The Carriage House Café in Ithaca, New York

... is a beautifully restored two-story carriage house with a full-service restaurant on the first floor and an events hall on the second floor, known simply as The Hayloft. Although the original 1850s structure required extensive restoration, a majority of the original material was used in the restorative process. The result is a warm, inviting location, with beautiful details and tremendous character.

Voted Best Brunch in Ithaca by the Cornell Daily Sun, The Carriage House Café serves combined breakfast and lunch fare from 9am to 3pm, Tuesday through Sunday. Our vision is to offer the Ithaca and Cornell communities a comfortable and luxurious place to enjoy the finest quality, hand-crafted food and drinks in a cozy, hospitable environment. Our professional and talented staff is dedicated to customer service excellence and welcomes the opportunity to serve you.
 

A Historic Site Near Cornell University

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, The Carriage House Café's location in Ithaca, New York, dates back over 150 years to when the prominent Gauntlet family built the structure in order to house horses, carriages, and to store hay. With the invention of the Model-T in 1912, the carriage house outlived its usefulness as a shelter for horses, and so, like many other carriage houses, it was converted into a storage facility. Before long, however, the building became the victim of a catastrophic fire that was accidentally set by a tinsmith, and so it sat abandoned for nearly a century.

At the turn of the millennium, Mark Chandler bought the building with a vision for renovating it as a café. After gaining approval from the Ithaca Historic Society, Mark began the slow and difficult process of restoring the building to its original beauty and prestige. He carefully preserved the original wood doors and diamond-shaped windows, selecting just the right fixtures in order to maintain the historic ambiance of this classic fieldstone structure. You'll agree that the result was worth the effort. The Carriage House Café possesses a sort of rustic elegance that makes it a true Ithaca treasure.
 

“One of Our Favorite Restaurants in Upstate New York”

"I've been lucky enough to live in a lot of nice places--both in the US and in Europe--and the Carriage House is easily among the best two or three cafés I've ever enjoyed."  — Matthew

"We are immensely impressed by the commitment to quality creativity that permeates every aspect of the place. From the spectacular food, to the lovingly restored architecture, to the eclectic mix of the music. The attention to detail is evident, appreciated, and unusual." — A Resident Ithacan Couple

"You make our mornings very special. We dream of your savory scones and fantastic Americanos when we go to bed at night. And we are lucky to have our dreams fulfilled the next day!
— Erica, John, Lara