Kerbside pickup
Yes
Balloons Restaurant & Catering in Auburn
Categories
Location on the map
Auburn, Cayuga County, New York, US
Service options
No-contact delivery
Yes
Takeaway
Yes
Dine-in
Yes
Delivery
No
Health and safety
Staff required to disinfect surfaces between visits
Yes
Highlights
Great coffee
Yes
Great dessert
Yes
Popular for
Dinner
Yes
Solo dining
Yes
Accessibility
Wheelchair-accessible car park
Yes
Wheelchair-accessible entrance
Yes
Wheelchair-accessible seating
Yes
Wheelchair-accessible toilet
Yes
Offerings
Alcohol
Yes
Beer
Yes
Cocktails
Yes
Coffee
Yes
Comfort food
Yes
Healthy options
Yes
Kids' menu
Yes
Small plates
Yes
Spirits
Yes
Vegetarian options
Yes
Wine
Yes
Dining options
Dinner
Yes
Catering
Yes
Dessert
Yes
Seating
Yes
Amenities
Bar on site
Yes
Good for kids
Yes
High chairs
Yes
Toilets
Yes
Atmosphere
Casual
Yes
Cosy
Yes
Historic
Yes
Romantic
Yes
Crowd
Family friendly
Yes
Groups
Yes
LGBTQ+ friendly
Yes
Tourists
Yes
Planning
Dinner reservations recommended
Yes
Accepts reservations
Yes
Payments
Debit cards
Yes
Phone: +1 315-252-9761
Site: http://www.balloonsrestaurant.net/
Site: http://www.balloonsrestaurant.net/
Opening hours
- Monday:Closed
- Tuesday:4:30–8:30PM
- Wednesday:Closed
- Thursday:4:30–8:30PM
- Friday:4:30–9:30PM
- Saturday:4:30–9:30PM
- Sunday:Closed
Comments (199)
I ordered the rattlesnake pasta and it was amazing. You gotta try it if you go.
We used Balloons to cater our at home wedding with 150 guests. Jess and her family/workers are amazing! All my guests raved about how good the food was, especially their alfredo pasta :) Jess met with us multiple times to help with timing and set-up and even came out to our house prior to get a feel for the location. She responded to emails promptly and helped the whole night go seamlessly. I never had to worry about a thing, I found out later one of the girls broke her hand on glass from a picture frame that fell and my mom said she didnt complain at all cleaned up her hand and frame and kept working. The bartender had my fathers drink ready for him as soon as she saw him come up, they set up our own dessert table, and cleaned up right after the event. They were the best vendor I used for my wedding and I know our wedding would have not gone was smoothly without them. We will be using them for other future family events and weddings!
Amazing food and service. I recently moved to the area and Balloons was highly recommended by several local people....definitely lived up to its reputation. We had steaks and they were flavorful and cooked to perfection. Our waiter John was awesome...another reason we will return to this delightful place.
Phenomenal!!! Dinner was spot on and service was AWESOME 👌 👏 👍 Thank you John S!!
Our favorite place to dine with friends when we are in NY. Food is wonderful consistently, service amazing. Staff remembers the last time we were there over a year ago!. Menu choices are interesting and different. Be sure to ask for the drunken meatballs! Owner makes you feel at home, our waiter Bob created a great drink for me and is attentive beyond belief!!
The very definition of a neighborhood find. The food was spectacular, the steak was cooked exactly as ordered. And the salmon with spinach, artichokes, and black olives was spectacular. The staff was friendly and the service was spot on.
Waiter was excellent and very knowledgable of menu and specials. Very good descriptions of specials. Food was delicious. I personally had a broiled scallops with a lemon cream sauce drizzle on a bed mushroom rissoto and topped with asparagus. 😍 My husband had the Drunkin Ribeye was a little overcooked, ordered blue came medium rare, but delicious non the less! Well worth the money! We each had a big salad, cup of 4 cheese potato soup, appetizer, main course and dessert bill was about $115.00. This is also with 4 alcohol drinks and the bread basket with AMAZING dip sauce/oil. All in all fantastic food, chef nailed the scallops and rissoto, fair price and I am stuffed! You should not leave hungry! Give it a try!
