The Ivy Clifton Brasserie — Restaurant in Bristol

Couple of visits within the last few weeks at Ivy Clifton, with huge expectation on this place we arrived to a warm greeting and a beautiful high ceiling with floral decor throughout, an old bank turned into a beautiful dinning area, it already pleased us and set us up for hopefully some amazing food.

Well of course the food was expected to be magnificent after looking around with all that decor right? Well let’s get into it - i ordered a couple of classics that I thought they would execute to perfection.

Start with truffle arancini balls - nothing bad to say but they come as £2 sized balls which ultimately deep frying will make them on slightly drier side then a bigger arancini ball, truffle flavour hit the pallet well, crispy and decent rice to hold it together, I would liked to had more cheese running through them. Side note - second visit with salted sourdough bread, nice crispy outside and soft fluffy middle with soft creamy butter and quality olive oil, solid bread no complaints.

On to starters - salt and pepper squid and roasted scallops. Salt and pepper squid - served in a metal basket type thing with cloth, for me presentation is poor and don’t show off how amazing calamari should be, crispy tempura batter kinda give up and squid was overcooked and chewy, flavours were present tho, nice hints fresh calamari with that wasabi mayonnaise could be a really nice combo if just finessed the cooking of calamari and a plated presentation.

Roasted scallops - high hopes again here, and better plate presentation than the squid, the scallops themselves were perfectly cooked, soft with solid char, that meaty flavour but soft buttery fall apart in you’re mouth vibe. Was served with a Parmesan foam? Which actually covered the scallop and took away its beauty in my opinion, hidden under everything was a nice little pea purée but again might of never found it because everything was covered in foam. This kinda ruined the dish for me.

Mains - Korean glazed chicken, Depth of Asian inspired flavours here showed nicely, sticky chicken breast with that sweet yet smokey flavours coming through, the avocado and jalapeño sauce cut through and give that citrus vibe to the dish but did lack the avocado flavour but being massive jalapeño fan I did not mind at all, I would say parts of the chicken breast over cooked and dry maybe sat on the pass for too long but just lacked that juicy melt in mouth that chicken can have, as we know breast can go dry very quickly. I had this dish with truffle and Parmesan chips, not sure if they dressed these by throwing the truffle n Parmesan at the chips from across the room but the finesse on this was poor.

The Ivy burger, I expect so big things here, but again certain parts of the dish let it down and it’s just so close to being solid good food but instead you’re let down by it. The glazed brioche roll was chewy and lacked any sweetness, the beef on first bite I could taste the char and beef flavour instantly but then more I ate the drier the burger got, for a thick patty this is poor how can it be so dry? The cheese was melted perfectly with that deep cheddar flavour which was a plus point, and the horseradish ketchup was amazing! But again the chips just served almost like they don’t want to do serve them, under seasoned and do not feel part of the dish, when I think every element should have its place never ignore the small details.

And on that note this what I’ll say about overall experience over 2 visits here within a month, the little details were over looked, the finesse of the dishes just lacked, over complicated maybe, sometimes simple is best and with the ingredients used and quality of produce the Ivy have I would expect that extra bit of quality throughout the dishes.

Wouldn’t say this was a bad experience at all, but I would say for the price point I just want that extra 10/15% bring that great produce to life!

Overall score here is 7/10, really wanted to score this higher but I have to be honest and transparent, maybe return next year to update this and...

Disappointing Experience at The Ivy Clifton Brasserie – Not Worth the Hype

We recently visited The Ivy Clifton Brasserie for a special Sunday lunch to celebrate my mother-in-law’s 70th birthday. Having had good experiences there in the past, we chose this place expecting quality food and service. Unfortunately, it fell far short on every front.

We were seated at a cramped table in the middle of the conservatory, where waitstaff bumped into our chairs multiple times during the meal—hardly the relaxing or celebratory atmosphere we had hoped for.

When we enquired about vegetarian options for my mother-in-law, who is pescatarian, we were made to explain twice that she doesn’t eat meat. Only after this were we eventually handed a vegetarian menu. The way the staff questioned her—asking why she was a vegetarian, if she was a proper one, and so on—felt more like they were challenging her dietary choices than trying to accommodate them. It was awkward and uncomfortable, and completely unnecessary.

The so-called “vegetarian roast” that followed was shockingly poor: a tasteless plate of swede mash with a handful of steamed green beans and a dab of butter. No effort, no seasoning, no balance—just an underwhelming and careless attempt at a main course.

We had also ordered courgette fritters and sourdough bread to share, expecting them to arrive as starters or accompaniments. These didn’t appear until more than 40 minutes later. Our mains took an hour and 20 minutes to arrive. During this time, drinks were delayed and had to be requested more than once, and the staff, though polite, seemed distracted and overstretched.

The food did not make up for the service. The beef was not of good quality, the Yorkshire puddings tasted like something from a packet, and worst of all, the table was never cleaned between courses—we ended up eating on a dirty table. The one thing we’d made a point of when booking—a birthday dessert with a candle—was entirely forgotten.

To top it off, the dessert we did receive (an apple tart) was so heavily soaked in alcohol that it was hard to tell whether you were having a pudding or a cocktail.

And then came the bill—with an optional service charge that, frankly, felt like daylight robbery given the poor service and disappointing food. Needless to say, we had too much good manners to make a fuss on the day of a family celebration, but we left deeply disappointed.

All in all, this terrible experience lasted for 2 hours and 15 minutes—and sadly, not because we were enjoying delicious food or receiving warm, knowledgeable service. It was simply a drawn-out, disheartening afternoon that left us all frustrated and let down. We won’t...

I have been to The Ivy numerous times and this was the worst experience I have ever had. It started off okay and we were seated promptly after arriving 15 minutes early for our 6.30 reservation. We ordered drinks, starters and mains. The starters came at 6.32. Between 6.32 and 7.34 nobody came to ask how the food was and the mains had not arrive despite there being numerous waiting staff and a manager present. I asked our waiter (Ed) where our mains were and he said he would check. He then returned to our section and didn’t say anything. Shortly after the manager came over and said “two minutes” abruptly. Our mains arrived at 7.36 and were cold. We had to return one item which was made incorrectly and then when the manager came back with that I advised her that the food was cold and it clearly came across that the food had been sat waiting and they had forgot to serve us. The manager rudely interjected whilst I was speaking and said there were delays because the main section of the restaurant got busy due to larger tables than us being served first. This was a poor excuse as when we arrived it was not busy, therefore, our orders would have been placed and quite frankly, just because a table is bigger doesn’t mean they should be served first. The manager then tried saying that the turnaround between starters and mains were 24 minutes and we only waited 26 minutes - I have timestamp pictures showing the one hour wait. The whole experience was dismissive and rude. During this time, a table of three had sat down next to us, was promptly served their mains which were piping hot as steam was coming off and was asked how their meal was twice (by the manager and ed). I queried with the manager why the levels of service were so differing as at this point, the restaurant was busy so that clearly wasn’t an excuse. The manager made many excuses, one being that she didn’t ask us how our meal was in fear that she would have doubled up and asked twice. This is ridiculous as it’s better to ask twice than not at all. As the only people of colour that were in the section, we were so uncomfortable and asked for the bill to leave immediately....