From our many trips to the Finger lakes in New York State, we have eaten and stayed in multiple places. This blog summarizes our experiences, including our most recent in June 2022 visit.

Where to Eat in the Finger Lakes

The Inn at Taughannock Falls (located in Trumansville, outside Ithaca).

The dining room overlooks Cayuga Lake and a private racetrack. Philadelphia’s John and Amelia Jones owned this Victorian summer cottage and its 800 surrounding acres (including the falls). They sold the vast majority of the land to New York State for use as a park.

At our 2022 dinner, we enjoyed a caesar salad and a first course of three huge prawns dusted with Allspice and clove and served with fig gastrique and crispy shallots. We were less impressed with the jumbo mussels steamed in ale with sausage and fennel fronds. We added a tasty potato gratin side dish and a light finish of peach sorbet. Our wine was a pleasant Finger Lakes Thirsty Owl 2020 Dry Riesling that paired nicely with our dishes.

3812 Bistro (Lakeside Resort, Watkins Glen)

We had lunch on the outside back porch with a lovely lake view in 2022. The menu included but went well beyond typical lunch fare and had a wide choice of local beers and wines. Our seared grouper fillet (seldom seen beyond the southeast) with saffron orzo, garlic parmesan sauce, and roasted brussel sprouts, paired with a War Horse “Lieutenant Dan” IPA was very good. And we couldn’t resist the homemade peanut butter cups to finish off. It all worked for us!

Seneca Harbor Station (Watkins Glen)

Our dinner in 2022 took advantage of the restaurant’s lovely location and view at the foot of the Watkins Glen pier and harbor on Lake Seneca. We began with a somewhat tough, but tasty bacon-wrapped shrimp with remoulade sauce, followed by a very large and very good haddock fillet stuffed with crab meat stuffing and topped with lobster butter. We enjoyed our 2017 Herman J. Wiemer Dry Riesling with the meal.

Brian’s USA Diner (Mount Morris, at Letchworth State Park)

This popular lunch spot is at the north entrance to Letchworth. In 2022, we had a good chicken cordon blu sandwich (with chicken, ham, and cheese) and a nice chicken souvlaki wrap (with lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, and tzatziki sauce). 

Caroline’s Restaurants (at Glen Iris Inn in Castine, near the south border of Letchwork State Park)

Our dinner here in 2022 had the big advantages of being in our hotel and of reportedly being the best restaurant in the area. Although we had low expectations as dining options were few, they proved to be inflated. First, the wine list seemed to check every box with the lowest price wine they could find. The best we could do was watery and tasteless. Our “medium rare” dishes were both way overcooked and returned. We ended up thinking we could safely order two uncooked appetizers. Joyce’s Mediterranean plate (hummus, tzatziki, pita, olives, and raw vegetables) was OK but what can you do to mess this up. Tom’s house-smoked trout was a better choice. Although our experienced server certainly tried to please and was clearly embarrassed by the food she had to serve, our recommendations are: don’t expect much and be careful of what you order.

F.L.X. Wienery (Dundee)

F.L.X. Wienery offers high-end low-brow food. If you didn’t know about it, you might pass by it on the highway. But this casual artisanal burger/hot dog/sausage joint offers some of the most unusual and in some cases addictive burgers, dogs, sausages, shakes and desserts we have seen and is well worth a stop. It is owned by Chef who also owns FLX Table in Geneva. You choose your protein (such as white or red dogs, bratwurst, Italian or Chorizo sausage) and the preparation. In addition to the normal preparations, you can add things like kimchi, cilantro, fried egg, and miso mayo.

Our nice dinner started by sharing a Caesar Salad with anchovies. Joyce then had mussels steamed in white wine, shallots, thyme, and garlic. Tom had a roasted rack of lamb with garlic demiglace, green beans, fingerling hash browns with pancetta, and balsamic reduction. Our wine was somewhat disappointing (fruit faded quickly and the back was flat) Domaine Sequin-Manuel red burgundy from Chevray-Chambertin.

Timber Stone Grill (Hammondsport)

We enjoyed two very good main dishes for dinner here—coriander-crusted seared ahi with sushi rice and green onion and citrus ponzu and a 16-ounce bone-in ribeye with Gorgonzola cream and fried Vidalia onion strings. Neither of us could finish our protein, much less the accompaniments that came with them or the two huge side dishes that each of us could choose with our meals. The best of these were Applewood bacon roasted Brussel sprouts and roasted garlic whipped potatoes. While the french fries were pretty good, the creamed spinach was less than inspiring. And since we were on Keuka Lake, we decided to try a wine made from Keuka Lake grapes–a pleasant Keuka Springs Merlot.

Spotted Duck (Penn Yan)

Ice cream is a food, right? This highly rated creamery uses duck eggs for its custard. We enjoyed the salted caramel, candied coconut and mocha, and the cookies and cream.

Finger Lakes Hotels

Glen Iris Inn (Castille)

The location is great. It is right in Letchworth Park by the middle falls and walkable to the upper falls. The building and furnishings are very traditional and look like they haven’t been updated in 40 years. It has enough chairs and tables outside so that you can relax and enjoy nature. Just a lovely setting in a place that is only open seasonally. But all is not perfect. The cons: the light and fan go on when you go into the bathroom. Not good for those of us who get up at night. The hotel doesn’t have any king beds. The best you can do is something between a double and a queen. Slow wifi and the restaurant’s food is not great. We heard noise in our room from people who were on the patio area at night below our window. Pro: it does have wifi (although slow) and coffee/tea is available on the second-floor landing in the morning. It is a throwback to how things were if you are into that. The bottom line: the location outweighs the negatives. Just be warned.

William Henry Miller Inn  (Ithaca)

What a nice place to stay. This old mansion has been turned into a comfortable place that retains its former elegance while being quite comfortable. As we were celebrating a birthday, our room had a happy birthday sign in it and had chocolate cupcakes. The room was quite large, as was the bathroom. For breakfast, you choose items out of a refrigerator in the “kitchen”. You could take them up to your room or eat in the pretty room adjacent to the kitchen. Not gourmet for sure, but it put something in your stomach.

Harbor Hotel (Watkins Glen)

This is a perfect place to stay in Watkins Glan. The location is walkable to the park (saving you the parking fee at the park), downtown, and restaurants. The rooms are large and comfortable. Although you don’t have it in your room, coffee/tea is put out on your floor each morning.

Staybridge Suites (Corning)

This hotel is a 7-minute walk to the Corning Glass Facility. Our room was very comfortable and was a pleasant place to stay. It had a separate bedroom and a small living room/kitchen area. The breakfast was very good with cereals, eggs, bacon, fruit, waffles etc. And the staff was very accommodating. They also have DVDs available (and a DVD player in your room).