For an Italian American Steakhouse its one of the best around good food good drink the owner, Bernie, is often greeting people in the dining room. Jessica, the bartender, pours a great drink, a lot of friends and family everybodys friendly at the bar and they also do wonderful catering.
Went on a Friday night with a party of 4. Friendly hostess met us quickly and seated us within a few minutes. Waiter was outstanding, friendly, professional and knowledgeable about the menu. One person in our party has some dietary restrictions, the waiter was very helpful and accommodating her needs. Appetizers came to the table quickly and at the proper temperature. Main course was a home run. Cooked to perfection and delicious. Never asked for more water as the staff was attentive and kept our water glasses full. Prices are fair for high quality food and outstanding service. Atmosphere is dated but that’s part of the charm.
Food was some of the best Ive had in years. Service was amazing. Wait staff was fantastic. 10/10 will definitely be going again!
For someone who calls themselves a steakhouse they should be embarrassed. What an absolute joke. I would have taken a $12 steak from chili’s over their $36 brick of charcoal. The only steakhouse I’ve event been to that can burn a steak and undercook it, not once but twice.
Very good steak and Italian food. The special poutine appetizer was delicious! John is the best waiter!
Excellent food, great little place to eat and have a few cocktails
I have been to this restaurant numerous times. Was here celebrating my sons birthday, had a very good steak supper. My Son, daughter-in-law, and grandson also very much enjoyed there meals. We have never been disappointed.
Went for first time, dinner was absolutely amazing! Our server John was outstanding! He was friendly, patient (had a small hyper child in tow), knowledgeable on everything, without a doubt best service Ive experienced while dining. Highly recommend if you have not been to add to list of places to go.
Excellent food and atmosphere! You may not realize that this place exist without word of mouth about the fantastic dinning experience of others. The staff took our out of the blue party of 14 in stride and welcomed us in. They delivered our meal perfectly coordinated to our entire party at the same time. Also should mention the staff worked as a team to ensure we had a great dining experience.
My first time and the gorgonzola medallions were perfect. The whole service is great
I couldnt say enough about the staff and food at Balloons. From the ordering of the Thanksgiving Day meal to the confirmation and pick up of the food, the experience was nothing but wonderful! The food was delicious and the price was more than reasonable. Thank you to everyone at Balloons!!
Had dinner here tonight for the first time ever and thought it was great! Our waiter, John, was fantastic! The food was excellent! Highly recommend! By the way I we had my 2 year old grandson with us and the staff there were so nice to him. I cant wait to go back.
I am not a steak eater. But this is still one of my favorite places to go. The pork chop is phenomenal , and their specials are usually spot on, whether its the seafood or the duck breast.
Exclusive personable I love this restaurant delicious menu, not cheap but for the reason the food is excellent as is the service
This is a first class throwback to the old fashioned steakhouses. Male waiters that know their foods and menus inside out. Very professional and courteous and prompt service. The chef is outstanding. The selection is varied and each entree prepared to perfection. Atmosphere, congeniality are A1.
We came in around 4:40p after waiting 40-50 minutes to be seated because it was busy. We didn’t have a waitress until 15-20 minutes later. The wait time for the food was approximately an hour long since we got our food around 5:50p. When we got our food, the roll was really dry, the fries were regular soggy plain fries when they claimed that it was beer fries and was charged an extra $2 as an upgrade from their chips. At 6:07p, our waitress seemed to be kicking us out after only having our food for a little more than 15 minutes. Additionally, we had to ask for a water refill. The food was overpriced for average type food. Do not recommend.
The service was fantastic the food was delicious. The restaurant doesnt look like much and its across the street from the prison, but its a local gem. The food portions are huge. We all had at least half to take home with us. There was an octopus appetizer as a special that we tried. It was grilled and put with some prosciutto and greens & beans. It was very flavorful!
I ordered the rattlesnake alfredo because it sounded different. turns out its alfredo sause with taco seasoning in it. kinda gross.
Bernie always does a great job and this is one of our favorite restaurants. We tried their takeout tonight and it was excellent. You get what you pay for, and we most certainly did! I recommend trying it all.
Great atmosphere of a vintage bar and grill. The portions are plenty large and delicious
Amazing food with a good amount ofood. I had leftovers for two meals. I highly recommend they!!!
