The Ivy

A strange combination of fantastic food and extremely impolite staff.

We have a table without time restriction and after 2 hours at the middle of dessert been insistently asked to move to a bar. Unbelievable behaviour for any high class restraint.
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5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Monday, March 14, 2011

We visited The Ivy for lunch on Friday 11th March 2011. My husband had booked the table as a surprise and was getting increasingly concerned when he read some of the reviews on this site. We were very impressed with the decor, the atmosphere was great, the food superb and the service very friendly, attentive but no intrusive. The price was very reasonable considering you are in the heart of the capital. We hope to visit again very soon.
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Heidi Tripp
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Saturday, March 12, 2011

I went to 'the Ivy' to celebrate my Fathers Birthday for Sunday lunch 5th March , Having been to 'the Ivy' 2 years ago, I was very excited about going back as we had previously had exceptional food. Unfortunately, there are few words adequate to describe our disappointment.

We had checked our coats in, we were left loitering at the door without being greeted by anyone. Then we were told off for being 10mins early. 30 mins later I assume they had forgotten about us, the same waiter moaned that the previous diners were running later. The same rude waiter then tried to take our pre drinks away and then complained if we were leaving or eating.

We were then shown to our table and presented with the menus. 30 minutes later we were asked , if we were ready to place our order, we said yes, and were then promptly told in a non-apologetic manner, most of the things we wanted to order weren't available,

The starters finally arrived nearly 2hrs after we arrived My starter looked liked it had been sitting for some time. We had to ask for water refills on several occasions and one of the glasses was cracked.

The main courses were not special over priced and poor quality fish and chips -

Baked potatoes that were dry and looked like they frozen or really bad quality pub food

The Rhubarb dessert redeemed an otherwise disappointing afternoon

I did wonder why it was so easy to get booked when only booked the a week in advance. I would not go back and suggest your try anywhere else if you have a special occasion.
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Neil Bailey
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Whenever we get to London,I try and take my wife to the Ivy(we have been several times).On the last occasion we were allocated the table for 2 hours,you would think that we were allocated 20minutes.I had to remind our waiter that I would have the food served when we were ready,and not at their behest.Our meals were very ordinary(compared to our other visits)and the service disgraceful.We were seated near the area where they collected the food,and we noticed that the food was left a considerable length of time.

Our waiter who was obviously suffering with chapped lips decided to apply some form of lip salve with his fingers,and then proceed to wipe his fingers in his pinny.

I like a fellow contributor to this site decided to write a letter to the director of Caprice Holdings who has responsability for The Ivy,and as I expected got no response.

We would never visit the Ivy again(not that would bother them),I would however advise anyone considering visiting the Ivy,think again.It has deteriorated considerably,and now it is extremely poor value.
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R.L.Geddes
4 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Recently went to the Ivy for my 1 year and of course because of all the hype and celebrity spotting I was SO excited to go, when we got there i was not impressed with the decor, the service was good but could be better, food was good but just as good and tasty as any other restaurant I have been before - and yes maybe the VIP area is a lot different but I would not go back again!
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Lauren - View all reviews by this user
5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Monday, February 07, 2011

We booked for a Sunday lunchtime having eaten at The Ivy before on several occassions on both business and pleasure. On arrival we were not offered a drink or advised of any 'specials'. Our water glasses were left empty and we had to ask more than once to have them re-filled.

The most disappointing thing is we provided feedback to The Ivy via their on-line feedback form and were ignored. After chasing for a response we were advised that our comments had been passed on to the management and they would be in touch. Once more we heard nothing so we contacted them again and were told the same thing again. After several more weeks and no response we gave up. We will definitely not be going back!
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3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Friday, February 04, 2011

we arrived at the ivy 15 minutes early, was greeted by a friendly bar member, who told us our table wasnt ready so therefore would we like to have a drink, our table was booked at 8pm. eventually we were seated at 8.15pm. clothed table pulled out, and as we sat, the table was pushed right up to our gut. the waiters were efficient, there wasnt really anything me and my partner fancied on the starters, so we went straight for mains, over priced fish n chips, with a so called pea puree, which were obviously frozen peas, mashed down with mint, shamefull, not even homemade chips, fish was cooked in a light batter, very small tho, and not the hottest either, no side plate, so buttering my crisp bread on the table linen not the ideal situation at all. no one asked if the food was ok, like it or lump it i guess.

pudding, we opted for baked alaska to share, an all time classic, which does say on the menu vanilla ice cream with griotti cherrys and baked meringue, which it should be...oh no, it came as a roulade, wrapped in a thin sponge, a dot of meringue, flamed with griotti cherrys, and in the middle was rasberry sorbet, now ivy, if you want a recipe give me a call.
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paul jones
3 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Monday, January 10, 2011

We'd booked a table for Thu 5th Jan 2011 & having read some of these reviews I wasn't sure whether to cancel the table or not. However we decided to take our chances & I'm so glad we did. The service was good, without being intrusive & the food delicious. We'll most certainly be visiting again.
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9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Saturday, January 08, 2011

First visit to the Ivy yesterday with friends. Bottom line: pretentious, over priced, (eg.G&T a tenner), cramped, slow service, tepid/mediocre food and greasy thumb/finger prints around the edges of the plate. French waiter 'reliably' informed us that the 'fresh sea trout' had been line caught that morning...when asked where? He replied...'Lyon' (approx'300kms from coast).We exploded with laughter (Made mental note to check if tide has risen in SE France as far as Alps?).. another 'special' was the Sunday roast beef, asked waiter where it came from and again absolutely clueless....eventually ordered calves liver ...not impressed, likely the calf was premature and suffering from hardening of the arteries...no side plates for bread and the same waiter scraped the bread crumbs off the table into his hand with a pen !!! We didn't bother with pudding...opted for coffee which again seemed to be a complicated request...thankfully we have a sense of humour!

Would we recommend this place? - yes of course but only if you have money to throwaway and you're not bothered about eating tepid rubbish . Best bit of the meal in fairness was the creamed spinach...nothing else. Don't waste your money.
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2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Monday, January 03, 2011

Table for 4 on Saturday afternoon, started off with a bottle of bubbles in the bar while we studied the menu. Taken to our table which was both delightfully dressed and spacious. Starters both ample and delicious especially the squid and chorizo. Mains excellent 2 rib steaks on the bone, 1 corn fed chicken and 1 pork belly. desserts of baked alaska followed by coffee. All in all absolutley fabulous, champagne, red wine, white wine a couple of peronis, superb 3 course meal and coffee. sublime service and a shade under £400.00. What more can you ask for, it was truly a memorable afternoon. Thank you.
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Gerald Clark
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, November 08, 2010