The Ivy In The Lanes — Restaurant in Great Britain

To start - a mammoth bowl of Zucchini Fries (to share), salt & pepper calamari and the shredded duck with capers. Probably could’ve forgone the zucchini fries, but then would’ve missed out on the delight that was the lemon, chilli and mint yoghurt. The shredded duck was more of a consistency akin to a pate, but was a flavour bomb nonetheless which I thoroughly enjoyed. Calamari was good but nothing to write home about.

Mains - Minute steak and the pan fried sea bream. Two choices of doneness for steak which was ‘pink’ or ‘cooked through’ for obvious reasons. We opted for pink but got cooked through - can’t blame them for this as minute steaks are hard to get right, also didn’t detract from our enjoyment. The peppercorn sauce was a particular highlight. Sea bream accompanied by a delicious tomato red pepper tapenade and rustic tomato sauce with Mexican grains , which I thoroughly enjoyed. I did order a side of creamed spinach with parm, which again was lovely, but not required as portion sizes were more than sufficient.

Staff were attentive, friendly and informative in a manner that felt genuine. Experience fuelled by good chat and exceptional service. What’s more is that, just prior to paying the bill, they dropped off a free plate of profiteroles and chocolate sauce for our anniversary. A lovely touch.

Other venues have a lot to learn from these guys. As a former service industry worker of 13 years, I have cringed hard at the sight of co workers checking back on a table up to three times per course while performing a right ‘song and dance’. I wont name names, but I’ve also been on the receiving end of this as a customer, which has always come across as disingenuous and a little bit creepy. I get that might be some people’s thing, and I’m not here to judge, but you won’t get that here. And The Ivy is all the better for it.

Finally, the atmosphere. It was a fairly busy Wednesday evening, so there was a fair bit of noise but not in any way a challenge to hear one another, a perfect level. However, as the night progressed, a singer/guitarist duo set up shop in the corner to perform what I can only describe as jazz inspired indie covers taken from Jo Wiley’s Radio One Live Lounge sessions. As a lover of live music, I liked it but the volume did go up a notch which made it harder to hear. However, that may have just been down to proximity. On the other hand, the couple sat right next to them were bloody LOVING it, so each to their own.

The only other detractor from the night was the sudden temperature change inside. No idea if this was down to us eating or if the thermostat was turned up for a cold customer, but we found ourselves scrambling for the exit to get outside on what was an already rather humid day.

Tl;dr: Food great, service exceptional, atmosphere good to...

I enjoyed a lunch with my daughter at this establishment. Although it was Monday, I took the precaution of booking. A robot answered the phone who seemed to think I wanted private dining. Eventually this misunderstanding was cleared up and I spoke to a nice human lady who made my reservation. She was, a little worryingly very keen to get my email address. Not wanting to get deluged for ever with special offers I mumbled it indistinctly in the hope she would take it down incorrectly

On arrival we were welcomed by a very pleasant young lady who took our coats and crash helmets (we had travelled by motorcycle) and shewed us to our table. Immediately I was struck by how stylish and airy the ambiance was. We were not crowded against other diners and, thank God, there was no background music.

I perused the menu. This was a little disappointing. It was all a bit pubby. Burgers, fish and chips, steaks etc. It was hard to find anything different or exciting. Eventually I discovered a lemon sole on it and ordered that for a main course. For a starter I ordered salt and pepper squid. As it is all a little bit on the expensive side I had a certain amount of anxiety that I wouldn't get enough food, so I also ordered some sourdough bread. I have learned that the more you pay in restaurants the less you get. I also ordered a glass of their Portuguese white wine.

The bread came and it was not only excellent but was practically a whole loaf, so my food anxiety disappeared immediately. The salt and pepper squid came next and this was a generous portion and very tasty with the accompanying sauce. The wine was very nice, a little reminiscent of a white vinho verde.

My main course arrived. The lemon sole was on the bone, as I like it with a nice accompanying sauce and some capers. I was a little disappointed that there were no vegetables at all. It would have benefited from a few little new potatoes and some greens of some sort. At the price charged one would not have thought that was beyond the budget. I think it was £28.

For pud I ordered a sort of apple tart with flaming Calvados poured over it. It was delicious.

The service was excellent throughout. When I booked I was told quite firmly that I had the table for 1 hour and 45 minutes. In the event we were not hassled when we overstayed by about 15 minutes. Total cost for two of us with service charge was £111. My daughter was surprisingly abstemious sticking to the lunchtime special menu and not having a pud.

In summary, great service, lovely ambiance, just a bit...

I booked a table by phone for 4 for afternoon tea, requesting a high chair for one of the party (a baby of 18 months). I received the usual email acknowledgement and assumed all was well, but the next day I got a voicemail from a heavily accented lady which I couldn't understand, but she left a a telephone number so I assumed she wanted me to ring back to clarify my booking. When I tried to do so, all I got was an automated answer which didn't allow me to proceed when I said I was returning a call. I wanted also to explain that there would now be three adults and a small girl at the table for four, plus the high chair for the baby. However, I assumed that all would be well as we would still only need an actual table for 4 as the baby would sit separately in its high chair. When I arrived and was greeted, I knew straight away from her accent that this was the lady who had left the message, but when I asked her, she just shrugged her shoulders and rushed off to prepare my table, which to my surprise wasn't ready. Whilst I was waiting, my guests arrived and we were shortly summoned to our table. At this point the lady started to berate me because I had not advised her about there being 5 guests instead of four. I tried to explain that I had been unsuccessful on the phone, which she poo poohed, saying that it couldn't be the case because she was always there. I simply could not understand the fuss, as we still only needed a table for 4 because the highchair was placed at the end on its own. She didn't have to find a table for 5! But she kept going on and on, repeating and repeating that the booking should hsve been changed in advance, to the extent that it was getting really embarrassing and one of my guests was muttering that he was getting fed up and he would be complaining. In the end he didn't because we managed to convince him not to add to the by now unpleasant atmosphere. The episode made for a horrible start to what should have been a happy family (and rare) reunion. Not at all what I expect at The Ivy and all...