The Ivy

Esther_Laurence

Lively at The Ivy 14th November 2008

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Went there wearing sunglasses indoors. People will think you’re a celebrity, a tw@t or maybe even both. Five of us ate £533.00 worth of food and it was absolutely worth every penny. Highly recommended, if a little noisy.

topruss

The Ivy 24th June 2008

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Love it , the best place for great food and even though you have to book well in advance its all worth it. These guys do the best sunday roast too

Miss_Piggy

Absolutely Special 23rd January 2008

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I booked a table in advance via the internet booking system (very easy and painless). We booked a late lunch with the view that we could stay until about 5pm when the next service started.
It was wonderful, my fiance whos birthday we were celebrating felt "treated" and thought it was lovely. The head waiter and waiting staff were smooth and provided spot on service - advising us on the wine, giving us time to eat,chat and savour the experience.
We will be returning!!
Worth every penny!

Lacrimosa at 31/08/08

Thanks for the tip about booking via the internet... it hadn't occurred to me!

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amandaharrison

Celeb spotting 10th September 2007

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Many moons ago I had an hilarious lunch here, which extended to dinner... We sat next to Ronnie Corbett, who happily signed a napkin. We were on our way out at about 6pm (a little bit drunk? moi?)when we spotted a friend, so we moved to his table.

To our huge delight who was placed at the next table, right in the middle of the restaurant, but Sylvester Stallone, Jennifer Flavin, Melanie Griffiths and Antonia Banderas. My friend spurred on by the vino went to get autographs - all were more than happy except Sylvester Stallone, whose thunderous face turned worse when he hadn't been asked for his. The maitre d' chased my friend away from the table, stalking celebs at their favourite place to be seen is not the done thing, apparently darling.

Brilliant fun. Good comfort food. On various occasions I've been here I've had decent steak tartare and shepherds pie. I can't remember any other dishes. It's a little bit sad but I love The Ivy for being what it is.

Angel_Bury

22nd May 2007

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aaw, I like these guys! The whole difficult to book bit is not a ploy but is governed by you want your supper. If you want a table for 4 at 8pm on the last Friday of the month, you'll have to book up a long time in advance, but slip in where ever they've got space then there's no need to wait. They do have a save a certain percentage of tables at all times for 'regulars' policy - so yes you may show up to find an apparently unfilled dining room. The food is reasonably priced and well executed without too many thrills and embarrassments that your average Joe would have no idea how to eat. What you do get here is service, the creme de la creme of it. Although dining slots are tight - usually two hours, they somehow manange to get you through your meal without feeling it however many courses you opt for, utterly seamless. They've got a kicking wine list too. Check out the other restaurants owned by the same group (Le Caprice, Sheekeys, Scotts) for the same slick, charming surprisingly affordable experience.

Lacrimosa

16th May 2007

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My experience of The Ivy was similar to Sue's, below. My date had apparently got a table at shortish notice by spinning a yarn about my being a special friend over from the US on a flying visit. (Lies!) Like Sue, we were given a narrow time slot, so began our meal by foregoing a starter and just ordering a main course. I plumped for cottage pie, which was small but delicious. When no move was made to oust us from our table - and noticing for ourselves that the restaurant wasn't full to capacity - we then went into reverse by ordering a starter, and left at our leisure. Dare I suggest that the difficulty one has in getting a table at The Ivy is a ploy to keep it exclusive? Certainly the atmosphere is low-key and restful. I liked it.

The celebrity hangout thing is a hoot. I didn't see anyone famous either, but did notice that everyone turned to look at us as we walked to our table - presumably to see if we were 'someone'. We weren't, of course, but it was fun pretending for a moment.

walid at 16/05/07

Ahhh common on I'm sure everyone who turned around instantly recognized you as a top restaurant critique on TrustedPlaces :-)

Lacrimosa at 16/05/07

Ha! Yes, I'm sure you're right - after all, I'm instantly recognisable from my TrustedPlaces profile photo (so long as I'm lying on a rug in strong sunshine).

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sue

West End Celebrity Hangout 7th March 2007

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We wanted to dine somewhere special to celebrate my niece's birthday and the arrival of my sister in London, so we headed to The Ivy, one of London's favourite restaurants and celebrity hangouts.

The Ivy has a warm, relaxed feel. It is stylish but not stuffy. Plenty of professional staff to cater to your needs and food not as expensive as you would expect. Booking about 10 days in advance, I managed to get a table at 6pm on a Sunday evening. At the time of booking, and then again when I confirmed the booking, I was told that we could only have the table from 6pm till 8pm....so was a bit tense when two of our dining companions were 20 minutes late! In the end we weren't pushed out at 8pm, and were able to enjoy dessert and coffee and leave at our leisure.

None of us had a starter as we didn't think we would have time due to our delayed start. For main meals, we had the Fillet of Hake with braised planchada & chorizo; the Fillet of Red Deer with buttered kale and bashed neeps; and the Slow-roast Shoulder of Lamb with caponata. All meals were tasty, especially the Lamb.

For dessert, the boys had the Honeycomb Ice Cream with hot chocolate sauce which was delicious! The ladies had the Chocolate Pudding Soufflé which was also great, but very rich.

We had an excellent meal, though didn't see anyone famous (that we recognised anyway!). I got into trouble for taking photos as soon as we arrived, hence there are no photos of our meal.