We have been here many times. Tonight was very disappointing. There were six in our party celebrating my dadss 80th birthday. The ribeye snd peppercorn strip steak were very tough. The rest of the dishes were good. The service was terrible. It started out okay, but then the restaurant got busy and the service dropped off. We asked for coffee for my Dad and it never came... coffee! It will be awhile before we return. For a >$300 bill we expect better.
Ordered from Balloons tonight and got their Family Style Selection 2:Roasted Turkey w. Gravy | Mashed Potatoes |Fresh Broccoli | Mixed Green Salad | Italian BreadBoth Selections Feed 5 PeopleThe food was outstanding!
My favorite place to eat in Auburn! A real old school steak house with delicious food. I always order the drunken ribeye because it is sooooo melt in your mouth good, but if I want to mix it up, Ill order the peppercorn steak. Also really like the rattlesnake pasta! Great staff, great food.
Their catering is sorely lacking in attention and details. The silver ware was rusty and stained as well as not enough to put salad forks at the settings or have dessert forks for the cake table. Their crudite table did not have any utensils for the guests to pick up the items (not even toothpicks) and was not built up -food items were put directly on the linen table cloth. It went down hill from there. Maybe just a bad night as I checked references which were good. However, I have enjoyed dinner at their restaurant.
I can not speak for the restaurant side of Balloons, only catering. Balloons catered my daughters wedding last night at the frog pond in Skaneateles, The girl managing the catering and the wait staff were very nice and professional. But I cant say very much for the food, the past appetizers were good but the celery on the crudités was dirty and nothing for the dinner was like we saw or tasted at the tasting we did at the restaurant. Everything was COLD, the salmon came out in a chunky mass, the carrots had hardly any glaze on them and the beef did not look very appetizing .the coffee was cold on the dessert table as well. I was extremely disappointed. I know the venue has no kitchen facilities but the caterer assured us that they had done several weddings at this venue and were prepared to deal with that . I have been bragging to everybody how great the food was at our tasting and was extremely disappointed that was NOT what we got. I would not recommend using this caterer.
This is the second wedding reception (7/13/18) I have attended that was catered by Balloons restaurant. Cocktail hour was decent with crackers, cheese, salami and shrimp cocktail. The main meal was terrible! The rolls were dry/hard. The salad had rotted, blackened lettuce. The carrots and the green beans were swimming in water, flavorless. The potatoes were hard/undercooked. The baked ziti wasnt baked, just boiled to mush and covered in sauce. The chicken was also swimming in water, undercooked and seemed to have been only parboiled. The shaved beef was also swimming in liquid and was gone by the time our tables were called. The event was understaffed. Two women working the buffet, the bar, bussing tables. Our table didnt get cleared for over an hour after dinner was over. Horrendous experience. I wouldnt recommend this place to feed my dog. If I could have given it a zero I would have.
Took 15 mins to get seated. I was out with friends and we all agreed to split the bill. We were told by our waiter “does it look like I have a computer? I just have pen and paper. Figure it out.”. We thought that he was kidding at first until he brought out the bill and said “who gets stuck with the bad news” after a meal for 6 people. We all had cards and a little amount of cash on us. I then offered to pay the bill until one of my friends decided to just take it to the bar to attempt to split it so I would not have to. The waiter then had to go through the bill and split it on different checks anyway (which took 10-15mins). I don’t understand why that could not have been done in the beginning of the meal and on top of the attitude it was a no go. The hostess was amazing and we cash tipped her at the end of the meal. Also the table behind us was drunk blurting the N word and talking about men not being able to “get it up” for most of our meal. I will not be going back there.
Great food tremendous service from John the waiter Balloons is a hidden gem with great value for your dollar Ill be back for sure
We love supporting a local business like this with this much history...but when it comes to the quality of food and for the price... Tonight it just didnt equate or match up to the cost...Food was subpar on 2/15/19 at 8pm... Service was good... Waiter was good... But food lacked alot of flavor ...In the long run I wanted to go to somewhere else but decided to stay local to support local business. I grew up here ,never been there and wanted to try it out...Was the hype dissapointing yesThere was a lack of flavor in both our dishes... Way too much pasta... Which probably soaked up alot of flavor...We were excited to give it a try but ... Wish we chose otherwise...In the long run it wasnt worth the cost...Also the conversations the waiters were having were entertaining yet unprofessional...It just wasnt a 30 dollar dish that night. ... Neither of them. Nothing was spoiled the food just wasnt good in comparison to the cost.
