The Ivy On The Square Edinburgh — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

I am writing to share a serious concern regarding my recent visit to your restaurant, ( THE IVY ON THE SQUARE EDINBURGH as I believe it is important for you to learn from this experience and prevent similar situations in the future.

On Saturday, I visited your restaurant for breakfast with my daughter. Upon arrival, we were greeted warmly by the host at the entrance, which gave us a positive first impression. We inquired whether your restaurant could cater to allergies, and we were reassured that your staff was highly knowledgeable about such matters.

Based on this assurance, we ordered sourdough bread and avocado. The waiter informed us that he would ensure the dish did not contain dairy, as my daughter has a severe dairy allergy.

However, just a few minutes after my daughter had taken several bites, the waiter returned and abruptly took the plate from her, saying he needed to double-check something. He reappeared shortly after with a smile, saying that everything was fine, but admitted that he had made a mistake when inputting the order—indicating “gluten” instead of “dairy” as the allergy to avoid.

To make matters worse, he returned the same dish to my daughter instead of preparing a fresh one. This not only felt unhygienic but also demonstrated a lack of care and understanding of how allergies should be handled. Given the circumstances, it seemed unprofessional and dismissive of the seriousness of the situation.

He then casually added, “If you want to talk to someone about this, my name is Rachel,” which we found shocking. A mistake like this could have had severe consequences for my daughter or anyone else with a life-threatening allergy. It was deeply concerning that the situation was treated so lightly.

This experience has left me questioning the seriousness with which your team handles allergy-related requests. Given the potential for life-threatening consequences, it is crucial that your staff undergo thorough training to handle allergies responsibly and with the utmost care.

I hope this feedback prompts immediate action to review your processes and training regarding allergy management. I look forward to hearing how you plan to...

A very uneven experience. To begin with the positives, the place and the atmosphere are stunning. Truly one of the most beautiful restaurants I have been from an aesthetics point of view. The service was very good too. The staff were all extremely polite and formal, and they apologised for a small delay with one of our starter dishes, even going to the extent of removing it from our bill as a token of good will and apology for keeping us waiting slightly longer. That said, the food needs significant improvements, as it was underwhelming. The portions are very small, which for the price charged is not acceptable. The arancini were very tasty, but only a handful and very small in size. The mozzarella was good but forgettable and needs a lot of salt to be edible. My sirloin steak was adequately good in terms of seasoning (although it arguably needed a bit more salt), but the cooking was off. I ordered it medium, but it was almost well done. I did show the staff, who agreed that it was overcooked and offered to give me a new steak, while the chef offered his apologies, but I didn't want to put them in further stress, while I am also easy with food in general, so I ate it. The carrot and suede mash was tasty but too small for a 7-quid side dish. The flat iron chicken felt reheated, blunt, at times stale and hard to chew, while generally it was also underwhelming despite the interesting mushroom sauce which gave it a nice zing. We were hoping for a dessert, but the chocolate options were limited and in fact one choco dessert was substituted by a white chocolate version of the same dish. Most desserts had salted caramel, which is a good option, but overall more choco options were needed, as arguably most people opt for chocolate. Overall, an uneven experience. If the food and pricing improve, this could be a tremendous eating experience, but there is work to be done here. Still, I would like to give it...

I had a very odd experience here in late August. I was at the ivy with some friends and we asked for the bill to be split (we're Canadian and forgot that that wasn't common in the UK). The food was fine but overpriced, the decor was beautiful.

While we waited for the bill, the manager and the server were hovering around our table telling us we needed to go as the next group was waiting (which was stressful and uncomfortable). We told them we were waiting for our bill and that it was on their end at that moment.

The manager intervened and brought the bill over. We assumed they didn't split the bill and paid without looking too closely and left. As we walked down the street on our way to a Fringe show, they called to tell me we only paid half off our bill and we needed to return to pay the rest. We would be late to our show if we did that, so they said they could email me the information. I responded to the email with times that I could come back over the weekend to pay for the rest of the bill.

What followed was bizarre. I had provided times that I could come by in person and to let me know what was best, and no one responded to me so I continued to enjoy my holiday. They started calling while I was not available and asking me to pay over the phone or come in at times that I had specifically not provided as available.

Finally, we were able to drop by and pay the bill. From a hospitality perspective I'm not sure that the harassing phone calls were worth the small bill that we had to pay. Their staff made the mistake and they probably should have just dealt with it internally as they rushed us out and didn't communicate internally.

We won't be returning in the future, and we won't be recommending this restaurant as it was a strange experience. There are so many better restaurants with better customer service...