I give this place a 4 because it does not deserve a 5 or a 3. The 4 is for the genuine staff, the homemade food and the general feel of the dining area. It is an old building, it is in Chautaqua NY, not Manhattan. The food is homestyle, the kind your dear Granny used to make. I know your Granny could cook but I am sure it was not better than this place. Details as follows, Fried fish, excellent, Pork ribs, very good! The salad bar was fresh and had many options, including cucumber salad and fruit salad. The desert was exceptional with many options, I got the homemade blueberry pie, excellent! The young servers worked hard to please and were of the highest caliber of young people. Thank you Tally Hoe for the genuine camp meeting dining experience! read more

I have returned for the last ten summers to the Tally-Ho Hotel and Restaurant, conveniently located on a quiet street inside the famous Chautauqua Institution. The Tally-Ho, family-owned and operated since ca. 1939, offers a rabbit warren of quirky, quaint, and quiet rooms, each of them unique. As the 3 conjoined structures were built in the late 1800s they have that rustic sense level due to their age. Expect to climb stairs. read more

My spouse and I went to the Tally Ho restaurant last evening, hoping to have dinner. It was Week 1 of the "season." I should have known that something was amiss when a young (13-year-old?) person put a paper placemat on our table followed by a salad fork on the right side and a knife & spoon on the left. We never saw a dinner fork. A waiter came and took our beverage order - a beer for my spouse and water for each of us. He brought the beer, then he confessed that he forget the water. The young serve stopped by after a while, and we asked for menus. We were told that menus were not available because the restaurant wasn't ready to serve meals; only a buffet was available. Didn't they know that Week 1 was coming? A look at the buffet revealed that we didn't want to stay. So we paid (actually, overpaid) for the beer and went to the Brick Walk Cafe instead. read more

Just about everything. The food was not fresh, warmed over food from days earlier. We sent everything back and my friend who took two bites of a burger got sick. Very unsanitary food preparation. read more

We contacted Richard Streeter in February to reserve a room at the Tally Ho Hotel located on the grounds of the Chautaqua Institute for week five of the2024 season, July 20 to 27. He was very friendly and we discussed various rooms and decided on room 36. He asked for a $500 deposit via check and gave us an address for his bookkeeper in Georgia. We sent the check and it was cashed, but we never got a written confirmation that the room was reserved. Ultimately after contacting him again we got a confirmation, but nothing was said about a cancellation policy. On June 17, my wife developed a nasty case of shingles. I called Richard and told him we had to cancel the reservation because she could not travel. He said "no problem". He wanted us to think about it for a few days because she might be better by July 20. He said I should email him and he gave me an email address which actually was via the accommodations department at Chautauqua. I sent him an email on June 22 canceling the reservation and asking him to "please refund our deposit" He responded on June 23 "Will do.Thanks for letting me know." Since then we have sent him other emails, telling him we did not receive the deposit, and asking him if there was a problem. He did not reply. We called and left a message on his cell phone and he did not reply. When I last looked for the Hotel's listing it had been removed from the accommodation section on the Chautauqua website. I called and found out that the listing had been removed because he failed to pay the required fees for next year which he had to do in order to keep the listening posted for this year. Consider my experience before you reserve a room at the Tally Ho. read more

Have been here several times and every time we go to Chautauqua we visit this place. Very beautiful place with great food and staff. We usually have the buffet. read more

Where to begin? Wanted a nice dinner out before attending a concert on the chautauqua institution grounds. This restaurant is over-priced, service poor, food quality lacking and poor. Supposedly a dinner buffet. We arrived at 6pm and found empty steam trays. Decided to order off the menu. Went with the fried shrimp & discovered our fresh vegetables were what was left from the buffet! Requested tartar sauce & told we could get it from the buffet. Our server was not familiar with serving nor the menu. The young man never even checked back on us until meal's end. FYI- take cash since they stubbornly remain in the 20th century but just happen to have an ATM on the premises. read more

