The Ivy Victoria — Restaurant in London

A very disappointing experience. We visited the Ivy Victoria for the Heritage Downton Abbey experience as we were watching the movie that evening. We were asked if anyone had allergies in our party, and we confirmed that my sister in-law had a lactose intolerance, but she had ordered the vegetable curry that only listed coconut milk in the ingredients, which is perfectly safe for her. My other sister also ordered the same curry. When the main courses arrived my sister started to eat her food when she suddenly felt something strange in her plate... which turned out to be a small stick in her food with the writing "medium-well". When we called the waiter who served us to show him what was in my sister's food, he was dismissive, and simply said "oh, the stick is for the waiter to know who the order belongs to if they've made special requests with the order!... this did not make sense to us as my sister had not made any special requests with her meal, and I don't see how you can cook a vegetable curry "medium well "... only steaks are usually cooked medium well... As the stick was actually in my sister's food and covered by the sauce, it was very dangerous as she had started to eat without knowing it was there! And the waiter clearly didn't know it was there either, as he did not make any reference to it when he presented us with the food. We asked to speak to a manager but 5mins later the same waiter came back to ask us if anyone has an allergy to which we confirmed my sister in-law has an intolerance to lactose, to which the waiter replied, the stick was to let the waiters know who has an intolerance or allergy at our table... so I asked him why did he not ask us when he delivered the food? As he actually gave my sister in law the wrong plate!!! My actual sister got the plate which was meant for my sister in law...so if my sister in law had a severe allergy, she would have eaten the wrong food and potentially would have needed to go to hospital! We asked the waiter a second time to get the manager for us, but after 10mins, no one came! We eventually stopped another waiter passing by our table who turned out to be the manager, and we explained the situation to him. He claimed the waiter did not speak to him at all!!! (The flagrant disregard of the waiter...) Then the manager himself seemed not to grasp the gravity of the situation either.... and went into defensive mode saying "that's how we serve the food if someone has an allergy"... The arrogance from both the waiter and the manager, really let the Ivt brand down!.. I couldn't believe a manager could not understand this simple clear situation of negligence! The stick was buried in the food so no one knew it was even there.... and THEY GAVE THE WRONG PLATE TO THE WRONG CUSTOMER.... WHICH IS DANGEROUS FOR THE PERSON WHO ATE THE WRONG PLATE OF FOOD!!! Totally shocking service!!! We won't return in a hurry! I totally understand errors are made in restaurants from time to time...but it was the blatant dismissive arrogant attitude that makes this type of...

Good food, location and atmosphere. Bad service. Would not return nor recommend. If you’re booking for a special occasion, I would not risk it.

Food & atmosphere: 4 stars Service: 2 stars

The food (eggs benedict, chicken milanese and fish&chips) were all very good. We ordered 3 drinks and a water. After 20 minutes, they had brought the drinks and we had to remind the waiter about the water. Not that hard to figure out since 1 person didn’t have a drink. Then came the worst desert experience. We ordered the apple tarte flambé (for the fire experience) and a “pot of coffee with cream”. The waiter was unable to light up the alcohol of the tarte flambé on fire but just poured it on the desert regardless, knowing that it would not evaporate as it should. This meant that we didn’t get the whole fire experience, but it also tasted way more of alcohol than it should. He should have taken it back to the kitchen instead of delivering a terrible product/service, but he went forward like that. Then, we had to remind the waiter of the “pot of coffee with cream” after 20min waiting. He brought a pot of coffee. The cream never came, so I asked for it and it took 5-10min to arrive (fridge cold). Then I asked for sugar for the coffee, which took another 5min. They didn’t bring a spoon, but I didn’t even ask for it at that point.

I actually like that restaurants charge a service charge to avoid the whole tipping awkwardness, but I felt robbed paying a service charge here after the poor experience. The waiter knew it was bad- maybe it just wasn’t a good day for him- but if you KNOW someone had a poor experience, why not just waive the service charge? We already spent £140 for 4 people without the service charge.

A shame since the food and place are very enjoyable, but the overall experience is poor due to the bad service.

A note for the restaurant: Write down things that are ordered so you don’t forget (water & coffee). If something is not right (alcohol not lighting up on fire), take it back and make sure you get it right. Bring the things that are in the menu. If I order “pot of coffee with cream”, just bring the cream. It’s not an extra request. Think about what the customer needs. If he asks for sugar for the coffee (which he shouldn’t even have to ask for) bring a...

Disastrous Birthday Celebration at The Ivy Victoria – Avoid at All Costs!

I was excited to celebrate a birthday at The Ivy Victoria, expecting a special and memorable evening, but it turned into an absolute disaster.

From the start, things were off. The music was blaring so loudly that we couldn’t hear anyone except the person right next to us, making conversation impossible. Our table, booked for 6, was awkwardly set for 8, and despite this glaring issue, the waiters left it unchanged. It then took over 30 minutes before any drinks arrived—a painfully slow start to the evening.

The lack of attention to detail continued. For six people, there was just one small portion of butter for the bread. When we asked a waitress for more, she outright ignored the request. The main course was no better—one of the sauces was missing entirely, and the waiter didn’t care at all whether everything had arrived. When we finally managed to get the attention of what seemed to be a manager, they offered to bring the missing sauce after the meal was nearing its end.

Dessert service was even more appalling. One of our guests had the menu literally snatched out of their hands. Those drinking soft drinks were limited to one glass, as the staff took their glasses away without offering refills. Meanwhile, we had to keep chasing the staff just to pour the wine from our own bottle, and no one bothered to ask if we wanted anything else. Clearly they have no grasp as to how establishments make their money.

To make matters worse, the aftermath of this meal was just as bad as the experience itself. By the following morning, one of our guests was continues to suffer from diarrhoea, while another had to drink tea to settle their stomach. While we can only hope it wasn’t food poisoning, it wouldn’t surprise us given the shoddy service and lack of care.

This is nothing more than a fancy franchise hiding behind a glossy label. The service was chaotic, rude, and completely incompetent. You’d have a much better meal and experience at a local pub. Do yourself a...