Simeon's American Bistro — Restaurant in City of Ithaca

There are times that we find a great restaurant manages to shoot itself in the foot with it's policies. That is the feeling we have with Simeon's: great food, great service, poor policy. I should say at the outset that from the start of our meal we were treated well by the staff: the hostess was quick to seat us, and was very helpful in alleviating our concerns about parking. There was a street festival in progress, and getting to Simeon's was a bit of a challenge. Our hostess was wonderful, suggesting a shortcut that was very helpful. Our waiter, Max, was magnificent. He was engaging, knowledgeable, and helpful. Max's enthusiasm is infectious. My wife and I had been touring about during the day, with a wine tour replete with cheese and crackers. We've done things like this many times before. As with those previous times, we opted to mix and match and to share: we use the menu as a starting point to fashion our meals. We find that this method of dining allows us to explore some of the best a restaurant has to offer. We started with a dozen oysters. Simeon's offers three different types of oyster, so we each got to sample a couple of each type: perfect! From briny Mainers to milder PEIs, and bright Wellfleets we felt we had made a great choice. We followed up by sharing a plate of mussels: plump juicy mussels cooked perfectly, and served with toasted artisanal bread. Yum! We accompanied our mussels by sharing a House Special Burrata Salad, which was fresh and delicious. We washed it all down with a Cosmo, which my wife thought was excellent (she considered having a second), and I had a 1911 Cider. Quite a good meal! So, what's the problem? As I've said, Max, our waiter, was ever the professional. He apologized mightily for strictures Simeon's has in place. We asked if we could get two plates for our mussels. No! The kitchen doesn't do that. So sorry! We asked if we could get the Buratta Salad on two plates. No! The kitchen doesn't do that. So sorry! There's only one choice for hard cider. In a region that has truly magnificent orchards producing world class ciders, there's only one? No! Sorry, Simeon's doesn't have that. So sorry! Perhaps most glaring: Max was left alone to serve at least six or seven tables. While he labored mightily to keep up, it was clear he could have used some help. We enjoyed our meal at Simeon's. Perhaps the management will review it's policies. The request for a couple of plates can't be that onerous. I don't think the kitchen would be overburdened by whacking a salad down the middle and serving it on two plates. And maybe someone in management can look up and see the magnificent resource surrounding them and note all the cider farms and wineries, and offer a greater depth of local products. Simeon's is definitely worth a visit. If you don't stray far off the menu, you'll do...

After moving to Ithaca this summer and hearing of what happened to the old version of Simeon's I was excited at the prospect of having someplace "new" to eat on the commons.

I was neither impressed nor disappointed with this place. I though the service was great, the hostess and waitress were both very friendly and helpful, but there was really nothing that would have me running back to this place.

I ordered the house rigatoni and my friend ordered the steak. The rigatoni description reads as follows: House made Rigatoni Pasta: braised lamb, brussels sprout leaves, parsnip pureè, rosemary gremolata. First off the portion size was so small! Within an hour of finishing my food I was hungry again and ended up getting a burger from somewhere else. I'm fine with not filling my plate the brim with food but if I'm spending almost $30 for pasta, I expect a hearty dish. The lamb was shaved and shredded and every few bites I was able to snag some of it onto my fork. Same with the Brussel sprout leaves, it seemed like they took literally one sprout and broke the leaves off to mix in the dish. In addition, my dish was lukewarm when I started eating it. I enjoyed what small and warm portion I did have, I just was disappointed with what I got overall. The steak seemed like it was good quality, I had a few bites and it melted like butter so that's always a plus in my book! We also got a small apple crisp desert that was light on the sugar, but still tasty, if only they had served it hot instead of cold.

Overall I enjoyed my meal and my experience, but between the portion of the food, the limited menu items (there's 8 things to choose from) and the lukewarm to cold dishes, I won't come back anytime soon.

This was my first outing at one of Ithaca's finer dining restaurants so hopefully there's a more upward trend with the other...

Overall a very popular and crowded dinner spot, for good reason. We arrived on time for our reservation and the people at our table still would not leave for another half hour without pressure from the server. Other than that hiccup, the rest of the evening went well. We even got compensation (free half dozen oysters and dessert)! The menu is not extensive, but what is there is good. The steak is well cooked to your liking, mashed potatos are creamy, and the house frites are well seasoned and fried. Be sure to ask for specials, since they don't appear on the menus. I ordered the Guinness braised short rib, which was tender and did not need a knife. The carrots that came with it were roasted but not cooked til mushy, so they had texture still. The sauce that came with the dish was very salty, and was almost like a good gravy when mixed with the bed of mashed potatos. The oysters were like if you literally took a gulp of seawater, which is how I think it's supposed to taste. Adding some lemon helps a lot. For dessert, we had eggnog cannoli custard and apple pie crumble, all of which was good and not too heavy after we finished our mains. The sizes for entrees are generous and worth the prices. The servers were very friendly and accommodating. They helped us take some photos and were apologetic about the extended wait. Decoration of the place is something like an old-timey bar, almost. The lighting isn't super bright or dim, and there are padded booths. Tables are a little on the smaller side, so large parties should definitely reserve in advance. They get very crowded for dinner. It was my first time eating in a restaurant in Ithaca and it was a...