John Joseph Inn and Elizabeth Restaurant

I got married at the John Joseph Inn and Elizabeth Restaurant, and from the moment we stepped foot on the property until the moment we checked out, post-​wedding, the experience was phenomenal.
We dealt directly with the owner, John Hamilton. John is straightforward – no shady business or hidden costs. We left our first meeting with a spreadsheet that clearly broke down costs, as well as a timeline of when we should expect to have things done.
He truly cares about this business, and will work with couples to make sure their experience is nothing short of magical.
The grounds consist of the Elizabeth Restaurant (we held the rehearsal dinner there. Its also available for brunch.), the John Joseph Inn (a luxurious bed and breakfast just across the driveway, with Jacuzzi tubs and the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in), an arbor for the ceremony, a sweeping tent with chandeliers for the reception, an apple orchard and a sheep meadow.
The most consistent compliments we got were about the food. John and Elizabeth, who did our cake, both graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. The carrot risotto with sriracha is one of my all time favorite dishes. All of the food was fresh, seasonal, and delicious. My husband and I were so excited that we wouldn’t have to have the mass produced rubber chicken with limp vegetables that you find so often at weddings. The food here was a star rather than an afterthought.
I could not have hoped for a better wedding experience. Trust John and know that he will work tirelessly to make your wedding incredible. You won’t be disappointed.

I had the pleasure of working with John and Elizabeth for my wedding on September 13, 2014. They made my wedding day perfection. Their attention to detail and their hard work makes for a wedding to be remembered. My wedding day started off rainy, grey and gross… John and Elizabeth were determined to create a day that would still be perfection in my eyes with plan of doing the ceremony here or there, whatever would work best. As the weather cleared up they dropped those plans and moved the ceremony back outside. They and their staff set up my reception area to perfection, they made THE best food, they took care of the cake which was phenomenal, John was there to guide us through every step of the day, which made for a stress free bride and groom who were able to sit back and enjoy themselves. Having the rehearsal, ceremony and reception all in one place made for easy planning and created a home away from home for the weekend. Having our family and friends stay or stop by the Inn whenever they liked made for a relaxing and fun time. The grounds, arbor, Inn, cottage, restaurant and tent all made a lovely backdrop for our beautiful day, not to mention BEAUTIFUL photo opportunities. As my groom still sleeps from post wedding exhaustion I could not help but recount my wonderful wedding day and brag a bit about how wonderful it turned out thanks to John, Elizabeth and the wonderful staff they surround themselves with. If you didn’t know about the John Joseph Inn before, You’re Welcome because now you do!

I went to a wedding last fall and I just want to say this place is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! The house, the tents, the grounds, everything was set up beautifully and I had a great time!
I couple things I would suggest is definitely more bathrooms. It was a rather large wedding, and there were long lines at the bathrooms and I missed out on a couple (supposedly) great moments during the reception. The parking area was also pretty small.

My husband and I were married at the John Joseph Inn on July 13, 2013. I don’t even know where to begin because I couldn’t have imagined our wedding being any more perfect than it was. John Hamilton and his wife Elizabeth have a beautiful venue. The first time I visited the venue, I knew it was the one, and it was in the late in the winter. I could see past the winter climate, I knew the grounds would be beautiful in the summer. After meeting with John I knew we had hit the jackpot. John and his staff do EVERYTHING. The food, the bar, the tent, the tables, the chairs, etc. The only things you need to get outside the inn are the entertainment, flowers, and photographer. We loved that there weren’t extra charges for every little thing. The inn on the property is beautiful, each room has its own personality. The rooms are decorated in a very county, but chic way, including a local favorite, Mackenzie-​Childs. I loved that we were able to be on site from Friday to Sunday. We had our rehearsal dinner at the venue and it was absolutely fabulous. We chose the BBQ option, but it was far from any ordinary BBQ. Our wedding day was perfect. The day started with baskets of breakfast goodies from John, which was a great touch! Our whole day was relaxed. We got ready in the inn. I am so glad I didn’t have to go to a hair salon, and then a ceremony venue, and then a reception venue, it was so easy! I loved watching the day come together from the windows of the inn. Our ceremony was perfect, the cocktail hour in the gardens was beautiful, and the reception was absolutely stunning! We chose the plated premier dinner option. The food was some of the best food we had ever tasted. We have been to so many weddings at all different venues and none of them can hold a candle to the food that is prepared by John and Elizabeth, there aren’t even restaurants in the Upstate New York region that can come close to the food selections. Elizabeth made our cake. She did a fantastic job and it was delicious. Wedding cake is usually not something that is raved about, but all I kept hearing was how good the cake was. We chose to have brunch for our guests the next morning. This brunch was just as fabulous as the rehearsal dinner and the wedding dinner. John has an amazing staff. I cannot thank them enough for making our wedding weekend perfect. You could tell that the staff enjoyed their jobs. They were very professional.
Trust John. You might not hear from him as often as you like, but he knows what he is doing. Not one thing was overlooked or missed at our wedding. He did things that I forgot about. He is a true artist — he will make your day unforgettable.
Our wedding at the John Joseph Inn was absolutely perfect. I cannot complain about one thing, except I wish the days lasted longer! If you are looking for a beautiful venue that has amazing owners and staff, look no further because John and Elizabeth are outstanding.
Emily & Mark Zipprich

