The Ivy Avis 

I went to Ivy, Cambridge with my family and friends to celebrate my son's birthday on 15th July. I had what was listed as Full English Vegetarian breakfast. A few hours after, while driving back to London I started to feel stomach cramps. These became very intense, leading to other gastrointestinal symptoms. I called Ivy the next day to give them a feed back in order for them to investigate if there were avoidable issues. The lady who took my call said that the manager would call me back soon. Three days have gone but there has been no phone call. I therefore decided to write a public review to warn others. My symptoms are still there but much subsided . Please look for hygiene issues in their kitchen.

In response to my review on a different platform, the management of the Ivy claimed they had reached out to me. This is incorrect. I'm 75 years old and am always available on phone. I received no phone call from the Ivy.

Food: 1/5 | Service: 3/5 |

The Ivy Cheltenham is first rate. Gianfranco was the perfect host tonight and made our visit extremely enjoyable. Food was outstanding and service was excellent. Highly recommend

For many years The Ivy has been held up as THE London restaurant. So popular, that tables had to be booked months in advance. People dressed-up smartly in respect of where they were. A seat at The Ivy and mixing with "The Ivy crowd" once seemed elusive and unattainable for us "mere mortals". Always had a sense of real "old style" glamour. A rare and largely inaccessible treat that you enjoyed to the fullest. Maybe it's my older age. Maybe I'm holding onto "rose tinted" memories of the past, but in 2025 The Ivy is a very sad shadow of its former glories. The food is just about good. However, the service was poor. Our waitress was brusque, to the point of being terse. Far too quick to swipe the plates back, literally as we just finished our meals and almost comedic in the desire to clear and clean the table. Not the warm, pleasant dining experience we'd been expecting. Or deserved. This will make me sound incredibly old and out of touch. But I'm OK with my "old and antiquated standards". But we all actually dressed-up "smart" for our trip to The Ivy. We did that out of respect to the other diners equally fortunate to be eating at The Ivy, to reflect the genuine privilege of being at The Ivy and out of respect of what The Ivy should still stand for. Sadly, those high standards no longer exist. Probably gone forever. Relative to the attire of other diners, we now seemed incredibly overdressed. I'm OK with who I am. Wearing a shirt, jacket, trousers and shoes to The Ivy still seems minimum standard for me. However, when The Ivy allow customers in, unchallenged, with scuffed trainers, shorts , t-shirts and baseball caps (which seemed the uniform of choice for quite a number of diners) , then you know times have sadly changed, for the worse. At times it looked and felt more like a busy seaside cafe, than the once great The Ivy. Very sad.

We booked a table for 7 adults and clearly stated this when making the reservation. However, it seems the restaurant either assumed some of us were children—or perhaps the cast from Snow White (7 dwarves) because the table provided was far too small to accommodate 7 adults comfortably.

This completely ruined the experience, regardless of the food, which became irrelevant due to the poor setup. It should have been immediately obvious to staff that the table couldn’t accommodate our party properly. This is such a simple issue to avoid and shows a real lack of customer perspective.

It was a work lunch, so I didn’t want to make a scene or complain at the time. But had I been dining here personally, I would have handled it very differently.

Visited the Ivy Asia in St Pauls and was suitably impressed witht he decor and the food to be honest was great. What wasn't was the DJ playing head banging tunes at such a volume that the wiater couldn't hear to take our oders let alone us four having a conversation. Four times we asked for it to be turned down which they complied with twice only to turn it up again. Now I like music and I'm not averse to it being loud but not when I'm out eating especially in a lovely place like that. having spent over £500 for the four of us for dinner I complained by email and after discussions on the phone and by email was sent a £100 voucher to use at any Ivy. I explained we lived 100 miles from London and trips down were limited and the next nearest Ivy was an hour and a half journey in the other direction. Dont worry I was told verbally you can use this at any time. Imagine my horror 18 months later when in Harrogate offerin up my phone with the voucher (the first time I had actually opened it) to be told I bet its out of date, this mamanger knew exactly what the game was - you only have six months to use it then it expires he said - most people dont notice that he said. Do complaining today about the treatment the Ivy points me to their T and C's - who reads a website T and C's when sent a voucher and told use it when you like. If I had known it was only 6 months I would have told them not to bother - it would have been impossible for me to use. No I'm afarin their customer service is not very good - oh and the manager who sent me the voucher and who was so nice on the phone - he no longer works for the Ivy surprise surprise.

