Bar Argos — Restaurant in City of Ithaca

High end craft, low key atmosphere, all-out deliciousness

The Argos Inn has one of the most wondrous cocktail bars I’ve ever visited – at least as good as the best places I’ve been to in New York City (and I’m pretty obsessive about food and drink in general). The bar room is warm and inviting -- relatively quiet with really comfortable antique chairs arranged into intimate groupings (I honestly don’t know how they get any turnover in the place). The bar itself is this amazing zinc thing with beautiful wooden details. But the real highlight is the cocktails and the people serving them.

Hand-crafted strikes me as a generally ridiculous term for a cocktail, but the drinks at the Argos do actually merit the moniker, both because of the bartenders and because of the drinks themselves. They make their own spectacular collection of fruit and herb extracts, they singed a lemon peel before dropping it into my drink, they choose precisely between probably 10 different amaros for different drinks.

For all of the fanciness and the vast array of options, the bartenders are super approachable and low pressure – they seem to be genuinely focused on helping you figure out what you’d enjoy. That said they are also serious craftspeople who are really into their work. You could see this in watching them make the drinks. I also saw it when they were able to answer my questions, like “How do you make the milk punch clear?” Answer: the milk solids curdle and bind to the tannins in the wine, making it easy to strain the bitterness out along with the solids.

The current seasonal drinks menu this fall/winter was Twin Peaks themed: One night, I had “Fire at the Sawmill,” with blackberry over a virtuosic combination of smokiness and fresh cut wood flavors. Another night, I had “Ask the Log,” a delicious and unusually fruity gin drink with apricot and bitters that made it hard to pace my drinking. But, pace myself, I did, with home made “shrubs” –sodas made with slightly vinegary combinations of extracts like strawberry-basil, pear-chai, and honeydew-jalapeno - heaven.

To borrow Michelin’s phrasing, it’s...

I came here the other night with me and 3 friends we got a drink (was average for being 17$) but then one of my coworkers/ acquaintance asked me what I was doing and said she wanted to stop by and say hi ! NOT DRINK just say hi then leave (we work 1 block away) . Once she got there she was immediately approached and asked her her ID she said “I’m not drinking just saying hi then leaving “ the server insisted she give her , her ID so she did turns out it was a fake ( unknowingly to me I didn’t know her age just knew it was around mine (I’m 21) ) and immediately the lady said we all had to leave bc we “brought someone underage” I told the lady I didn’t bring anyone then she said she “ joined your party right “ my coworker said she’d just leave but the lady said we All had to and gave me 0 opportunity to actually explain the situation then stormed off and started talking about our group loudly to her coworkers and when she Originally spoke to us she did it VERY LOUD and RUDE , it was very very crowded everyone was looking at us and this was very uncomfortable and embarrassing for us. We came on Saturday night the girl who treated us like this was young blonde white and skinny (easily not even 21 herself) I feel like this situation, especially my coworkers age Not even being known by the rest of the group Should’ve been dealt with completely differently, like is this really how you run your Establishment ? yes 100% ask the girl who is underage to leave but everyone else who already spent money and is ages 21-30 to leave ? Not giving us a chance to speak and doing it so loudly everyone was staring. Then proceed to go brag to...

Excellent cocktail bar! My wife and I stopped in here for a drink one night, and we were blown away. This is like the best hotel bar you could ever hope for!

First of all, the ambiance and general aesthetic of the place is very cool. It looks great, and you don't see many zinc bars around. The whole vibe was great. The cocktail menu was well put together with a good number and variety of drinks. At around 10 original drinks with a handful of others, it was easy to peruse and you felt confident all the originals would be good, unlike a bar that has a book-length menu where a third of the cocktails were not properly vetted. The stuff we ordered off the menu was inventive and interesting. And, the bartenders were very knowledgeable and able to accommodate our requests for other classic cocktails as well.

Speaking of the bartenders, the service was really great. Fast, friendly, and knowledgeable, which is about all you can ask for!

This place is a true gem hidden up in Ithaca, which I think could hold their own even in contest with some of the famous spots in NYC. When we are back in Ithaca, this would be our first stop, and the hotel also seems like it would be a great...