This place is awesome!
I was here for a wedding which was phenomenal. We stayed in the old style house on the property. It was spacious, clean, extremely comfortable and had an old world feel. The setting is something right out of a movie. The food was top notch as well.
I would highly recommend anyone looking to plan a wedding in the Finger Lakes region to check out this place.

We were so lucky we came to JJI. I literally spent countless hours trying to find a spot to stay for 2 nights that wasn’t your typical «flowered wallpaper» B&B. My honey and I were celebrating our 1 year anniversary, and I’ve always wanted to go to Ithaca. I didn’t know the area very well, so I was looking all over the fingerlakes. I chose this one, and I am glad I did. When we arrived, we were perched upon rolling hills of farmland – EXACTLY what I was looking for! Quintessential.
I live in Philadelphia, and I’ve worked for some of Philadelphia’s most talented chefs (aka I am a food snob ;). The first night we arrived, we were lucky enough to come on a night they were having their monthly dining night. We had the tasting menu. SENSATIONAL!!! The portions were insanely huge, the food was simply exquisite. INcredible from start to finish, including the local-​made ice cream from literally down the road (not available for public consumption – we were so lucky to get to try it!) as well as the local wine selection at the restaurant. WOW! We had an incredible Pinot local to the Finger Lakes (oh no, the name has escaped me…).
We stayed in a beautiful room with a fireplace and jacuzzi. The owner, John, was very accommodating, suggesting the perfect places to visit (the better side of the lake for the wineries…), but left us alone and didn’t involve himself in our business.
John’s breakfast was probably of the best I’ve ever had, everything made to perfection with subtle detail hit straight at the mark (maple smoked bacon — YES! Farm-​fresh eggs — YES!)…cooked perfectly… YES.
John’s a saint… and I’ll tell you why:
We were having a great time in the jacuzzi the evening before we left, and I was so clever to remember the details — including candles for ambience. One wrong turn, and one of the beautiful robes he left in the room for us to use went up in flames! We were absolutely mortified. We felt awful.
We immediately went online to see just how much these fancy robes cost so we would be prepared to pay. Let’s just say they weren’t cheap.
The next morning at breakfast, we knew we had to tell him. Scared and feeling silly, we confessed our blunder, offered to compensate, and John just asked us to pay $ 20…an incredibly generous offering. He insisted even though we mentioned our research findings. He laughed with us, made us feel at ease with the potentially akward situation, and sent us on our way, even more in love with him than we were at first bite.
I cannot recommend this establishment enough. I read some of the previous reviews on here previous to my visit, aware that they were most likely posted by (forgive me for saying this) «entitled folk», so I took them with a grain of salt. Boy was I glad I did. John proved to be NOTHING like the character described below. I urge you, reader, to do the same :)

John, Elizabeth, and the rest of the staff at JJ&E did a fantastic job hosting our 100 person wedding in June 2008. We had several special requests, and John did everything and more that we asked. We found them to be friendly and flexible. Our wedding was outdoors, and the venue is lush and green: hedged garden, trees, apple orchard, and swings. John took care of details, both small and large. For example, we rented and erected an Indian wedding mandap (like a canopy with pillars), and John noticed and made sure that the ceremony tent was raised an extra few feet so that it and the platform would fit underneath.
The best part was the food, which was absolutely delicious and unforgettable. Four years later, friends and family still mention our wedding buffet. John and Elizabeth are graduates of the Culinary Institute of America and, in our opinion, run the best kitchen in the Ithaca area. Many of our guests were from India, and half were vegetarians. John therefore developed a highly-​customized menu for us and magnificently blended Indian flavors with his specialties. Here are a few items from our menu:
— Mustard spiced seared pork tenderloin
— Paneer and couscous cakes with cilantro jalapeño oil
— Spiced eggplant sous vide with toasted cumin seeds
— Cumin and chili crusted seared salmon with mango curry cream sauce
— Spice rubbed lamb shoulder grilled and roasted, served with a curried ginger blueberry purée
— Amazing seared tofu
Elizabeth is the pastry chef and created an incredible tiered spiced carrot cake with cream cheese frosting crusted with candied walnuts. We tried to save the top layer of the cake for freezing, but it was too good: we ate it the next day.
JJ&E is a small, family-​run business. All contact will be with John, who is the chef and manager. Although he is relaxed and does not always return phone calls, John is a professional and excellent at what he does. He gave us a clear timeline of when things would happen, and he took care of things according to that timeline. Nothing fell through the cracks. The pdf package they provide on the website is clear, with tons of information and pricing details. There were no hidden charges, and we felt like we could trust John. We visited a dozen wedding sites in the Ithaca area, and JJ&E was the perfect one for us.

