I love the funky location. However the food is really overpriced and not as delicious as other restaurants in town like The Rook, Agava, Mercado, etc. I was disappointed. Very few options for vegetarians. read more

My friends and I made a reservation at Gola last night and because we had nine in our party, had to order off the Prix Fixe Menu. We selected Option One. The food was less than satisfactory - the 1st course was ok; however, the 2nd course, especially the Chicken Francese was tough and tasteless. The 3rd course, dessert was not great either. Should not have made a reservation, went in and ordered off the menu! read more

Simply excellente. Weird location and entrance but it's a wonderful spot. Loved the lasagna.

Common sense - poor location, atmosphere, and food read for more details. My wife and I are aways open to try new restaurants and Gola Osteria was our choice for dinner. I suppose we chose Gola Osteria for the fancy name or perhaps the pictures we saw online, but unfortunately we were dissatisfied with our experience! This establishment is tucked away with a fancy fish fountain and in a building where you need to intercom to enter. Are they trying to be a Speakeasy? The hostess came to get us as we walked down a corridor passed several apartments with old worn out carpeting. As we entered the dining area you could see where they slapped a kitchen area in the most awkward space. Air quality poor in this place tables sticky. The dishes we ordered Arugula Salad with grilled shrimp and Linguine alle vongole both dishes very salty. It took an unusual amount of time for the main course to come out. The Arugula Salad satisfactory but the Linguine alle vongole must have been cooked in Marsala? You would expect a seafood pasta dish to be cooked in a lemon butter or white wine. This is supposed to be fine dining and way over priced for the quality. Common sense don't be fooled because of Ithaca college and Cornell university we would have happily spent the same price on a quality meal and atmosphere elsewhere. Make good choices! read more

My significant other and I have dined several times at Gola Osteria. It is a wonderful knock-off an Old World restaurant. Interesting, beautifully prepared food that is truly flavorful and enjoyable. The staff is very friendly and accessible and the dining areas are set up in an interesting way with space for both large and small parties. My last birthday party was held at Gola Osteria for about 14 people and we all had an extremely enjoyable time. Tom Shelley, Ithaca NY read more

Full disclosure Chef Sam is a client of our heritage breed pork produced at bel canto farm in Trumansburg. That said the antipasti, especially the fresh mozzarella, was a journey thru my Grandmas kitchen. Rich flavors of peppers tomatoes prosciutto etc. was treated to a tasting of our pork belly with cauliflower purée and some very tasty head cheese. I enjoyed the mushroom papardelle, my wife the cloud-pillow like pumpkin ravioli. Finished the evening with espresso and Sambuca, zeppole and cannoli! I rarely even pen reviews anymore but cannot resist this hidden gem in Ithaca! Can't wait to stop by again and eat more mozzarella! read more

We waited over 2 hours for our entrees to arrive and when they did, all of our dishes were far too salty. The visit was not worth my time or money. read more

This place is wonderful, starting with being located in an apartment building, unseen from the street, to their delicious food and drink. Great service, decor and atmosphere. read more

Went to Gola to enjoy a nice meal. The food was good but it was 85 degrees inside. Not a great way to escape the summer heat....maybe I'll try back in the winter read more

I wish I could give it 10 stars. Everything about our experience was perfect. The food is made as well as it is in Italy. I will be going back - and keep coming back. It is romantic, cozy, amazing service, and priced perfectly! The staff is also amazingly accommodating. Definitely one of the best restaurants I have ever been too. read more

Best kept dining secret in Ithaca. Food, service, and atmosphere is unparalleled in the area, but you definitely pay for it. I've tried a few vegetarian pasta dishes and appetizers. Portions are average to small. The flavors are very intense, sometimes bordering on over seasoned and over salted. My go to anniversary spot, very romantic and intimate. Contrary to what other reviewers have posted, it's NOT located in a dorm, just an upscale apartment building near Cornell campus. It should also be noted that this is one of the rare Ithaca restaurants that is not overrun by college students, in fact I have only seen one party of students in the two times I've eaten here. read more

The veal parmesan was excellent! It was cooked to perfection and very juicy. For an appetizer we got the calemary which was delicious. For desert we got a three tier wedding cake. In summary, I have never eaten here. read more

I found Gola on Yelp and am paying it forward. The 5 star review is for the food and 10x better than ZaZas. The menu is online so check it out. I really liked all of the homemade pastas. I had the papardelle with tomatoes, chilis, corn in something to similar to a white wine sauce and my mom had tagliatelle with bolognese. I also had the appetizer of the grilled octopus and thought it along with the sauce, onion, and tomoato were excellent. It can be a bit tricky to find if you don't know how to read street and building signs. I thought the instructions outside the building were quite clear. Service was attentive, but not over the top. Next time I'm home I'm going to drag my mom there again b/c The Heights is like her second home and like Grand Central Station with all her friends. read more

