Thompson and Bleecker — Restaurant in City of Ithaca

I won't go back.

First, the restaurant has zero signage outside anywhere indicating that this it the location. Someone else's review includes a photo of the outside of the building, and if you choose to go here, I strongly recommend taking a look and committing that picture to memory so you know where you're going.

Second, the restaurant doesn't take reservations. This brings me back to the first point, as we were literally the first people outside their door about 15-20 minutes before they opened (since they don't take reservations), and because we had to hunt for the restaurant to know where to find the door and where the restaurant was (GPS said we were there, but really there was no way to know for sure), we ended up behind a group of about 5-7 students. No big deal.

However, as time progressed, this group grew. More students walked up and joined their group. What this meant is that when they finally opened the doors, this group, which had now grown to over 15 students, took over the restaurant. And it turns out they weren't a single group. They were seated at four or five separate tables, just throughout the single front room.

Third, when it came our turn to be seated, the hostess said we'd have to wait 20-25 minutes even though there were three tables open that added up to 9-10 seats in the front room at that moment. She wouldn't allow us to put two of those tables together. There would have been no overcrowding, no fire hazard risk, no lack of walkability to deliver food to tables, just a rule she imposed the we couldn't do that.

So, we were told that in order to not inundate the kitchen, they would start taking orders for all those front tables, get their food started, and then they could allow us to sit in the back room. The back room? Interesting, we only saw a front room...can we see the back room? No, we were not permitted to see it. What if we don't like the back room once we get there and we would prefer to go elsewhere? We could leave, or wait 25 minutes to see the back room. What on earth. The attitude, and lack of customer interest, the incapability to think creatively to solve problems.

The two girls running the show up front both had the same attitude. We asked if we could just sit down in the elusive back room, in order to get off our feet from a long day and an already 25 minutes wait we had been standing for in front of the restaurant, and that too was a no.

Forget the food, forget the service. The attitude is enough for me to say...

My wife and I were in Ithaca for several days from NYC visiting my brother, his wife and son. We chose to eat there upon learning the fresh pasta was served and the reputation of the pizza. We were a party of 5. We all ordered pasta with the exception of 1 ordering the pizza and another ordering a salad. The pizza was a decent tasting thin crust well done pizza that looked more like a personal pan pizza than a margherita that was ordered. The 3 pasta dishes were all undercooked and rough to chew. We tried to continue to eat because the flavors were there but it became difficult to enjoy the dishes because of the toughness of the pasta. Upon asking for our check we politely let the person know about our undercooked pastas and how disappointed we were in which she apologized and said she would mention it. When our server appeared he started to condescendingly explain in a defensive nature that "the pasta we ate was fresh made and not store bought pasta that we are used to." He continued to say "fresh pasta texture is different from store bought boxed pasta. It's a little more al dente." All the while he was directing his comments to 1 person in the group I said to him sir, (Eric I believe was his name.), it was all our dishes not just hers in which he continued to say "I understand but just understand we serve fresh made pasta here it's different than boxed pasta, don't get me wrong I prefer store bought myself." Why would he (Eric our server), assume we never had fresh pasta before and spoke to us like we don't know the difference? Some of us at that table have years of experience in the hospitality and food industry and also love eating out. His assumption and explanation was insulting and demeaning. We were shocked, confused and not happy about what just transpired. Were we just scolded like 5 year olds? Certainly felt like that! Here's the confusing part. What Eric didn't know was that before he gave us his demeaning lesson in the difference between "store bought" and "fresh" pasta the person whom we requested our check from had already apologized and explained that there was a new person training in the kitchen. My.brother was shocked and embarrassed on the whole situation for he's been here before with his family.. I expected a better experience for the money spent. We won't be coming back to this place again. Not...

Best pizza, worst service. Get this pizza… if you can. This is the best authentic, brick-oven pizza I have had in the US outside of NYC, but the worst customer service I’ve had anywhere in the world. I don’t write negative Google Reviews lightly, but this restaurant has disappointed me so many times, I think I must. I lived in Italy for 5 months, and deeply appreciate this pizza’s authenticity. On the other hand, I do not understand the customer service. It certainly isn’t Italian. I have been turned away at the door for seats more often that I have been able to actually get dinner. This includes two occasions being turned away from even joining a waitlist before 7:30pm. They do not take reservations (unless you know the owner, in which case I have watched huge groups come in and displace people waiting for a seat because they “know the owner”). Most recently, this restaurant had a private party on a Saturday night and did not mark their website, Google hours, or close their online order service (the only way to order take out as they do not pick up the phone). I ordered hours after they were “opened”, was charged $150, drove 20 minutes after my order was confirmed, showed up at the door, and was turned away. A private party was going on inside. Would it hurt to let people know this ahead of time? To sum up, I love this pizza. It’s a gem in the forests of the finger lakes. But, the hostesses has been deeply rude to me one too many times. I’ve shown up there and been turned away or disappointed too many times. I believe the restaurant is moving to a bigger location… maybe this will help? I’m sure the owners will respond to this review saying it is because there is limited seating, and they get very busy on the weekend. I get that! It’s true! But doesn’t excuse rude service, very odd seating rules, and charging people when you are closed. I recommend that you try this cozy spot, but have a backup plan and don’t get your hopes up. Pizza is seriously delicious. When I manage to get it, all this bullshanty is worth it in...