The Ivy Dublin — Restaurant in Dublin

I came here for dinner with 7 other family members. We had a reservation at 7 pm. A few visiting from outside Ireland. To start off, the service was very slow. We sat down in a timely manner. The drink order was not taken, so I had to get up and ask for some water at the bar area. And if someone could come by our table to get the drinks ordered, please. I come from a background in hospitality and customer service. So, I know to always treat staff with respect. The drinks were ordered and eventually arrived. The food was ordered right after the drinks arrived. The food took longer than expected to arrive, even though the restaurant was not as busy. I would say, a bit more than half the tables were occupied at that time. Our starters were great. Then, the fun part began with the mains. 6 out of the 8 people in our party ordered steaks. Of which, 5 of those steaks arrived at the table cold (room temperature), not hot off the grill. Which is absolutely unacceptable. We got the attention of a staff member walking by, as our server seemed to vanish. The staff member went to tell the manager of the cold steaks that were served. He came over and asked which ones were not hot & proceeded to remove those plates.

I had ordered the burger, which was absolutely fine. I managed to get 1 bite out of it before my plate was removed from in front of me without a word said to me. In fact, all the food was removed by the manager and our server. I was very annoyed by this, as I was starving. Not a single apology was given to us at this point. The manager was walking by a couple of minutes later, I stopped him to ask why my plate was removed when my food was fine? The manager simply said that he was making sure we all had fresh food so we could all eat at the same time. Again, there is no apology. It was about a quarter before 9 p.m., when the 2nd attempt to our mains arrived. It took over 30 minutes to get them all replaced. Remind you, we sat for dinner at 7 pm. The steaks were mostly fine. 1 steak was not cooked the way it was ordered, & my burger was poorly put together with half cooked bacon. That immediately grossed me out. I grabbed the attention of the server, told him what was wrong, and sent the food back. I told him that I was not gonna wait another half an hour for my food. The manager overheard me and asked what the problem was. I let him know what had happened with the half raw bacon and said he would get another burger out to me. I said, "No thanks. I am not waiting for food again. This is absolutely unacceptable. I don't want anything at all." The annoyance of the while dinner made me lose my appetite. Yet again..... No apology. After the rest of the party finished their dinner, the server asked if anyone wanted to order dessert. 2 persons ordered. Those desserts came out, along with 2 or 3 other different desserts. The server said they were sent over from the chef as an apology. A nearly €900 bill came out. You would think the manager would have deducted some of the food items for this whole mess. It would have been the hospitable thing to do. We paid our bill, got up, and made our way out. I was the 1st in the group to start walking away from the table. At which point, the manager apologized to me for what had happened with our dinner. I looked at him and nodded. I stopped after I just walked by the manager to look back at the rest of our party. Just to see if they would get an apology also. Which they did not. The manager turned away from them without any acknowledgment to them.

That was completely unprofessional.

Note to the manager..... Please enroll in a refresher course of...

I’m writing on behalf of my parents, who recently visited The Ivy to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Having had a wonderful experience myself at the same location two years ago, I recommended the restaurant to them with high expectations. Back then, I celebrated a birthday with a small group of friends. Although we hadn’t informed the restaurant in advance, the service was outstanding. The ambiance was warm, and the staff were attentive, genuine, and respectful. I quietly mentioned to our waiter that it was my friend’s birthday, and they brought over a small complimentary dish and wished her a happy birthday. It certainly left a lasting impression for all of us.

Unfortunately, this recent visit couldn’t have been more different. I called the restaurant two days before the reservation to let them know it was for a wedding anniversary. I was told they might offer a small complimentary dessert and, at the very least, acknowledge the occasion. Neither happened. Instead, my parents were served by more than six different waiters, none of whom seemed coordinated or consistent. Despite repeatedly asking for ice, my dad didn’t receive it until after he had finished his drink, he was tired of waiting. When they asked to move tables due to a nearby group of loud teenagers, their request was declined, despite the restaurant not being full and it being an early reservation. The noise made it difficult for them to have a proper conversation. Even mom couldn't take a decent photo of the pretty bathroom because it was crowded with teenagers.

While the food lived up to expectations, it was the only thing that carried the evening. At the end of the meal, my parents chose not to leave a tip, at which point the waitress’s demeanor noticeably changed from overly friendly to visibly indifferent. It was disappointing, especially considering the exceptional experience I had previously. The Ivy once stood out for its elegant atmosphere and excellent service. Sadly, this no longer seems to be the case.

It now feels as though the restaurant’s priorities have shifted, perhaps due to changes in management, staffing, or marketing strategy. The sense of occasion and refinement that once defined The Ivy seems to have been lost. Hopefully, it was just a...

We arrived for our 6pm reservation on time and were quickly ushered to our table. I was very impressed with the decor and our server was lovely. When we placed our drink order we also advised we could place our meal order as well, we figured in a place that size it may take a while and we didn't want to chance missing the opportunity to order later on. Now, we love fast service but what happened next was nothing short of disturbing. Myself having ordered the pasta and my partner a steak we were shocked to see our food arrived before our drinks. Why is that so shocking? Because it came out within 3 minutes of us ordering it! That means the server keyed it in, the meal was prepared and then fired out to us in 3-4 minutes tops. Sounds like a microwave special to me. Now because the meal was fired out so quickly, but the time we finished eating it was 6:27. Remember we got there for 6:00. We then ordered more drinks and a dessert (creme brulee) in hopes of extending our time out. It was our first night night since having our second child 7 months ago and we wanted to savour our time together. I got up and went to the bathroom and was surprised the dessert was already at the table by my return. My partner knows I hate cold creme brulee so he (having eaten already eaten some) warned me that I wouldn't like. Again, make me believe you made this fresh. Take it out of the fridge, warm it up and then fire the top. I won't know that's what you did. I'm easy to fool if you put a bit of effort in. I'm sure every restaurant uses a microwave and I'm not a stickler about that, but at least pretend that you're making the meal when the customer orders it. To add insult to injury, they added a 12.5% service charge to the bill stating that its the tip which the servers will share. We'd have tipped our server more than that if given the option but having a set amount forced out of our pockets meant I didn't even thank her when it was time to leave. Smart girl must have seen how annoyed we were by the look on our faces as she didn't even ask how things went. We won't...