Manndible Cafe

This neat hipster café is conveniently located just outside Mann Library (in the lobby) on Central Campus at Cornell. They have a variety of interesting food/​drinks/​snacks and take pride in their Curry Bar.
Pros:
–variety of food/​snacks/​drinks
–espresso drinks
–burritos are big
–curry bar
–smoothies
Cons:
-$ 10 minimum for credit card
–doesn’t take BRBs
–drinks are a bit overpriced
–hours don’t entirely match up with Mann Library’s hours

Have you ever wanted to order food, but have what you’d actually get be a complete surprise? Mandibles is your place! I come here several times a week for lunch out of sheer convenience. Easily 50% of the time they fail to read what I have asked for on the order form. I imagine there’s a trained monkey in the back throwing darts at a board of ingredients and this is how they actually decide what to put into your bowl. Actually very impressive for a dart-​throwing monkey.

The food is decent, but they have lots of interesting options. Also, tons of vegetarian options, too. Super cheap! Probably the cheapest food I’ve found on campus for the amount of food you get. I saw other reviews say that it was overpriced, and it made me wonder what the hell they were even talking about.

This place is very overrated. It’s unnecessarily expensive. The coffee is cheap drip coffee and the burritos are okay at best. I’ve had several interesting burritos from there, including one that was cold. The egg sandwiches are great but way overpriced for a bagel, a microwaved egg and a slice of American cheese. I hate that they don’t accept debit and credit cards unless you order more than 10 dollars worth of stuff. It’s a huge inconvenience if you want a quick coffee. The staff is okay. The elderly woman is great and pleasant. The younger staff always look annoyed to be taking your order. The place is nice. I like the many outlets it has and the local artwork on the walls.

Absolutely the worst coffee shop ever. Awful coffee, expensive, slow service. Couldn’t even make an egg and cheese sandwich properly! Regular Starbucks coffee a much better choice

Favorite bagel in Ithaca! They also have excellent burritos and grab-​n-​go salads. They carry Gimme coffee, which is pretty good, as well. The café can get really busy at lunch and some mornings.

Locally grown food, healthy and tasty. I love the special pastries they make for vegans! Tofu burrito is good too! Minus half a star for the very long lines during peak hours when all students and professors take lunch break at the same time. The wait can be a little bit more than average. But worth the wait.

Manndible is a food oasis in the desert that is Cornell dining. I have been going here almost every day for about four years. They carry Gimme Coffee, which is the best coffee in town (and a candidate for the best in state). The food is really good too! They carry bagels from CTB, as well as excellent pastries and sandwiches that are made in house. I’m not going to go through everything that’s available, but Manndible’s burrito bar (which on Fridays is a curry bar) must be mentioned! Their burritos and curries may not be the most authentic in the world, but are rather more like hippy reinterpretations (don’t get me wrong, I mean this in the best way possible). If you’re obsessed with cultural authenticity, this may not be something you want to order (also get over it). If you love fresh delicious well-​made food, guess what? You’re in the right place. Almost everything at Manndible is made with local and organic ingredients, which does make it a little more expensive than many of the other options on campus. The food and coffee are well worth it, and you won’t beat Manndible anywhere on (or near) campus!
I also should mention that the Manndible staff is awesome! I rarely include staff in reviews because I’m usually too distracted by the food to really notice (unless they are actively trying to stab me). The Manndible staff is remarkable because despite long hours, huge crowds, and some insane customers I have always been treated extremely pleasantly (I honestly don’t know how they maintain this attitude during the mad lunch rush). So kudos Manndible staff! Thanks for making everyone feel welcome (even the jerks).

Overpriced foods and taking advantage of students who need to some fuel to keep going throughout the day… that is the impression I get from mandibles. Nothing extraordinary/​borderline bad… but pricey.
I would recommend the coffee and espresso drinks, which are actually quite good… but stay away from others. Took a chance with a seemingly innocent handroll but it was terrible. Flavor was off and the rice was really hard and unappetizing. Took two bites and threw it away right away. I also bought a few baked goods like muffins and scones, which were both overly dry and tasted like they had been sitting out for a while.
In conclusion… dont waste your money… go for the coffee.