A solid steakhouse. My delmonico was more medium overall than the med-rare I had ordered (and med-well in places), but was flavorful and reasonably-priced. The stuffed mushroom appetizer was delicious. Our server, Noah, was excellent.
The food is amazing, everything I ate was seasoned and cooked perfectly. If you have a refined palate and enjoy a great cut of steak, this is the perfect place. The atmosphere was pleasant as well.
Great food. One of the best restaurants in Auburn.
Fabulous food and fabulous team!
Great place to eat. Nice and cozy atmosphere. Great service, chicken alfredo, ceasar salad were great. banana cream pie was perfect. Will definitely eat there again, if I go back to Auburn
Very nice atmosphere. Great service. Wait staff was very attractive. Food was Amazing.
Food and service was simply fantastic once we finally got a table. Despite our reservation, still waited 45 minutes later to get a table. Great food and very good table service definitely 5 stars otherwise.
Excellent food with very good staff. Its location is a bit different and hard to find, but food and service wise this is an excellent place to go. Far superior to its competitors.
Tonight’s takeout antipasto salad was everything and more! It’s like dining in the restaurant in the good old days. Highly recommend Balloons for quarantine takeout. You can’t go wrong.
I love Balloons. Reminds me of old fashioned Italian places on the North side of Chicago. It has great urban vibes in a smallish city. Places like Balloons keep Auburn authentic. Im not from there, but I love it.
3 years ago we had awesome experiences, food was perfect very time. Last week i ordered a medium well drunkin ribeye, I was served a rare tough ribeye. Very disappointed
Dont let the location or outer appearance of this old-fashioned establishment scare you away. We had a very nice dinner with excellent service. Will visit again!
Excellent waiter John made great suggestions. Food was excellent as was the service.
Wow, little neighborhood place in the middle of Auburn with top notch food. Excellent steaks and good pasta, fantastic service. Looking forward to going back again.
Fabulous food and the best table service from John. He is definitely worth asking for!
Best steak in New York john will take great care of your
This is a place for delicious food , great price points for your meal. Easy to find. No parking lot but parking near the building. Family favorite for years. A+
Steaks are excellent. Feels like stepping in a time machine, I doubt the place has changed since it opened. Waiters, all men, are friendly and know the menu inside and out. Service can be slow at times but food is excellent.
I had a great steak here, excellent wine. Good service, good food, unique place given the scenery and far exceeded my expectations.
Food is excellent, some of the staff is less than enthused to be at work for some reason sadly
Always great! Thanks everyone 😊
We showed up to do dinner for some family and we had the room in the back corner. When we first showed up we noticed about 9 flies around the room.. the resturant is outdated and dingy.. if you want to eat somewhere around dead and live flies than be my guest.
Chicken parm delicious
Another great meal,service, Friendly atmosphere. Great place to eat. I have beenGoing to Balloons since the seventies. 😉
Great food and service as always !!!
Very nice family restaurant. A little dated on the furnishings but Ive never had a bad meal, in fact food is very good.
Meal was good, but they need to do better with the salad.
Favorite restaurant in Auburn. They always have good specials but there’s no substitute for the Drunken Ribeye. There’s a lot of history at this place.
Might be my favorite restaurant ever. Great food great service nice atmosphere decent prices great menu selection! Great place!
A bit surprised at the building, i thought dive bar, however my meal was excellent, the waiter was informative. And the whole outing was a 10
The bone in ribeye always melts in your mouth. Risotto done to perfection. Mouthwatering, homemade desserts. A bartender who knows what she is doing🍹🍷🍸🍺
Everything about Balloons is exceptional, the food, the staff, the atmosphere. A place where everyone knows your name - at least they should.
Small restuarant, but big in atmosphere and food was out of this world. Real food, great portions and great bang for your bucks!
ABSOLUTELY amazing!!!!!!!! Food is awesome and our server, Andy was great!!!!!!! Totally worth the trip to Auburn
Awesome drunken ribeye. John was our server. The best. Made our V-day the best ever!