Excellent restaurant...great atmosphere...the Mortadella was perfect and was the Arancini. I had a fantastic pumpkin ravioli.....Italian hasn't been this good since the Coddington was open! I will come back and often read more

We come here for all our celebrations, easily the best restaurant in Ithaca. We love to come here and share everything. It feel like a special place without being pretentious. I will say, the newest menu is not as good as the fall/winter menu. I really miss some of the starters, including the burrata and the arancini. Please bring them back!! read more

First time visIting this establishment, had the veal Marsala with spaghetti that was supposed to be covered with Sunday sauce. Disappointing as they tried to pass marinara as Sunday sauce, the sauce was not even close to Sunday sauce , did not have any meat component or flavor complexity to it. Veal marsala was good, just disappointing that they do not understand what Sunday sauce is. Wife had sweetbread dish and that was also good. Pricing a bit steep for what is offered. Wait staff courteous and helpful. read more

Gola Osteria was the only restaurant in Ithaca (other than TGI Friday's) that had space for a party of 10 for brunch (2:30 PM) on Cornell's Graduation Day! Perhaps it was the heat, or just the general intensity of the day, but when we arrived on the breezy back patio outside of Gola Osteria, we felt as though we were whisked away to a secret garden! We all enjoyed our brunch and we were so happy to have found Gola Osteria. We tried almost everything on the menu - salad, pasta, lasagna, grilled pork, steak, BREAD! I made my family very happy on an otherwise stressful day! read more

What ever happened to "working for your tip"? Ithaca servers must have missed that memo... I really must have had an off server, because i would never describe the service here as "exemplary." Tried out Gola after hearing great things, and did thoroughly enjoy the wine and food. I loved that their wine list had a great assortment (tho small) of Italian and local wines. Delicious! I love a great Italian red. The food was very good - the pasta tasted very fresh, and I thought the portion sizes were good. Many Italian restaurants will usually give very small portion sizes - Gola did a good job with striking a good balance. I also enjoyed the fair-priced side dishes. It made me feel comfortable ordering a side, and not feel like they wanted to just up the bill. Our server couldn't get away from the table fast enough. Each time she came over, she would not make her presence known to us, and them leave immediately after we stopped talking to her. She never once tried to linger a bit to see if we had any extra questions. At the time the restaurant was not busy (we were one of the last tables). Overall - great food, spotty service. Unfortunately I'm beginning to notice a trend with bad service in Ithaca. Makes me think the servers can get away with it because we live in Ithaca, and there are literally no other places to go in this small town. Living in a larger city, service is much more important because people will stop going to restaurants that don't treat them well. read more

We were told we had to check this restaurant out, it was that good! Well, we finally did and it wasn't. First off, it's housed in what use to be a hospital, strange and quirky, but still not totally off putting. Having made reservations, we were seated promptly when we arrived. Unfortunately, our server was inattentive and surly, that was definitely off putting. Maybe he was having an off night? We started with cocktails, which were okay. The wine we had with our meal was better. For appetizers, we had the Prosciutto di Parma and the salami plate. These were fine. For the main course, we ordered the Lasagne Alla Napoletana, the clams with pasta which were good and the lamb, which was a beautiful cut of meat, but was far too rare to eat. It was so rare that you couldn't cut into it with a steak knife. It also cost over $40 for the lamb dish alone! The overall experience, given all the hype that it didn't live up to and the unwarranted cost, wasn't really worth it. We have no plans to return. read more

Are we still in Ithaca, toto? Unreal and unknown to the townies. This place had one delicious dish after another. A bit pricey for the volume of food, but you can step out from the normal earthy crunchy folk and back into cosmopolitan again... read more

Hidden from the main flow of traffic. This little treasure will blow your taste buds. Every little detail of dinning has been considered. The hand polished wine glasses, the lighting, the wait staff over the top, and the food - a truly 5 star experience. We had the blue cheese truffle appetizer. Great presentation and excellent taste. Homemade focaccia bread with local herb oil very delicious and light. Main course homemade gnocchi with a wine cream sauce with corn and herbs absolutely light and the best i have ever had. For dessert a homemade chocolate ganache with ice cream truly lovely! Wine selection off the chart. Truly and wonderful dining experience. Very thankful for a romantic delicious night out on the town. read more

I was blown away by this place. Busy but quiet compared to any other options in Ithaca. Everything tasted amazing!! Staff was so friendly, not sticky sweet just really genuinely nice. Went from being a place I never heard of to my favorite restaurant in Ithaca! read more

Best Italian restaurant in Ithaca. Good for romantic dinners or small group. I love their Lasagna, light tomatoes sauce, meaty, and righteous. read more