Burrito is gross. Baked goods are pretty good.

Their food is decent but I was completely turned off by their service. The person making my poquito messed up my order and when I asked him to add the several things that were missing he was EXTREMELY RUDE and disrespectful. Definitely will not be a returning customer.

Very expensive, half a sandwich costs $ 8 and the taste does not warrant the price. They also do not except BRB, so you have to pay with cash

The only reason this place gets a 3 instead of a 4 is because it is SUPER overpriced. However, the food is not bad. They have weekly soups that are pretty good, especially the coconut chicken one. In the winter they have a Moroccan stew with cornbread. Their sandwiches are made of all organic products and cost at least $ 7 each (just a sandwich!) but the buffalo chicken one or herb chicken one is nice, on fresh chiobatta bread. Homemade everything and super friendly and hipster workers. Fridays are curry bar day so thank god one place has Indian food on campus. Smoothies are good but overpriced ($ 5? I can grind up my own one banana and strawberries and milk for less than that).

Bagels are delicious. I had a cinnamon raisin bagel with apricot cream cheese. There was plenty of seating. Their yogurt parfait also was not sweetened, which I appreciated.

I had Manndible Café cater my wedding at Robert Treman Park in Ithaca this August and it was INCREDIBLE! We discovered them while searching for an affordable caterer that had that Ithaca charm, and it was just perfect. For an unheard of reasonable price, we got hors d’ouevres, dinner, and coffee and dessert all within our budget. The food was really excellent, and our guests enjoyed everything we chose. Organic, homemade, vegan or vegetarian friendly.

At one point this was the only place in Ithaca that offered a good burrito. However, they have switched from shredded beef to ground beef, and I think this makes the burrito taste cheap; the texture is just all sorts of wrong now. They still use only local grass fed beef and its reasonably tasty, just no longer the gem it once was.

Best coffee in Ithaca, HANDS-​DOWN. Essentially the rest of the coffee is starbucks or gimme Coffee which taste more like you asked for gimme crap. This place is delicious. Also, as a bonus, their burritos are tasty too.

Best place on campus

For a campus coffee/​food café, it works. Sometimes the wait can be pretty long for a latte, but I guess that’s unavoidable when you’re on campus.
Their food is pretty good. I know they are capable of making great food as Juna’s (their previous business downtown on the commons which closed a few years ago) always had wonderful food, too. However, I find Manndible a bit too crowded and crazy to really see all of their offerings. It is vegan and vegetarian-​friendly, which is appreciated.
The only thing I really hate about Manndible is the name. I can barely say it without cringing. It’s not cute or clever to me. ick.

Probably the best place to have a baked snack and coffee on campus. Their coffees are brewed from Gimme Coffee beans and are great first thing in the morning. (They open at 7:30 AM even though Mann Library doesn’t open doors until 8 AM.)
They have fantastic baked goods from both their own kitchen and also from places like Blue Wave Pastry (try the triangle-​shaped Raspberry or Apricot breakfast bars). You can often find little half-​Ziploc bags filled with goodies like gummi worms or chocolate-​covered espresso beans or yogurt pretzels. The house-​made cheesecake is amazing, too. It’s in the open refrigerated section near the register and comes in the perfect portion. And for true snobs, Manndible also carries Mexican Coke, the kind with real cane sugar rather than HFCS.
As for food, their customizable burritos are popular, probably too popular during the lunch hour. Like Statler Hall’s dining establishments, Manndible is pretty unmanageable during high noon — simply too many people. Another popular item on the menu is the tofu wrap, a personal favorite.
Their bagels, though, I find to be pretty terrible, especially compared to the kind served at CTB. Regardless of topping, the bagels themselves are usually not toasted. The egg is microwaved until cooked (in a round Tupperware container so that it’s the right shape for the bagel), which is probably normal, except for the fact that here it always comes out tasting like rubber.