Cafe Dewitt

This is our go-​to brunch/​breakfast place when we visit our daughter at Cornell. The food is always great. My only comment is the service is consistently slow. It could just be an Ithaca thing and we need to slow down. The staff is always wonderful and sweet just don’t go if you are in a rush.

The huevos rancheros were mediocre. There was a odd spice that left a lingering taste. A less than 4 ounce glass for water was served and not refilled. Service was poor. Waitress acted as if we were a bother although all she did was bring a glass of water, take our order, deliver the food and bring the check. Never checked to make sure everything was okay. There was no mention of the blackboard specials. I had to get up to read them myself. As much as I wanted to love this place as I like to patronize local businesses, I was very disappointed in our experience. It will be a long time before we consider going again. If we go back I will stick to the basics on the menu.

The food is excellent. The only problem is that one of the waitresses has OFFENSIVE body odor. She has some crazy hairstyle and I’m concerned some bugs may be jumping out of it.
She also wears a sweater that reveals her unshaven armpits. I will never return to this place.

Not much to say here. Great place to grab some food. Good menu.
Atmosphere — 3
Food –4
Service –5
Price –4

Came here with friends for brunch. Service was slow but friendly. The food was absolutely incredible! I had an omelette with pesto, cheese, spinach, and tomatoes. It was easily one of the best meals I have eaten all year thus far. I would come here again.

This place is seriously AS GOOD AS IT GETS!!! It’s truly a nice little hidden gem. It’s located inside the Dewitt mall, which can make it a little interesting to find, especially your first time here. Now, come prepared to wait in line. I often come, put my name on this list and then check out the local stores with my friends while we wait. You might have to wait some time but trust me it is so worth it. The food is simply delicious, you seriously can not go wrong — for real I’ve tried more or less everything on the menu and have yet to decide which I can truly call my favorite. PLUS most of it is local and fresh food. Overall I love this place (if you can’t tell). It might be a little funky in that it is located in the middle of the mall but I like it.
Tip: Do not arrive starving — there is a line and you will regret it. Arrive hungry and then let your hunger build while you wait in line and then chow down once your delicious food is served. Will save you lots of frustration!

We stopped here on Sunday morning for brunch, although by the time we ended up eating it was definitely the lunch hour. Our wait was about an hour, but since there are so few good brunch places that we could find in Ithaca, we decided to wait it out. Unfortunately the wait wasn’t worth it.
The menu they gave us was pretty minimal and boring, and it was only after we had finished eating that we discovered a blackboard full of better-​sounding alternatives to scrambled eggs and bacon. Since we were seated behind a column we had no clue it was there, and the waitress said nothing to us about it.
Service was kind of slow, and the food was definitely not worth the wait. For the price, I could have made the exact same thing at home times five. I wouldn’t come here again.

Had a long wait on Sunday at 12:30. Service was medium speed. Omelette was ok and florentine was excellent. Bread basket was horrible and stale.

Nice little brunch place tucked away in Dewitt Mall. The huevos rancheros off the specials board was good, though perhaps a little too heavy on the allspice. Prices are reasonable and portions were satisfying, though not huge.

This is an interesting little place inside of the Dewitt Mall. The food is really really good. Fresh, local and well seasoned. I had the huevos rancheros special which I proclaimed while eating to be one of my best life decisions. Braised grass fed beef in a stewey sauce of tomato, onion, and a great balance of heat (chipotle) and sweet (cinnamon??). Service by college students was great.

This place was terrible. Where do I begin?
I took my family here this weekend, and it was their first time in Ithaca. There was one staff who was a little bit racist, and we waited an incredibly long time to be seated, and an even LONGER time to get talked to by a waiter. They were literally just standing around and ignoring us.
What’s even worse is that the place ran out of potatoes! Halfway through their brunch on a Saturday! I find that to be incredibly poor planning and poor business practice. I’m sorry I took my family there, and I’m definitely not going to go back.

