Sonia Taa

Delectable food and exceptional service. Taverna Banfi defies expectations for a student-run restaurant. The dishes are absolutely gorgeous both taste and presentation wise. The duck is tender and savory with the perfect amount of sweetness from the maple sauce and sweet potato side. The calamari is crispy and light. The wine pairing is perfect. The table-side focaccia is tender and airy. Perfect for elegant date nights or special occasions. Prices range from $30-70 per person. Parking is limited

Christian Mercado

Taverna Banfi is a safe choice for an outstanding dinner in Ithaca. It is located inside The Statler Hotel at Cornell University. Having one of the top hospitality programs in the country, you can expect quality service, cleanliness, organization, reliability and repeatability. Even when your host may be still a student, you're getting an outstanding service and meal altogether. Their menu is simple and well executed to appeal to a wide audience. Many entrées can be adapted to your diet restrictions, and their desserts are world-class. They offer a la carte service throughout the week, as well as an outstanding brunch on weekends. We recently had our anniversary dinner at Taverna Banfi. We ordered the octopus appetizer, which came with chorizo, potatoes, arugula and a squid ink aioli. It was an unctuous small plate that went perfect with prosecco and with a local Finger Lakes Riesling. My entrée was the braised beef gnocchi. This dish was well built to provide an upscale version of a homey meal. The braising liquid was slightly sweet and was balanced with kale (you can imagine the textural elements at play). The gnocchi were soft, slightly savory, and took with them most of the viscous sauce. My wife had the duck breast and was able to substitute one of the sides due to dietary restrictions without any difficulty. The duck was cooked to perfection, with a crunchy skin and a juicy medium cooking point. It had sweet potato, a white bean puree, and a beautiful tuille topping it all off. For dessert, I had the tiramisú. It was most certainly a healthy portion, and it scored high both on flavor and texture. This was my fourth time at Taverna Banfi and I will certainly be coming back for more.

Bryan Weintraub

Banfi is without a doubt one of the best restaurants in Ithaca! Every meal I’ve ever had here has been nothing short of excellent and you’d be missing out by not taking advantage of this hidden gem while in Ithaca! Pictured, from my most recent visit in April 2023, are the grilled octopus (incredible—amazingly tender and delicious!) and the NY strip (perfectly cooked, with a mouthwatering bourbon glaze). Prices are a bit on the higher side for Ithaca, but the food and experience is well worth it. They also do an awesome weekday lunch buffet as well as a weekend brunch!

James Santos

Brunch was great. They have all your classic breakfast selections, such as bacon, sausage, eggs, and more. They also had freshly cooked crepes available. The lunch selection was wonderful. From a salad and soup bar to pasta, shrimp, roast beef and so on! Their dessert were fresh with a wide variety to select from.

+2

Wilson Feng

The restaurant is on second floor of cornell statler hotel, on cornell ithaca campus. It's very convenient if you are staying on statler hotel. All the servers are cornell students. The food was amazing. My favorite dish was grilled octopus and duck breast. We had a great time, definitely will be back again.

+8

Candid Reviews

One of the reasons I stay at the Statler Hotel at Cornell University is because I love the food at this restaurant, and the customer service is great- students are actually been trained to run restaurants and hotels and guess what, while been watched by a preceptor and possibly graded. So you can be rest assured service will be great😉 Like I stated, food is great and fresh; well plated , also atmosphere and seating is relaxing.

+15

Woo Young Kim

We were staying at the Statler and came here for breakfast. Both avocado toast and egg Benedict were really good. The server was very nice but the service was bit slow. Pretty good enjoyable spot.

X

240416 dinner Trustworthy, solid elevated dinner place on campus. Grilled octopus is tasty indeed. Cooked just right. Plump, tender, and not rubbery. The chorizo tastes good also there’s a litte too much potato pieces. Focaccia is beautifully sprinkled with rosemary salt. Kale salad is refreshing, though slightly too sweet. Ricotta Gnocchi comes with generous portion of tender ragu, but I do prefer tomato sauce than Worcester. Shrimp Scampi is surprisingly amazing <3. The star of the night. It may sound and look ordinary but the pasta is beautifully flavored, buttery with a light delightful umami. Duck Breast is also cooked well, very tender at medium. The sweet potato fondant reminds me of baked sweet potatoes in winter days. The sweet-sour Maple-Currant Agrodolce is quite overpowering on the other hand. The dessert is lovely and not too heavy even after stuffing myself with the main dishes. The elderflower foam isn’t too sweet, and the citrus cheesecake and pistachio frangipane taste pleasant. The staff was quite stressed during the busy night and made some mistakes with the bill, but service was prompt and helpful.

+5

Jordan Miller

Unfortunately, my experience with David Gaytan as my server was very poor. The behavior was rude and unprofessional, and the service quality was unacceptable. Overall, it was a disappointing experience. The food was good though.

Amanda Li

Good food and local wine selection, the pan seared duck breast was over cooked, the student server did a nice job. The manager was chewing gum while he was talking to us to apologize for the delay of food serving, in our opinion this is not professional!

Tatiana Rave

The atmosphere was amazing really nice but we were charged for a 80$ ny strip steak and a crab cake which is insane. On our way out we scanned our qr code for the valet which said estimated 5 minute wait. we waited 10-15 minutes in the lobby and it wasnt until we heard the valet tell another guest the qr code sometimes doesnt work. All the while, both valets were 5 feet away from us the entire time not even the least bit curious if we needed something.