Antoinette — Restaurant in City of Corning

Me and my family have been patronizing Antoinette's for many years, and truly adore the restaurant. The food is always inventive, fresh and excellent. The service, which in recent years has been handled exclusively by chef/owner John Freitas, is also superlative. John is something of a local legend, avid fan of our local lacrosse scene, and an excellent example of a locally owned business chock full of character. As noted in the three categories, Decor is not an attribute John focuses upon, to his credit. John is about the food first and foremost, and creating a warm, welcoming environment for his patrons, not wasting resources on frivolous decor. The place is clean, and is serviceable, but don't expect to be wowed by a dazzling environment. If you want to eat in a pretty restaurant there are far better choices in town. Some people may be critical of Antoinette's, because the decor isn't up to their standards, but in my honest opinion John has prudently chosen to largely ignore the decor, because his food is so good that he doesn't need a gleaming facility to woo customers. Hopefully he'll be open on Memorial Day 2013, so we can celebrate my birthday there for...

Went in August 2025. Shocked. Read the reviews and thought we would give it a try. I am surprised this place is allowed to operate with the careless concern of cleanliness all around. With the amount of junk piled up throughout this building, how can it possibly ever be clean. My husband sat on something that appeared to be from the ceiling. Very dark. No lighting. But we stayed hoping to get a good meal.

Maybe we caught it on a bad night. We inquired about the food. No menu. John had cod and pasta. That’s it. I was confused about his lack of enthusiasm of being there and running a business. Only two dishes? Come on now. I felt as though we were bothering him. He did not appear to want to serve us. Asked for water. When it didn’t come, I walked back to our Inn, and got water bottles for us.

If we went on a different day, perhaps we would have a savory meal. Our meal was bland. We went at dinner time, only one other person was there. Spooky place. Bathrooms was not taken care of.

Sorry for such...

Rare Gem!!! But you won't know it until you taste the food. When you walk in you think it must be closed and he's moving out because there is stuff everywhere. The place is old and needs repair. The owner and only employee is in the same condition, BUT man can he cook!!! I like the finest dining I can find, but I have never had a house salad as good as this one, ever!!! All the food was prepared completely from scratch and oh my lord does he know what he's doing! The tables while extremely old, were genuine wood and as clean as can be! This place is a little shocking to walk into but I highly recommend it anyway. The fine cuisine was...