Maybe. Poor service and decent food.
So when my sister made the reservation they morphed her name into something terrible, and disregarded her correction with impunity.
The service was seriously slow — despite the amount of eye contact I made w the idle servers just hanging out watching. They don’t take «day of» reservations, only for days in the future.
Food was okay, definitely seemed fresh and made on the spot, though many ingredients were «out of stock» which limited the portion of the menu which we could order.
In general is probably comparable with local standards.

I really wanted to love this place. I came for the organic eggs which were good but the preparations and portions were not quite on point.
My chef’s breakfast was ok. Eggs were well cooked but potatoes were al dente and then burnt on one side. Did not seem like there was any cheese on my dish and I really thought it would have been tastier if the spinach were cooked. Greasy burn’t/uncooked potatoes on raw spinach is an awkward combination.
My companion’s plate looked mostly empty. One more egg or a little more avocado would have helped. He felt underserved and disgruntled.
Not sure what is the draw or why we might want to return.

Went here with my boyfriend for brunch,
One of my biggest issues with this place was that we weren’t approached by a waitress for a good 10+ minutes, so we were just sitting there waiting for a menu. It was really weird, and it looked like the two waitresses were either incredibly slow or just didn’t care. Then it took them forever to come and take our order as well.
We overheard the waitress telling another table that they don’t take cards, only cash or check. So you’ll have to go to the Greenstar and use their ATM and pay the 3.00 fee to take money out.
While my boyfriend went to get money, the waitress was going around to a few tables to ask if they wanted a discount on their order for the «mishap» earlier. What mishap you ask? Oh, a mouse was in the café. Yes, a mouse. Since it was gone we decided to stay, but seriously gross.
We got the farmhouse (something like that) breakfast $ 8.95 with bacon (making it $ 10.95). My next issue was that when our food did arrive we got TWO SKIMPY PIECES! I was kind of peeved by that, at least give a reasonable serving for that extra fee.
Regardless of all these things that happened, the food was actually really good when it came out. I would definitely consider coming here again regardless of the mishaps… and I’ll be remembering to have cash on hand so I don’t get jipped by the ATM again.

Maybe somebody got the memo, because when I was reluctantly dragged back by an out of town visitor, the food was still great and the service was good, friendly and efficient. I cautiously went back with someone else and it was still good! Hopeful optimism for the future:)

Breakfast was absolutely amazing. The homemade biscuits were delectable as was the hot chocolate. Highly recommend for breakfast.

Food is excellent! Service is excellent! Jes is the best!
Here with fam. We shared everything: oatmeal with apples, walnuts and cinnamon. Garlic rosemary roasted potatoes. Onion soup. Zoe salad with spinach, apples, Maple spiced pecans, currants and blue cheese with a fig rosemary vinaigrette. Rubanesque sandwich of smoked ham, gruyère, sauerkraut and Russian on marble bread. Michel sandwich on baguette with Brie, bacon and cranberry chutney.
The coffee is delicious. And we’d come back anytime.

The Café DeWitt is likely the best café in Ithaca. The sandwiches, weekend brunch, service, prices, everything is excellent! The majority of the produce, meats, and breads they use are locally grown or made, and I’ve never had anything that wasn’t absolutely delicious at this café. It’s also a nice spot for people watching, and the staff are always polite and intuitive hosts. I highly recommend the DeWitt for a casual lunch with a friend or coworker (or on your own!), and the weekend brunch is fantastic (my family loves to go here for brunch when they’re in town for a visit). Do remember to bring cash or a check with you — no credit/​debit cards are accepted (old school cool, yo)!

Decent place to get brunch in Ithaca, and it has a pretty nice staff.
I got an omelette, and you can choose up to three things to include in it. I had bacon, cheddar, and avocado. The bacon and cheddar went together with the egg nicely, though the avocado pieces kept falling out.
Coffee is pretty good too but a little pricey for a really small cup.
They don’t take cards, so bring cash or checks. This is probably the only place I’ve ever seen take checks but not cards…

Cash
Only,
Good food but
Be warned of long
Lines, slow service, and mall-​like atmosphere