This review is for the restaurant. I had read the bad reviews but since they weren't very recent, we gave this place a chance. Especially with limited dining options inside the Institute. Our waiter was a young man who barely spoke. Two of us ordered the dinner buffet (can't go wrong with a selection, right?) and one of us ordered off the menu. The buffet was the oddest, most unappetizing selection of food and soggy vegetables. In a small restaurant SO packed with tables set up so tight and uncomfortably. It is a mess. One entry door enters into the dining room. We never saw our waiter again after he brought the one meal out. Want refills on drinks? Too bad lol. Everywhere on the menu does it brag about their great desserts. Advertising about desserts with every meal. At the end of the meal we literally track the waiter down for the bill and ask about dessert. He says shortly "We're all out". And he walks away. (The restaurant opened an hour before!) We paid $24+ for one plate of soggy food. We asked another waiter on our way out about desserts. He says "Yes we have dessert. Then he disappears to check and comes back and says, Nope, I guess we're out!" This restaurant definitely appeals to the over 75 crowd, especially with the selection of soft foods and 1970 era food choices. Otherwise, keep your cash to yourself. (Because they only accept cash, but of course have an ATM on site. How tacky) read more

I am a life long Chautauquan and have gone every year. Chautauqua started out as a colony of tents in 1874 and soon buildings came up-- this one about 1888 - best guess.. This is an old Victorian building where they took 2 or 3 of the old small rooms ( back then people only wanted a bed and a sink) and combined them to make small apartments. This is not the Omni-- so if that's what you want- don't bother. However, as the review below states- it's about $900 a week for a room and $1200 for an apartment. In Chautauqua... This is cheap. You can stay in the ST Elmo which are new condos and you will pay $1500-2000 a week. A house 2500-5000$ a week. So, if you are looking for ample accommodations in an old traditional setting-- this is the spot.. Oh-- and the fog is fantastic.. Mr grumpy pa Ts down there evidently does not appreciate the multi nationalism of people who come here from all over the world. read more

See all

This is a unique experience. Like eating at someone else's home. The food was wonderful. I generally don't like buffet. But this was a small buffet like a family home. And all the food desserts and rolls are homemade. read more

We were here for a Sunday lunch buffet, & for your money it is 100% the best bet. The food is delicious, our waitresses were very attentive & friendly as well. There was ham, grilled chicken, haddock, many kinds of veggies, mashed potatoes, maccaroni & cheese & cornbread as well. Dessert was ice cream or strawberry shortcake. Everything was so flavorful & cooked nicely! I will definitely be coming back for lunch again. read more

Before you read any further I should disclose that I stayed at this place while on a vacation I did not want to go on and maybe that influenced how much I disliked the hotel. Also, I want to add that the hotel is in Chatauqua, New York, not Jamestown. My grandmother and I stayed in a suite for 7 nights and I think it cost $900. I'm not an expert on what suites usually cost but I thought that was a lot of money to stay in a creepy-looking hotel in the Chatauqua Institution; and this was two years ago so it's probably even more expensive now. One thing I couldn't believe was that no one came in and cleaned our rooms or changed the sheets. The owner said that we could clean our own sheets downstairs in the laundry room if we wanted to and if we stayed eight nights we would've been able to have someone come in and do our laundry. I have never heard of a hotel withholding laundry services because a patron didn't stay a certain amount of days. On a separate note, there is also a restaurant in the hotel and my grandmother and I ate the food there for a few meals. I don't remember having any complaints about the food so it's got that going for it. If you're going to stay in the Institution I recommend staying in a place like the St. Elmo's Hotel, which I don't think was much more expensive and looked a whole lot nicer than the Tally-Ho. They also probably do their patron's sheets at least every couple of days. read more

This is a review for breakfast at the Tally Ho during the Season. For a meal billed as all you can eat buffet and pancakes, the result is rather disappointing. The "buffet" is cold cereal, a vat of something I think was oatmeal, and some potatoes under heat lamps. I ordered some pancakes and a scrambled egg. (The egg is extra). After some difficulty with the obvious language barrier between us and the server, I eventually received 2 pancakes and no egg. In despair, I gave up on the notion of the egg and enjoyed by pancakes to the pleasing sounds of the grocery delivery occurring in the street next to my table on the tiny porch. The interior and exterior are shabby and not in the "chic" way. This probably added to the unappealing nature of our visit. I am unlikely to return and would discourage others as well. read more