The Ivy St Helen's Square York — Restaurant in England

To the manager

We visited The Ivy York for Valentine’s yesterday 14.02.25 - 16.15pm, when we walked in we were sat down at our table and really from then the service was extremely poor. We order x2 Starters x2 Mains x Deserts as-well and Drinks, the starters came and were pleasant then the Mains came….steaks, after she put my plate down and left I realised that mine was a sirloin and I had ordered a Rare Ribeye. I tried to get the attention of the waiter to tell them about this issue not once did one member of staff come up to ask how our meal was during any of the 3 courses the plates were simply just taken away. When the waiter came to get our plates I told her I had ordered a ribeye which I got a frown and she said I’ll check. This waiter never came back to let me know I was right, around us 3 other people got there steaks all wrongly cooked or the wrong cut of meat, the deserts came again nothing mentioned. Out of a 3 course meal I couldn’t believe the level of service that we received, finally the bill came which they had removed my steak as I never ordered a sirloin which I accepted but then they had automatically added a £20 Service charge which I asked them to remove and I explain why I wanted it removing because in my eyes there was no service, others around us all agreed and the waiter just laughed at us took the payment and went discussed this with another member of staff then eyeballing us all night while we finished our drinks. Then 3 members of staff stood watching us waiting for us to leave as we were finishing our drinks/conversation I have never felt as uneasy in a restaurant. Travelling all over the world has allowed me to dine in some of the top restaurants and this is up there with the worse level of service. If you are always unhappy with the service don’t be afraid to get the service charge removed. This morning we went to Betty’s Tea Rooms right next door for breakfast blown away by the service of the waiters how efficient and welcoming they are, 3 times we were asked if eveything was okay and made feel welcomed, please get some lessons from next door and don’t be so rude to people and you might actually get a £60 tip like the staff at Betty’s received this morning. The member of staff who took payment is pictured below

0 Stars From us, after reading the other reviews seems The ivy has lost its touch and my partner has already said she will never dine again!

You really need to look at your staff you are The Ivy for goodness sake you should have your service skills nailed. Through my business I dine alot of my clients and suppliers from Germany especially in this country and I can honestly say i would be embarrassed if I had gone to this restaurant with them

I want to know what you will do about this and how you can rectify the problem as I want to try Ivy Asia in Leeds for a business meeting in May

I would appreciate your reply,again to address these issues on the night would have been to upsetting for us to do on our...

I have long wanted to go in to The Ivy and as it was my birthday and I was spending the day in York, I booked myself and a friend in for mid morning breakfast as a birthday treat. I am a coeliac ( meaning I can only have gluten free food ) which was all fine, I checked out the menu before I booked, gf bread was available on a limited number of gf meals, but they had the gf bread 👍 The venue is beautiful and we were greeted warmly, staff were very attentive, so all great, atmosphere quiet and relaxed...so now to the food order....I asked if I could have the poached eggs, hollandaise sauce which on the menu was advertised as on a muffin, which I can't have, so I asked for it to be put on gf bread but was told they can't do that 🤔 but why ?? I was told that they can't change the menu listing so they couldn't serve it to me on gf bread ( even though they have it ). So are they not capable of putting the poached eggs etc on a different piece of bread, its hardly difficult. I was very surprised and disappointed 😞 I was told to choose another gf option ( not to my liking ) and in the end I choose the pulled ham and cheese omelette ( but I dont like cheese so asked for that to be omitted ) strangely enough they could do that. Anyway that's enough of the bad experience as a gf person but it really put a downer on my experience there as was so looking forward to it. The good points are the omelette was lovely ( although not my first choice ) food was served very quickly, staff were all lovely and friendly, venue itself is beautiful, my friends non gf breakfast looked and she said tasted lovely. Nice relaxing atmosphere where we could chat easily. Just as a footnote i have a son who is gf also and has been to various Ivys all over the country and he says he's never had a problem with asking for gf bread. Please remember its difficult enough for coeliacs to eat out and be more accommodating with your gf requests, there are so many of us now you could be alienating a big part of potential business

15.10.25 Update : very odd that I have had no feedback from The Ivy regarding my review, but strangely enough there is a review by a local guide placed 2 weeks ago, stating that they had no problem with the gf menu ( although they didn't say what they actually had from the menu there were some photos ) seems like too much of a coincidence to me of trying to cover the fact that they are not actually good for gluten free options....... also the guide started off her review with nearly the same opener as myself !!! I have also noted that anyone that doesn't leave the best review for The Ivy seems to not get any response from them ? yet give them a good review and hey presto they get a response ! As i initially gave you 3 stars for the review, I am now downgrading you to two stars, sorry but if you can't take legitimate criticism on gluten free menu then that's your problem, I did say lots of good things about The Ivy, York but I definitely won't be going...

I like the Ivy – don’t get to go that often but it’s always a rich experience. This was my first time visiting this one in York, which is situated in the former Black’s store, up by Betty’s Tearoom.

First impressions were good – this is a less ‘showy’ branch than some of them (there’s no glowing green floor – certainly not downstairs) but has a sort of classic charm to it, with large windows to the front and bar inside as you enter. Greeted on arrival and seated straight away – didn’t have a reservation so that was good (Wednesday night). Nice table and good to see they were pacing arrival well apart, only filling in gaps as it got busier. Space is welcome when you’re having dinner. The Ivy often likes to take up any space with piles of cushions – there were fewer cushions here, or at least near me, so I liked that.

There was a set menu on offer because it was before 6:30pm – that looked decent, but it didn’t have the main I wanted so I demurred on this occasion. Good value though. They call it the 1917 menu – I don’t know why they call it that. That was the year of the Russian Revolution, but that’s probably not the reason…

Beer to accompany – the beer was the Ivy House Lager. This is decent, £6 a bottle and served in a frosted mug. Who doesn’t love a frosted mug.

Ordered the excellent robata chicken skewers to start – I love these, three little skewers of seasoned chicken covered in chilli and peanuts. The peanuts really work well here. This dish is really packed with flavour and one I would return to over and again. I was tempted by the souffle, but the desire for skewers won once again on this occasion.

For a main the delightful duck rendang curry – this is a good portion, served with jasmine rice and it has a good heat level. Duck can be pretty awful in a curry if it’s cooked badly, but that is never the case here – the duck is braised and falls apart in the mouth. Buttery soft, pillowy bits of duck. There was sweet potato in there as well – I don’t recall that being in previous versions of this dish, but I guess I may not have noticed.

This time around I had a pudding. I like pudding, so why not. They had a good choice of puddings – various melting spheres and smoking boxes – but I chose the sticky toffee pudding. A classic. In this case topped with a generous blob of clotted cream. Pudding and cream were so, so very rich. Unctuous and tasty. So rich. This is how sticky toffee pudding should be, with rich sauce and a generous helping of cream. Only custard could make this better.

Overall, an excellent meal and experience. I will visit this Ivy again. Service throughout the meal was excellent and the atmosphere...