Excited to see a restaurant finally open up again at this location, since I had fond memories of this place. I was glad to see that business was pretty good on a Sunday night. The menu is small and focused on pastas and appetizers. For appetizers we got the grilled octopus, which was excellent. It was served on a base that had beans in it, and together with the sauce, was well balanced. We also had an order of arancini that came on a delicious ricotta sauce. The appetizer sizes are pretty substantial. We particularly enjoyed the gnocchi, which was so fluffy and soft, and came in a delectable ragu. I did not really care for the black linguine, which I thought was a bit too salty and the flavors (spice, sweet garlic, and salty) didn't seem to go well together. The service was really good, except I think they forgot to serve us the bread. We did not say anything at the time because the appetizers portions were substantial, but after reading the other reivews that rave about the excellent foccacia I regret not asking for it. Oh wells, next time perhaps. Overall good food in a cozy setting. read more

Wow this place is fantastic! The wait staff is incredible and the food is delicious. This is the BEST food in Ithaca. You can make eating here a true event or just order a bite to eat. Go there NOW! read more

The restaurant is located in an old apartment building now used for student housing. Musty smell as you enter the building. Food is ok but nothing special. Service also ok but not notable. Not bad but certainly nothing exceptional. read more

Amazingly accommodating to vegetarians and vegans. We've traveled extensively in Italy and this place is every bit as good. The antipasto table was exceptional too, especially the marinated shiitake mushrooms & onions. read more

The negative reviews for Gola read like a crazy person's diary. I specifically go to this place whenever my girlfriend is in town, we have found no restaurant that makes us as happy as Gola in service, quality and ambiance. read more

Gola Osteria is a good addition to a barren part of Ithaca. It's buried inside a dorm-like building behind the new Collegetown Terrace housing complex ("Terrace" being much more accurate than "Collegetown"; it's not in Collegetown but it is on the edge of a gorge). However, it is worth the walk over and the annoyance of finding your way in. The food is more than just delicious; it has a note of authenticity not found in some of Ithaca's other Italianate outlets. The service, too, is authentically Italian, in that you'll wait an hour for your entree. Get some appetizers. read more

My favorite restaurant in Ithaca! Their squid ink spaghetti is my favorite. Best for 2-6 friends. It's in a community, I love the ambiance of Gola. Personally, I think the best part is their outdoor seats in a summer evening. read more

Without a doubt, this is the best restaurant in Ithaca. Everything is impeccable, every time. We come here very frequently. Perfect, authentic, absolutely stellar Italian offerings. No other restaurant in town compares. And wonderful service as well - The waitstaff here are just fabulous every time. So grateful you exist, Gola! Seriously! read more

Nice atmosphere, delicious appetizers, but then it became disappointing, due to the "black spaghetti" which two of the three of us ordered (the other one in our group seemed really to like his main course). How could we go wrong in ordering a house specialty? Problem was, the black spaghetti seemed to have only one flavor, some kind of pepper (fresh or ground? -- the two of us couldn't agree). The dish was spicy hot, which was ok. It was the existence of a single dominating flavor that turned us off. Nonetheless, I'll definitely give Gola Osteria a second (even a third, fourth) chance. It's incredibly difficult, of course, for chefs to give consistent output when the input might vary wildly (the relevant input here being whatever pepper was used). Still, consistency is key to having a great restaurant. I just wish this had not been a dinner for which I was wanting to impress an academic colleague who had travelled to Ithaca from Seattle to give a seminar. (She was the one who, besides me, ordered black spaghetti.) Sigh. Service, on the other hand, was great, absolutely great. This is a restaurant with huge potential, but a restaurant on its way up a learning curve. Even so, we desperately need such places in Ithaca, restaurants pushing the envelope. I decided to rate Gola Osteria as 4 stars rather than 3 not because I think our dinner tonight was a 4-star dinner (definitely not), but because search engines and rating systems are overtly negative on 3 stars, i.e., average. This place absolutely is above average, even if it is faced with a significant learning curve. I plan to continue wholeheartedly supporting Gola Osteria unless I am disappointed multiple times. read more

Both the food and service are amazing here. Great place for a date in Ithaca!

