The Ivy House Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Dublin

I should have obeyed my instincts and left. Brunch starts at 12 on weekends so to arrive at nearly 1pm and be the only customers should have been the first red flag. Asking if they were serving brunch and hearing "em...I think so, I'll ask the chef" should have been the second. When the menus arrived, two of the items that had been on the online menu were covered with a sticker, so neither pancakes nor smashed avocado would have been an option, and as the waitress explained, neither was eggs benedict as "they didn't have any", which I assume meant they didn't have a packet of instant hollandaise sauce as eggs couldn't have been the problem. I ordered the breakfast bagel. The bagel was obviously not fresh and I suspect re-toasted as it was rock solid and had zero bready texture. The bacon was basically salt in bacon format. Having said all that, I confess I ate it, it was edible but seriously underwhelming and overpriced and I was hungry so I would probably have taken a nibble at the leg of the table...it would have arguably had the same consistency as the bagel in fairness. At the end, coffee could have redeemed it, but after hearing some spluttering, our (absolutely charming) waitress came over to tell us the coffee machine was broken. Not her fault but summed up the whole experience, really disappointing. €31 for two mains, two juices and one tea. Would have been good value if it was nicer, but for no atmosphere and below average food selection and offering, albeit with very pleasant and friendly service, I...

My girlfriend took me there, to meet with some friends of her, so yeah, from the start even tho she has great friends, I wasn't in the best conditions I'd say, but listen, I mean read ! She had chicken goujons, they were good, I had the 8/12(? I forgot) burger, and holyshit it was a big burger, difficult to eat, but so delicious, the fries were great, the meat was juicy, the aioli was tasty, and with a good pint of Paulaner to wash it down, couldn't complain. Then friends arrived, we were on a table for 4, more arrived so we started to move tables, the staff kindly told us that it would be difficult, but they complied and helped us to make a bigger table so everyone could sit around it, lovely staff, music was a bit loud, but I loved when the live music started at 11pm, I can't remember the name of the singer, but he had a great voice, he was making people around participate, asked for any specific song to play, everyone had fun. So yeah I'd go there again for sure, and also the smoking area is great, heating lamps, places to sit, all you can ask for to put some toxic stuff in your lungs in...

This place was such a great spot to watch sports in Drumcondra but it appears the new owners have different plans. No sound in the lounge (the Ivy) for the last two weekends and told that they only put the sound on for "big games" but you can go into Cartys to watch it with sound (no food in there though!). The big games in question were the North London derby and Man City vs. Arsenal. Based on this I think it's just not the spot to watch premier league football at the weekend anymore because I'm not sure you get bigger than those games at the minute in English football. I go in here for Rugby aswell, will they have the sound on for that in future? I dunno, here's hoping :)

If the new owners leaned into the fact that the screens and the viewing angles and the food etc. is better than all their competitors in Drumcondra they could get a great crowd in every weekend to watch sports but I get the impression they still don't know what they want to be.

Still, good food at a good price point and the pints are good...