When your daughter announces she is engaged the dream wedding begins to take shape. The John Joseph Inn and Elizabeth Restaurant made that dream come true! From our first planning appointment until the last glass of champagne was empty very detail was perfect. The site is gorgeous, the inn is luxurious, the food is incredible, the service is impeccable, and the experience is amazing! John and Elizabeth’s menu was creative and unique. Our guests were treated like royalty and at the end of the day, when all was said and done, our daughter’s dream day was a reality and full of wonderful memories! Thank you John and Liz!!!

Went here for Cornell graduation weekend. Best dining experience I’ve had in a long time. Food is fantastic and the atmosphere is relaxed and enjoyable. Chef/​Owner John Joseph even came out of the kitchen to walk from table to table after people were finished eating to congratulate them and thank them for coming. Awesome place, wish I had gotten out there (its a solid 10 – 15 minutes up north out of Ithaca) before the last day as a Cornell grad student.

My fiancée and I visited the John Joseph Inn during August 2011 and booked our wedding for 13 months later with the requested deposit. We then proceeded to put all the other event pieces in place, including Church, photographer, flowers, music, makeup, hotels, transportation. With 90% of the planning done we were extremely surprised to receive a call in January 2012 from John Hamilton saying that he had gone through computer updates just before our first meeting last August and had us down for two dates in the computer. After verifying the date we had requested, John informed us that another couple had put their deposit down before us for that weekend. He had double booked and took FIVE months to figure it out and let us know.
On the day we found out, John stated multiple times that this had never happened before, that he would do anything to make it right, that it made him sick to his stomach and that he would refund us our initial deposit and any other vendor deposits lost due to change of date or venue. I asked him if he could recommend another suitable venue in the area since I had a 200 person wedding planned. His response to me was «no I really can’t» and pompously implied that no other venue matched the class of the John Joseph Inn.
With the venue booked for our date and John’s attitude less than helpful we asked for our deposit back and provided a list of other vendors whose deposits would be affected. This is when John began to backpedal contacted our vendors without letting us know what he was doing. After attempting to «make a deal» with each of our vendors, John presented us with a new wedding date that was agreeable to him, the florist, makeup artist and a completely DIFFERENT church. Our vendors were upset, we were upset, and we were appalled that he would even do something like that. With all the balls in motion, we could not change our date and told him that we wanted our money back. Ten days later we received simply a check for solely the John Joseph Inn deposit. John Hamilton did not have the professionalism to provide a note, to follow up, or to carry through on his initial offer to cover our losses with other vendors.
We ended up having to go back to step one to find a venue and resulted in moving our wedding 150 miles away in order to meet our needs. Fortunately most of our other vendors were understanding and helped out. We did though lose plenty of our own time and money and are extremely disappointed in John’s handling of the situation before, during and after. I would not recommend this as a wedding venue to anyone that wasn’t willing to deal with a pompous, unprofessional service.

We got married here this past weekend, and it could not have gone better. We chose John Joseph Inn for its locale in the countryside, its understated elegance, and most importantly, the phenomenal food. We arranged for a 7-​course tasting for our 60 guests, and John prepared a delicious, well-​crafted dinner and paired each course with a different wine.
As can be expected with any wedding, we experienced a couple small glitches, but they were expertly dealt with by proprietor John Hamilton and his staff: We had to move the ceremony inside at the last minute due to the weather, and then I managed to goof up the table cards, requiring the waitstaff to add more place settings at the last minute.
John took care of everything with the grace, calm, and professionalism that can only come from years of experience. He is very laid-​back and can occasionally be difficult to reach, but not to fear — he has everything under control. We made many special requests, from a special Champagne that we wanted him to order for us, to the arrangement of the tables in the restaurant. John made it all happen!