A very well established restaurant. Service is good .Food is a mix of Italian , seafood , and steak and great tasting, good portions.
Best steaks in town! GREAT PRICES for all you get! Love this place. Check it out!
Fantastic food. Always great. A true gem.in our community.
Awesome food, service second only too the food, best service anywhere, highly recommendDo not be fooled by look, or the prison
Excellent food, superb wait staff
Food is always good, great waitstaff. My favorite place to eat in Auburn, best steaks in town.
Salads are plain, if you get the wrong server, itll be a long night, but the food and the other servers are worth any inconvenience.
Cozy, food is amazing, waiter/waitress service superb. Bartender/hostess was lacking considerably or else this would be a 5.
Always excellent food! Cant go wrong going here.
FANTASTIC food... Even BETTER service! Its a great place place to eat! Top notch!
Balloons is the only steakhouse in Auburn!... family tradition...town tradition...and feel free to look over the rest of an excellent menu!
Had reservation for 7:30 came in ten minutes prior to scheduled time. Couldnt find anybody to tell we were hear . Finally found someone. He told me they would come find me . Waited till 7:45 left .
I was a little disappointed. We were seated in the bar area for one thing one of our meals was overcooked.
My New York strip steak was over-cooked and tough. Not the best Ive ever had.
Great, fast service. Large portions. Everyone enjoyed their meal.
There food is soo delicious and the waiters are kind too.
Always delicious food. Treats customers like family. Great prices.
Great food, service and people. Real nice job guys.
Best food and service just as always...keep up the great work...
Good food but alittle pricey! Super friendly workers!
Good food excellent drinks. A little pricey, but I will be back.
Excellent Italian American food with equal service from the staff and especially our waiter Jay
Food and services was amazing...would definitely eat there again
Good food. Pricey but large portions. Friendly staff.
The gentlemen are very professional and do a nice job serving, food was awesome
One of my wifes favorite restaurants. Great food and environment
A great place to with your family.they take good care of you,and the best ever french oion soup :)
I have been a going to this place for 50 years. It has the best steaks and service.
I wish they were back delivering. The steaks they serve are awesome I
Great people, great food and awesome place to take the kids
Great Food, Lovely decoration and friendly staff, i would definitely recommend to anyone
Balloons is a great place for food at a reasonable price. Small restaurant business with a family comfort
Always great food. IMO this is the best place in Auburn.
Had a fantastic meal and will return on our next time going to the theater!!
Excellent steakhouse, great service and wonderful desserts
A real gem. Wonderful food. Dont let the drab outside scare you off.
Its balloons, its always good.
Love going there when we can. Sure was sad to learn Jocko retired
Service was great and food absolutely fantastica
One of the best places to eat in auburn N.Y....Best steak ever...
Catering (take out) food is delicious and always a big hit at our graduation parties.
Great food and the service is impeccable!
I just wanna say this place needs better parking they need to speak to the city of auburn and ask them to give them parking at the bottom of Washington st in Auburn N.Y I suggest they hirer a company to park the cars for them this street is already crowded with the prison wall just saying....$$$$$
Great food great service great steaks thumbs -up
Old school vibe, huge portions. Great food!
Balloons is the best place in Auburn. Been my favorite since 1968.
Awesome dinner and great service.Thanks guys
The best place in Auburn. Food is awesome. The staff is friendly...
Very delicious. Great customer service!
Excellent service but food was at best average
Food was poor and way over priced
Absolutely fantastic food and amazing staff
Simply great dining experience, a must do in Auburn
Awesome spot - Jay and crew are the mvps.
Love love love this place! Best steak in town!
Best food in town...catered our wedding!
Excellent food and excellent service....great experience
Steaks
Balloons reminds me of the showCHEERS. Friendly atmosphere with great food.
They have the best food and personal that are very nice
Excellent service and the food was delicious.
Wonderful time, great food, great friends...
Always great service, food and atmosphere
Great wine list and excellent food.
Great place good food good staff
Always loved Balloons !!! Great food and service ☺ always. Thank You ❗❗❗
Very nice old school place food was great
Best small food joint in Auburn.
Official dinner with good food.
Good food, great waiter.
Everything about our visit was truly exceptional!
John every time! Still my favorite steak place in town.
