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Well, we're finally talking again so we decided we might go out to dinner....

Joe's Restaurant

Disclaimer: We ate here over the summer of 2009. Due to the length of time between dining and the write up some details may be fuzzy.

Sam: Those of you unfamiliar with the Ithaca area may be unaware of Joe's history. In fact, i'm not really sure what happened with the place, what i think I know goes as follows. Joe's has been around since the early fifties (possibly the fourties but we're unsure) and until sometime in the nineties it was doing pretty well, or so it seemed, because it closed down either in the early 00's or the late 90's. While the two owners went on to peruse other things one of the managers went on to open The Boat Yard Grill. For years Joe's sat empty until it was reopened a few years ago (i've gotta apologize for the spottiness of this history but it serves its purpose).

(Entrance and bar area)

Now before Joe's closed my family and I really enjoyed it. It was a fine place to get pretty good Italian food without the horribly depressing decor of a place like Lucatelli's and I remember loving the bread sticks. So when they reopened we (my family and I, not Tommy) were pretty excited. Eating there was, unfortunately, a much different experience than it had once been. The food wasn't as good, the service was slower and the bread sticks were unforgivably different. Joe's had become a bit of a joke to us. When trying to think of where to eat, Joe's no longer occurred to us.

(Room past the bar)

So after jokingly threatening each other with the idea of eating here we finally did it. We dragged Annie along once more and drove down to what we were sure was going to be a less than stellar meal. When we got there we were ushered into the back of what is a pretty big restaurant. There is the bar, a sitting area straight through and then the back room. We were sat in the back where we were handed pretty hefty menus. Menus cluttered with old photos of the restaurant and long Italian names for what were pretty simple concoctions such as penne with red sauce and house salads.

(What I feel comfortable calling the "main dining area")

Tom: As we sat down and ordered drinks, Sam ordered his standard Shirley Temple. I don't know if he thought it was particularly good here as compared to other restaurants, but his eyes lit up when they brought it to the table like always. If memory serves me correctly, we could draw on the table as it was covered in paper, leading to many great hijinks.

(What i feel comfortable calling "Eisenbergs")

We started off with some classic endless breadsticks and salad, like available at the Olive Garden (when you're there, you're family). I think we were all pretty satisfied with that arrangement, and happily got our munch on. I ordered some gnocchi dish, Sam got some kinda red penne, and Annie ordered another salad. I always find the best way to get a sense of a restaurant is to order multiple salads.

(One Shirley temple please)

I would say the main courses were pleasing on the same level as the endless breadsticks and salad. It was all pretty much standard Italian fare, seemingly much improved from Joe's first re-opened (this is according to Sam, as this is the first time I had eaten at Joe's in years). The prices are a tad high but it's not like Ithaca is flush with great cheap Italian food, so it's not like they are high in comparison to other local places. Really, it's basically across the street from Zaza's which is much more expensive (and not my favorite place).

(Yup)

My family and I were never huge fans of Joe's when it was first open, since it was constantly crowded and noisy with what we considered to not be the best food. I would say it's not as popular as it used to be, which actually works in its favor since there are less people and faster service now. That being said, if you didn't like the food at the old Joe's it's not like you'll have a great time here. Here are some tasty pix of our moderately tasty food:

(The classic complementary bread sticks and salad make a triumphant return)


(Sam's Penne)

(Tom's )

(Annie's post salad course salad course)

A recurring theme of this blog is that basically every midscale local restaurant we go to has some pleasant surprises but is ultimately a somewhat middling experience. Joe's falls squarely into this category. If you really really need some pasta drenched in sauce, you will have no problem here. Stay tuned for the next post, it'll be a doozie.