Food Lab Bar + Kitchen — Restaurant in City of Ithaca

I went with company on a pleasant weathered evening a week ago, with the music loud and the half-walk garage door rolled up. I thought to myself, hungry as I am, we could get four starters and an appetizer. Firstly came the eggplant, which our server kindly warned us was hot to the touch so to be wary with the skewers! They were ice cold, and had to be sent back (where instead of being fully redone for their lack of being warmed at all, they were quickly reheated and re-served, lacking all the salt and flavor you would hope for from a 20 dollar appetizer. Then came the kimchi pakoras, which seemed to have their own salt content, and then the missing salt of the eggplant too. Halfway through the starters, we now were served the blackened fish tostados, which looked really similar to the pakoras! Oh wait, they gave us a second helping of the pakoras, which we were then able to quickly call to their attention for them to take away (and no doubt re-serve to someone else who ordered it). Finally we did get the third appetizer we ordered, which was the best of all the served food- at this point, it's only competition had been the water. When we finally came to the last appetizer, the sliders, these were just okay but again, exceptionally salty (and extremely plain). The main, the gnocchi, was also plain okay. Maybe a 4/10. Careful though! The softened garlic bulbs make up as much of the plate as the gnocchi, with the hard ends on them so woody and inedible that they'd be better suited for self defense than dinner.

The service was friendly enough, but for their own lack of knowledge on the dishes they served. I think you could probably say the same about the cook too. Awful food! Would...

This might be the single worst restaurant I’ve been to- both food and service. We chose this place and ordered based on Google review which turned out to be a complete disaster.

We were first one to show up but 2 tables that came after us got served first. We feel super uncomfortable as both tables that were served before us were white and we are not. We were hoping the food could make up for it but all three were a complete let down. The chicken cutlet was super dry, the pasta was cold and steak had one end well done and the other side is raw. For the burger, the meat was not juicy at all and was paired with salty fries that was not edible. We hate to waste food and we were very hungry to begin with, but everything was so dry and bland and all we had was a few bites, and we left with most of our food untouched. The waitress was obviously in some hurry to go home as all she did besides ignoring us in the beginning and serve other tables instead, was to slam the food on our table without introducing what it is and threw the bill at our table and said it’s time for her to go home in the middle of us eating. She did not check in with us on how the food was. In the end the waiter who just started his shift apologized because we complained, but that was it and no one else from the store bother walking out to give us an apology that we deserved.

I feel sorry for the money we wasted and the ingredients that were used that was going to waste. It also ruined our last day of vacation and nothing can be done to...

I stopped in for dinner while traveling on a work trip and, having been to several other restaurants on the same street, I expected a similar experience given the strong reviews. Unfortunately, this visit was a letdown. The bartender was very friendly but clearly overworked, and the overall cleanliness left something to be desired — the bar area was messy with dirty glasses piled up, the countertop was sticky even after being wiped down, and the floors were greasy and slippery. We started with the Field Greens salad, which wasn’t very fresh and came with a dressing that was overly sweet. Next, we tried the whipped ricotta, which was fine but unimpressive, served with an excessive amount of balsamic and what seemed like store-bought crackers. I ordered the chicken parmesan, which sounded great but was overcooked and chewy, with bland breading and an oddly sweet sauce. The pesto pasta that came with it was the highlight of the meal. My friend ordered the New York strip, but it was so heavily seasoned — mostly with an overpowering black pepper spice — that he couldn’t finish it. Overall, nothing we ordered was particularly enjoyable, even though the food looked great coming out of the kitchen. Maybe we caught them on an off night, but between the cleanliness issues, the unbalanced flavors, and the overall inconsistency, this experience didn’t live up to the...