So overall pretty disappointed. I had admittedly high expectations, but alas the food did not come close to them. First off I couldn't find the place. The building was easy enough to find, and at one point I saw people inside eating while circling the building, but could not find the door or parking. Finally got to the door and there is a number to call. I figured I would call and ask about parking while I left my car running by the door. Called and they answered, said they were buzzing me in and hung up... I called back this time the line was complete static. I called back again and immediately said "don't hang up"... just as I heard the door buzz and a click. I knew it would be impossible to get an answer so I ended up just parking along the edge of the restricted lot. We tailgated into the building with a resident to avoid this whole speakeasy phone number dance thing you have to do in order to get into the building. Once in, they did let me know you can park anywhere even in the resident only spots. And to their credit afterwards when I checked their web site it does say that on there also. The place is beautiful, I loved the big wooden tables and chairs and large windows (large enough to wave to other diners circling the restaurant looking for parking). We had "Insalata Gola" for a starter which which was a nice Caesar salad. Basic but really good. They also brought out 2 slices of bread and an oil that had this burnt rosemary type taste behind it. Neither of us could figured it out but neither of us liked it. For diner I had a Veal and Pork Ragu. I was certainly not blown away. The noodles tasted fresh and light, the sauce tasted like any basic meat sauce... and that was pretty much the dish. I didn't hate it, but there was nothing special about it at all. My wife got a daily shell special. It was inedible. My wife loves salt, she often over salts stuff cooking, I always tell her put in half the amount of salt you think it should have so normal people can eat it. I almost fell out of my big wooden chair when she complained the dish was too salty. Sure enough, I tried them and they were just bad. It tasted like they had been cooked in seawater with how much salt was in it. Even if the pasta was seasoned properly this dish I would have guessed this dish would have fallen into the exact category mine did as not real special. We ordered some Italian doughnuts and coffee to finish up. The Doughnuts came out and had a nice crispy outside and mushy inside. Edible, but they slightly missed on the cook time on these. However like most people we expected the coffee to come out with dessert (if not before). When the dessert came out we even asked the server about the coffee and she said someone else takes care of that. Well the donuts we were going to eat with diner were all gone 10 minutes later yet still no coffee. We grabbed one of the plentiful water fillers that wonder the restaurant to cancel the coffee. Shortly after our server brought it out and apologized as he said he thought someone else was supposed to bring it. They did take off our non-edible entree and the coffee that showed up as we were ready to go off our bill as I would have expected. But very much wished that this place had been much much closer to the high expectations we had based off some of these other reviews. read more

Definitely one of the best restaurants in Ithaca. Perfect place for an impressive date night: the food is delicious, cozy and romantic ambiance, attentive and helpful service, a little hidden. The menu requires a bit of interpretation from the friendly waiters if your Italian is a little rusty, but everything our party had was top notch and I can't imagine going wrong with anything on the menu. We started with the burrata and the grilled octopus as shared appetizers. The burrata is a must have. It's a simple appetizer executed to perfection. Just a ball of fresh burrata on a piece of fried focaccia with olive oil and sea salt, but every component is perfect and shines. The burrata was creamy and milky and decadent, delivered to your mouth on a crispy piece of fried bread. Just perfect. The octopus appetizer was extremely tender and flavorful. For entrées, I highly recommend the Black Spaghetti with clams, which is a must have for garlic lovers like me. Also, save some room for dessert. The zabaglione was a perfect to top off the meal. I've never had zabaglione before, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It's a cup of custard with fresh fruit, with the custard being very light treat at the end of a wonderful meal. read more

The potato gnocchi were pillowy and refreshingly prepared with chilis and roasted corn - absolutely delicious!! The guanciale in the salad was absolutely delectable - unforgettable!!! The lasagna with a baby meatball was very good. Elegant, mission-style dining room, attentive service. The lardo with zeppole were satisfying, and the blueberries with mint and zabaglione was a nice way to wrap up a summer meal. The bruschette with white beans were a pass - the bread isn't just toasted but more like a biscotto, more appropriate for a soup. Look forward to returning to try the gnocchi lunghi and the rest of the menu - and hopefully they'll have espresso, too! read more

A little over the top in terms of foodie culture. Also, NOT a great place at all to go if you are a vegetarian. They have open contempt for vegetarians, as evidenced by signs on the wall. In a town like Ithaca, I think restaurants should strive to have something that can accommodate a vegetarian as well. read more

Every single course was delicious and unique. We started out with the mussels, grilled octopus, pork meatballs, arugula and Cesar salads. Everything tasted phenomenal and had big enough portions to share with the table. I personally loved the grilled octopus and arugula salad. The focaccia bread to start was out of this world. And for dinner I had the fish of the day, salmon over potatoes with beets and oranges. Fish was delicious with very complementary sides. read more

Excellent. Started with Burrata and a Gola salad, then the truffled pasta. All good. And a good wine list with good Italian choices.

EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED. I would leave NO STARS. They cancelled our reservation for GRADUATION DAY. Without telling us and were not going to tell about it until our friends informed us at 5PM the night before. They said they had no idea why it was cancelled even though there was confirmation and credit information given. We had a party of 12 people and our friends also had a party of 9 people and theirs was cancelled too. COMPLETELY UNPROFESSIONAL. The girl on the phone was not helpful at all she even said "I remember taking your reservation" They have completely devastated the graduates. We will NEVER be eating there again and this was entirely unprofessional and unacceptable. We have email proof confirming our reservation. We do not recommend this place at all. Don't even waste your time. read more