A very poor experience. 6 people on a visit to Liverpool decided to dine here on the recommendation of some in the party who had used t he Ivy in York and Harrogate and had a pleasant experience. This was far from that. We arrived slightly ahead of schedule- table booked for 8:30. Only 3 had starters and the main course was served just after 9:50. The food was warm and needed to be much hotter. Service was not good. Atmosphere for a restaurant was awful - there was some dj banging out loud"stuff" through the speakers. The hum drum didn't enhance the dining experience - my ears are still in shock!. Improvements .... please serve hot food in a timely manner(nobody wants to wait over an hour between starter and main); sack the dj and play some light background music so diners can have a conversation and not leave with the incessant drumming playing in their head. We thought over rated and overpriced.,

I recently ordered takeaway fish and chips from The Ivy St John's Wood, but unfortunately, it was a disappointing experience. The service was very slow, and when the food arrived, it didn't meet our expectations.

The fish was overly greasy, and the chips were of poor quality. To be honest, the chips were so bad that we ended up binning them. Considering the reputation of The Ivy, we were surprised by the subpar food.

Perhaps the kitchen was having an off day, but for us, it was a one-strike experience. If you're considering ordering takeaway from The Ivy St John's Wood, you might want to think twice

Visited Leeds Ivy Asian last night for my daughters graduation was a super night service food was fabulous we were served by Fran who was so welcoming friendly & helpful with the menu we were led to table by Plam who was extremely professional just wanted to say food and service was amazing! Thank you

We had a shocking experience at Ivy in Harrogate on Sunday. We had planned to meet some old friends for lunch and booked the Ivy at 1 pm. I’ve been to the Leeds location before and found the food to be mediocre, but passable.

We arrived at the Harrogate location at 1 pm and were immediately ignored by the front of house. It took 10 minutes before we were seated, and it seemed like there were more staff than customers.

The drinks took an eternity to come. We ordered a white bottle of wine and a blush bottle, and four different nibbles. They fetched the wine and two nibbles, but we had to remind them to fetch the other two, which took around 10 minutes.

Finally, they came back to take our order, which was three starters and four mains (scallops were cold). After a long wait, we had eaten the starters, and the mains arrived. One of our party members ordered a beef dinner and asked for horseradish and mint sauces, but these didn’t come with the dinner. It took us 5 minutes to get the servers’ attention, and after asking three times, it took another 10 minutes for them to come by, which time their food was cold.

We had also asked for another bottle of wine, and after three reminders, it took 20 minutes to arrive. The service was shocking for an expensive meal. I’ve had better service in a Morrisons cafe.

I paid the bill and asked to speak to the manager. I explained that I had paid first and wasn’t trying to get a discount. I needed them to know the shocking experience we had provided us. Again, it took 20 minutes for him to come, and I very much doubt he was the manager. He was completely unapologetic.

The food was not good at all, but the service was bad on another level. I will never grace the inside of a Ivy again. They ruined our day and took 4 hours of my life. I won’t be getting back. We couldn’t even order a dessert because it would have taken so long for everything else.

Our first visit to the Ivy in York- disappointing. Over rated and overtly expensive for what we got!!!! Table cloths dirty, and some just flipped over to show the manufacturing label. Steak done well but the chips- hand cut???? Will not be visiting again

This was my second visit to this restaurant, prompted by my great experience on the first visit, although this occasion was booked by my daughter because she wanted to see if was as good as I said! We were not disappointed - the service, the food and the atmosphere were all excellent. Food was memorably flavoursome. Over the years, I have eaten in some of the top restaurants and this one is right up there.

love the food but all i could hear while eating was LOUD christian music from the people opposite . canterbury has lost control of its buskers

My wife had booked, some weeks before, to have an outdoor table for 4 on 18th June at The Ivy in Bath to celebrate her birthday, which was in 17th. In the late afternoon of 18th the restaurant rang to cancel the outside booking Since being outside had been the point we did not go. Given the short notice this put us in difficulty and did not help a successful celebration and we do not believe that it is the way a restaurant that positions itself as The Ivy dies should behave.

