best seat in Ithaca is a bold move, but Simeon’s American Bistro at 224 E State Street on the Ithaca Commons makes a convincing case. The location offers prime people-watching, and the menu backs it up with the kind of food that turns a regular Tuesday into a proper occasion.

Fresh seafood lands daily, and the kitchen puts it to excellent use in dishes like roasted salmon, lobster mac and cheese, and an ahi tuna burger that sounds casual but absolutely delivers. The New England clam chowder is a standout worth ordering regardless of the weather, and the warm kettle chips fondue appetizer is the kind of starter that threatens to steal the whole show.

House-made pasta and carefully prepared steaks give the menu enough range to satisfy almost any craving. Simeon’s is open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner from 4:30 pm to 9:00 pm, and reservations are strongly recommended, especially for special occasions or weekends.

The service matches the food in quality, which is not something every restaurant can claim. For a refined but relaxed fine dining experience in upstate New York, Simeon’s remains one of the most dependable choices in the entire city.

8. Falls Restaurant And Catering

Regulars call it T-burg’s living room, and after one visit to Falls Restaurant and Catering, you will understand why. This family-owned spot at 214 E Main Street in Trumansburg, New York has been feeding the community since 1988 with the kind of consistent, heartfelt cooking that never goes out of style.

Mornings start strong with scratch-made pancakes, fluffy Belgium Waffles, and homemade bread that makes the whole dining room smell like a good decision. Lunch brings classic sandwiches, juicy burgers, and fresh salads, while dinner expands into steaks, marinated char-broiled chicken, fried shrimp, scallops, and chicken parmesan with homemade marinara that tastes like it has been simmering for hours.

Dessert is not an afterthought here. Freshly made homemade pies and locally produced ice cream close out every meal with the kind of sweetness that lingers long after you leave.

Falls is open Tuesday through Saturday for various meal services and Sunday mornings, closed on Mondays. Trumansburg sits just a short drive from Ithaca, making this an easy add-on to any Finger Lakes itinerary.

The warmth of the staff alone is worth the detour, and the food makes sure you never regret the trip.

9. Lincoln Street Diner

Some restaurants announce themselves with fanfare. Lincoln Street Diner at 309 E Lincoln Street in Ithaca, New York lets the food do all the talking.

The modest gray building has been serving up honest diner classics since 1964, which means it has been getting breakfast right longer than most of its customers have been alive.

The Ziffy omelet is a local legend, loaded with ham, bacon, onions, peppers, cheese, and home fries, with the option to add famous sausage gravy for maximum commitment. The Hab and Hash omelet featuring house-made habanero pimento cheese is for the bold, and the 1/3 pound burgers like the Bo-Burger with a fried egg prove that lunch here is just as serious as breakfast.

Friday fish fry and fried clam strips make the end of the week feel like a reward, and fresh baked goods are always on hand to keep things interesting. Lincoln Street Diner is open Tuesday through Friday from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm and Saturday from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Pancakes, French toast, and sausage gravy wrap up at 11 am on weekdays, so arriving early is not optional. It is just smart planning.