September 23, 2009
A medium-large pub that feels like a small cozy pub because of the way it is divided. From the outside you can tell this is not a classy place. The interior is like an old beaten up tavern, the exact opposite of the clean tv-screens-sport-pubs pubs like I see way too often. Beaten up furniture, old memorabilia hanging here and there. You can carve your name on a table and the staff probably won’t say a word. This place has character. Pool tables and other entertainments. Surprisingly large tap selection with over 30 tap lines with the likes of Southern Tier, Sly Fox, Smuttynose, Ithaca, etc. No rare finds or crazy beer here. Not the type of place that would sell $10/pint beer either. I didn’t eat there and I don’t remember seeing a food menu. If they have food it’s probably nachos at best. While the other main beer bar in town (Pixel Lounge) seems to attract the hip college crowd, the Chapter House crowd seems to be more for the bum/artsy/laidback style. I felt very comfortable in this pub. They seem to have bands playing there on a regular basis. A must if you don’t mind a nonchalant place on the left side of things.

November 21, 2008
In my four years of living in Ithaca I never visited this place. I always meant to, but just never got around to it. I finally made my way over there while visiting a friend and man do I wish I had gone more often while living there. On a Thursday night at around ten, it was not very crowded or loud at all. There is a choice in three main rooms, with one of them being a place for a group of friends to share a few pints, and another having pool tables if that be what you’re looking for. The list of brews on tap there is quite impressive. About 50 or so taps with mostly US micro brews. Nice selection from Stone and others out in California to Ithaca beers brewed right down the road. The only complaint was that one of the Stone IPAs I had there was a bit off. It could have been the batch, but it also could have been sitting in the keg too long, not too sure. Overall a great place to go for some good beer and never have to have the same brew twice in a night. Oh yeah and free popcorn. Reviewed o

October 31, 2008
Établissement visité le mercredi 15 octobre vers 21h. Ambiance: Moitié pub avec un long bar et téléviseur. Moitié vieille table et banc décoré de vieilles photos de finissants de l’université Cornell. Section billard et machine à boule. Service: Un peu sec. Sélection: Environ 40 fûts de microbrasseries américaines et d’importations anglaises. (116 rating d’établissement)

December 4, 2007 [ Updated April 20, 2009 ]
A trip to C-House was the highlight of my Cornell weekend. It is my understanding that they no longer brew their own, which is a shame: two pints of the Russian Imperial Stout made climbing Williams Street significantly more challenging than before said pints. And let us not forget the hand-mixed root beer. Nice. Great setting, great vibe -- the place is filled with Cornellians and I.C. girls looking for intelligent conversation (and a guy with a trust fund, truth be told).

October 9, 2007
Live Music on the occasional Saturday night. Best beer selection in Ithaca’s Collegetown. Mainly grad students and older crowds. Does a good job of not being too rowdy, tough on IDs. Of the beers that are offered, none are really that impressively rare, yet the selection is solid and the number of beers on tap is an accomplishment for a bar in the Ithaca area.

August 5, 2007
Love it. Older crowd than the rest of the bars in Collegetown - staff, profs, grad students. Obviously gets busy on the weekends, but the staff does ID and thus it never gets stupid here. Bare bones wooden benches notched up, nooks and crannies, pool tables, Cornelliana all over the walls. Beer-wise, nothing tough to find but a very solid selection from well-traveled micros and locals like MA, Ithaca, Rooster Fish. Best bar in Ctown; quite possibly the best in Ithaca. Park on the road if you’re lucky; if not there’s a garage on Dryden Rd up a couple blocks.

August 17, 2006
Possibly one of the best places to have a pint I have been to in the states. I used to go their often after jazz gigs in Ithaca. Completely covered in the history of Cornell. The place has been around for 100+ years and went through a major fire in ’72. The quintissential Ivy League bar with about 50 taps that rotate regularly. You won’t find any really hard to finds and you might find some beer that is past it’s prime, but you cannot beat this place when it comes to ambiance. The downstairs bathrooms add to this.

August 6, 2006
This college bar has been around for decades, and it prides itself on its history. It’s dark and fairly dingy, and the regulars wouldn’t want it any other way. What it offers these days, in addition to that ambiance, is a fairly impressive tap list. Among the local beer bars, it seems to have the best selection.