A good time was had on Sunday for a meal at the Ivy, Glasgow for the 8 of us. It was my oldest daughter's 40th birthday and I asked for a nice table with the Father's Day menu. The only time I was a bit irked was when we turned up slightly early and it was suggested we get some drinks and go under the canopies outside. We did this and the drinks didnt appear. As it was cold outside I went back in and asked when the table would be ready as it was now 15 mins past when we should have been seated and we were told it was ready so we just had our drinks inside at our table. My heart fluttered when I walked up to our table. It was beautiful. Whoever set it, Full Marks! We had food from various menus and everybody was happy enough with their choice. My 2 grandkids had spectacular deserts. Special shout out to Lucy, who puts up with a lot in her stride and with true Glaswegian humour! All staff were helpful and friendly under the very busy circumstances of Fathers Day. Thank you for a very lovely atmosphere on my daughter's special occasion.

I was given a champagne lunch for two voucher for my retirement from work. When we arrived we were told we could order anything from the menu instead of having a specific menu and no glass of champagne on arrival which we’d anticipated. We were given several menus and two drinks lists but when we ordered a £30 bottle of Prosecco we were told that this price only applied at certain times and that the Prosecco was (from memory) £50 (what was the point of giving us the other drinks list then?) This also applied to the champagne at £55 a bottle we queried - the actual price was much more because (again) it was not after 3pm. The young waitress was very pleasant but poured the rose wine we’d eventually ordered (£35) into my husbands glass but into a tumbler intended for water for me, and got several parts of our order wrong. Every side dish we ordered to go with our steak was a separate price.
Yes we had a starter a main and a dessert with a bottle of wine but the actual cost came to £238 (for lunch!} with £25 tip already added to the bill. Luckily the voucher I’d be given paid for half of the overall cost but what a rip off! The food was nice but the experience was underwhelming and not the special treat we’d hoped it would be. Totally underwhelming and disappointing. We won’t be returning but are grateful to my work colleagues for the kindness of the voucher.

Curtis was great with his attentive, but not too attentive service. We had Scallops, Squid and Broccoli with some drinks as a pre concert light dinner. Everything was great, food, service and drinks. Slight downer was door to outside was open so slight draft. will go back. Thanks

The Ivy, Cheltenham. Birthday bash for 5. Easy, no fuss booking on a weekday Monday.
Great table position in the rotunda ( gorgeous classy setting ) Quick attentive simple service. Everyone had a different meal, no complaints. More inventive veggie choice would be good. Plenty of drinks choices. Website very clear about what's on offer and the cost. I liked the quiet atmosphere, good for conversation. Of course, there are things you could whinge about, but overall we came away with a very happy memory.

We took my mother-in-law for a thank you lunch. I wish we didn’t.
My fiancé chose the Sunday lunch…terrible. How they allowed the plate to leave the kitchen? All the veg was lukewarm, Yorkshire pudding were doughy but the main event, a plate of fatty beef, really fatty beef, hardly any beef but much fat…..who allowed that out for a customer? Do they really think this would be acceptable for someone to eat….it looked like it was meant for the bin 🤢
My fiancé complained, they were quick to take it away but was offered a replacement of beef…really? He was put off food for the rest of the day.
They removed the meal from the bill & his drink….which yes we appreciated but how did they think or the kitchen staff think that this meal was edible. I was reluctant to even go there. But never again. Too complacent. The Ivy is London, not the chain it has become.

The Ivy Guildford has really lost its charm , the service was shocking , we waited ages to be served and then waited ages for the bottle of wine to arrive , £70 bottle of Chablis arrived warm , what’s the point ? I took one sip and sent the bottle back , sadly the bottle of sparkling water was room temperature as well ! Absolute shambles , can’t believe that Richard Caring the owner has managed to make record profits on the group , surely must be something I am missing ! I definitely won’t be going back there again , and I will spread the word how awful the experience was ! The irony is that it was meant to have been a birthday celebration dinner with my family but it was so dreadful I walked out early !

Very disappointing visit to The Ivy, Guilford on Sunday 1 June, 2025. Waited ages to be seated by a less than enthused greeter, and ordered two roast dinners. Below average fare - would have had better meals at The Harvester I expect. Two Yorkshire puddings on the plate to compensate for the lack of quality meat, over-cooked potatoes, bland and cold vegetables and a pot of gravy stuck in the middle of the plate. Awful. Somebody needs to get a grip at this place and review what is being served.

Great service but can't make-up for the poor quality meal that was utterly over-priced for what we received. Will be a long time before we visit The Ivy again - their standards have so dropped....