Drunken Ribeye is the best! Service is awesome
Food was delicious if a little pricey
Great food and friendly service.
Great atmosphere and great servers. A must go!
Great food, great people, great time.
Balloons restaurant serves the best of the best Jon Seeber rocks the house
Very good food & service. It is expensive.
Balloons restaurant serves the best of the best Jon Seeber rocks the house
Excellent!!! My first time and hopefully not my last.
Amazing food and very friendly service
The best ever, great food, love it. 😊
The best steaks in Central New York.
Kitchen was terribly slow and food was cold .
Wonderful food, excellent service
Good food, steaks are the best.
Food is wonderful service great
Friendly place, great food
Great food / Great service!
Upper end food and great service.
Great food and friendly service
Absolutely my favorite steakhouse!!
Excellent food, beverages, quaint atmosphere.
Great food... great service
The food was amazing
Great service and good food
Great Time, Great Food.
Best in Auburn. Good is excellent
Old fashioned decor. I recomend the specials.
Excellent food and service.
Excellent food in an old establishment
Drunken ribeye amazing!
GREAT food and the GREATEST staff
Excellent food and service
Excellent food and service
Love if, excellent food
Great atmosphere and food
Very good food.
Overrated and overpriced
Amazing drunken ribeye
Its a great place
Excellent food and drinks
The best steak.
The food is excellent
Great food
Just 👌 bring lots of 💰
Total reviews rating 4.5
199 Reviews for Balloons Restaurant & Catering 2023:
Review №1
2022-03-20I went on my first date with and got engaged to my fiance here. Such a nice family atmosphere, amazing affordable food. Best service anywhere. Baloons is a gem in Auburn. I love this place!
Review №2
2022-06-01Balloons has been a great restaurant for at least the last 20 years and longer from what I understand. I used to go often as a teenager and coming back 20 years later the quality hasnt changed. Great place to eat!
Review №3
2020-12-07Always loved Balloons I’ve eaten here on a handful of occasions it’s a hometown favorite to me.They do a lot of catering and I send the guest of my vacation rental properties hereWe ate Shrimp Linguini with mushrooms and Sun dried tomatoes in an Alfredo cream sauce and the young Lady with me had Steak Diane both were specials of the day were excellent and were large portions enough for leftovers or a second meal.
Review №4
2022-07-01Chicken Riggies. Kids spaghetti and meatball. Kids tenderloin with spaghetti.
Review №5
2022-01-01Picked up New Years Eve dinner for 2 and it was fabulous. Every hit of the 4 course meal was perfectly prepared, moist & flavorful. Dessert was truly decadent, a great way to enter the new year. Already looking forward to 12/31/22. Thanks to all the staff who made this possible.
Review №6
2022-05-08Went there for a going away dinner for a colleague and was pleasantly suprised by how fantastic the food was. Great selection of appetizers. The sweet chili calamari was my favorite but the scallops were a very close 2nd. The drunken steak sauce was a great touch for any of the steaksWent back for birthday parties last night. The food and staff were awesome again. The lamb chop special, the last one available, was fantastic.
Review №7
2022-01-08Fabulous service and amazing food! I am an old Italian cook myself and absolutely love their food. Cant say enough about this place. A must go to! Wonderful people!
Review №8
2022-06-27This place is old fashioned and the service is excellent. Food is superior in town
Review №9
2021-09-05Let me start by saying this is a hidden gem. There is no sign on the building as it was blown off. I asked about it and they are having trouble finding anyone to reinstall it.Now for the food. If you leave here hungry it’s your own fault. They have two size portions petite and regular on most meals. I’m telling you now that if you order a regular you will be bringing food home with you. Everything on the menu sounded good. I had the lemon butter chicken. It was delicious. The guy next to me ordered the lasagna and it looked like they brought out the whole pan. The own was back in the kitchen cooking and stepped out to the bar area where I was sitting. Very nice guy and great staff. We talked a little as I gave him my praises. I will definitely be back. This is a must try place. Make reservations.
Review №10
2021-04-12Family birthday dinner. My first time there. The food was outstanding and for an Italian American to say this, it has to be outstanding! The service was great and portions were big enough to take home for sure. The place itself is very old style. Will be my first choice whenever I return to Auburn.