We had a large group there (around 30) and the food was very good, and the setting was wonderul, but the help was somewhat clueless in terms of setting the table with the proper silverware, and they couldn’t seem to serve the same amount of the main entrée. I was given around a 4 ounce steak whilst others were given around a 8 to 10 ounce steak. Other than that they hadn’t alloted enough time between parties, as we were rushed out for another group.

Their food quality varies depending on how many people they are serving. If you go there with a large group of people or if they have all their tables filled, the food quality may not be at their best level since they just have one person serving and one person cooking. When I went there in a group of four people around 8pm when most of the customers are about to leave, my friends and I did have a great night there with both food and service in exceptional quality. But when I went there in a group of 12 people while other tables are also filled, we got cold food and slow service. So make sure that you are not going there when it is their peak season and peak hour, if you want to have the best experience of their food and service.

My BF and I took advantage of a
offer by dining at Elizabeth Restaurant. It’s a rustic, off the radar destination on the outskirts of Ithaca, basically in the middle of nowhere. It was dark when we arrived and the parking area was hard to find since there are no signs or lights. Initially, it was kind of scary; we felt like we were about to become a real life horror movie.
A lack of cars in the parking lot led us to believe we were going to be the only guests in the restaurant, so when several cars pulled in shortly after we did, we felt more at ease.
The restaurant itself is lovely, featuring a charming and elegant Grandma’s –house– meets– barn interior. The jazz music and Adele songs playing further enhanced the atmosphere. We chose the 3 course prixe fixe tasting menu. I commend the owner/​chefs on their menu and execution. The choice of ingredients was perfect for their location and style of restaurant. Every dish was very simple, yet executed to perfection. Flavor profiles were nothing too adventurous, but when you have a perfectly cooked piece of meat that is seasoned just right, you don’t need any exotic additions. I also had the most perfectly cooked and seasoned asparagus that I’ve ever had in my life. To some, that may not sound impressive, but if you’ve ever had perfectly cooked asparagus then you know how awesome it is. I fell in love with their desserts as well. The homemade piece of pumpkin pie was just what I had been needing to satisfy my seasonal pumpkin cravings.
The only complaint we had was the portion sizes. For a multi course tasting menu, the portions were huge! Typically I live by the school of thought that the more good delicious food you have, the better. However these portions were just too large. I was pretty full after 3 bites of second course and I still had 30 some left in addition to a big dessert. Nevertheless don’t let that deter you from trying this culinary gem hidden in the country. Due to its location, I’m under the impression that this place does not see much business. However it is probably one of the best restaurants in the whole Ithaca region and should definitely be on the foodie radar.

In the beginning, we were thrilled with the JJ&E. At first blush, it’s an idyllic old country inn in the upstate NY countryside that has been restored after a fire burned it down years ago. Being that we live in San Francisco, CA and were planning a wedding 3,000 miles away, we were pressed for time while we were visiting Ithaca and luckily, the owner was available to meet with us briefly. The owner was in great spirits, due to the fact that he had fallen out of a tree the day before while trimming it (yes, he’s the gardner, too. More on this later) and he was on heavy pain medication. He went on to tell us about how how we could consider the inn «our home». It sounded like a dream. However, shortly after our initial meeting all of our positive feelings about this place disappeared.
–The owner was completely unable to respond to phone calls or emails in a timely manner. It took over a month of emailing to get his «approved vendor list». When I finally got him on the phone, his agitated reply was «I’m sure I sent those to you, but fine, I’ll do it again». Dude, seriously, it’s a vendor list… not the recipe for your secret sauce. Put it on your friggin’ website.
–No food or cake tasting… ever. Your options are to either implicitly trust that everything will taste amazing, or pay for an expensive dinner when the restaurant happens to be open. Of course, the food they’re serving at dinner that night may or may not be the same food that you’ll have at your wedding, so you’ll just have to imagine what your food will taste like. What? You live 3,000 miles away? Too bad, no exceptions, no tasting for you.
–Prices for alcohol are astronomical. I fully understand paying more for excellent gourmet food, but the JJ&E prices for a full open bar are the highest in the Ithaca area. At one point during our second meeting, after explaining that I love gourmet beer and we’d like to incorporate that into the wedding, the owner flatly refused and yelled at me (yes, yelled) that «YOU WILL HAVE BUD LIGHT AT YOUR WEDDING!», basically indicating that he was planning on charging us astronomical fees for top shelf alcohol and then planned on pushing the least expensive options to our guests. What? You want a nice Belgian Trippel with that $ 80 gourmet meal? Screw you.
–The grounds, on a Sunday morning in the middle of the summer were very poorly kept. Hedges needed trimming, grass needed to be mowed, pots with no plants, dead flowers in the garden. Obviously they needed to hire a part time or full time groundskeeper.
–During our first meeting, he made it sound like we could customize the event to our liking. During our second meeting (after we gave him our deposit) he was only concerned about telling us what we couldn’t do than what we could. No, you can’t hang lights on the porch. No, you can’t have specialty beer or wine at the wedding, no, no, no. He was obsessed about the idea of people bringing alcohol into the inn and keeping it in their rooms and told us that he «knew it would happen» so he would not allow us to order our alcohol on a consumption basis. Instead, he mandated that we had to have a full bar @ $ 45 per person for our rehearsal dinner or no alcohol at all!
–For our second meeting, a Sunday morning at 10:00am, he showed up completely hungover, in a dirty old t-​shirt, shorts and flip flops, barely able to stay awake. It’s understandable that the night before was a wedding and he was up late, but as a professional, he should have either had someone else meet with us, or reschedule the meeting for later in the day. Instead, he repeatedly made us feel as if we were inconveniencing him by making him spend time with us when he obviously needed to go to sleep.
–The owner obviously needs more help. He appears to consider himself «Superman» and tries to do everything himself. Gardening, head chef, wedding coordinator, inn keeper. He says he can do everything and fails because he’s burnt out. The wedding brochure specifically states that the JJ&E will provide a «wedding coordinator» for the day of the event. Guess who the «wedding coordinator» is? Yup, the same guy who should be in the kitchen, cooking our gourmet $ 80/​pp dinners.
–Refused to return our $ 1000 deposit 9 months before the event when we explained that we were no longer going to use the JJ&E for our venue because what he promised during our first meeting (when he was high on pain medication) was contradictory to what he told us in our second meeting, which constitutes false advertising. When we requested the refund, he laid into me for 10 minutes, yelling at me and telling me how I «wasted his time» and I needed to hire a lawyer if I wanted my money back. When I tried to start to give him the reasons I listed above, he HUNG UP THE PHONE ON ME.
So, bottom line. If you want an expensive wedding run by a snobby, overworked jerk, this is exactly the place for you. If you want a genuine, intimate experience customized to your liking, look elsewhere.

One of the best restaurants I have been to in a long time. The style and location of the place totally clashes with the dishes that are being served in a good way. The restaurant has a very warm atmosphere, but yet the food surprises you with its wild and risqué flavors and traditional elements of cooking mixed together. The steak and the duck are to die for. I have eaten filet mignon at many swanky restaurants, and Elizabeth toped them all.
Great wine selection, great service. You are not being rushed by anyone, so you can enjoy your time after your meal seating in this cozy place with your companion or friends.
Anyway, I am definitely going back to this place again when I’ll be in Ithaca next time. Soon I hope.

The John and Joseph Inn was a very quaint, yet modern bed and breakfast that we enjoyed for two nights. Only around 15min away from Cornell University, we thought it was just far away enough to experience the rustic life.
We stayed at the largest room, the Linda Marie Room, and the accomodations were comforting. We had a nice large bed that had luxurious comforter and pillows. The bathroom was extremely nice with a large tub for two. The common area had some finishing to do but otherwise the room was perfect.
The owners were very accomodating, allowing us nice towels and cleaning the room as if we never stayed there. We were the only guests this particular week so whenever we wanted to eat, they were available.
The food was amazing and probably the best part. John cooked up a delicious pumpkin pancake with fresh coffee for breakfast. For dinner, we were treated to the usual dinner menu and my wife and I enjoyed a truly glorious meal.
We would recommend this bed and breakfast with the maximum stars. When we do take a trip to Ithaca, we will make sure to stay at John and Joseph Inn.

Okay, we stayed at this place for 3 nights and it was wonderful. John was super-​nice in taking us at the last minute, the room was gorgeous, and the extras (fireplace, in-​room whirlpool tub, flat-​screen TV) so needed after a hellish red-​eye from San Francisco. Little, lovely perks like big, fluffy towels and robes, and an actually comfortable bed.
Only (only!) things that could be improved: not sure why, but you can’t actually find this place on a Google or Yahoo maps (it’s on Rt. 34 in Lansing, 15 min. from downtown Ithaca) and the door to the bathroom was swollen and wouldn’t close all the way. THAT’S IT. Everything else was wonderful.
Totally worth it to stay a few miles outside of Ithaca. Very easy, picturesque drive into town. In fact, we stayed in another B&B on the West side of the lake and were so claustrophobic there we debated checking into the Super 8 just to get away from the wallpaper. I’ll take John Joseph Inn any day. Big rooms, clean, friendly, luxurious. GO THERE. Support these lovely people.