The Ivy St Albans Brasserie

Absolutely shocked by the service we received yesterday. Meal was fine, service not rushed. We ate at 3pm on a Saturday so place was relatively quiet. Tea and coffee arrived after our dessert, then a front of house team member came over and, without any warning and having never spoken before, leans across the table and says ‘you have to leave now, immediately, your table is for 2 hours only, you are over your time’.

Taken aback, we explained we’d not been given any warning and had literally just been served hot drinks… she left with no apology.

2 minutes later another member of the team arrived to say the same thing. Still while our drinks are piping hot in front of us. And we’d not at this point been asked if we wanted anything else, or hinted at to move to bar area etc.

For context, the table next to us was empty, lots of other tables nearby were empty. It was 5.20pm on a Saturday, no one in the bar area waiting for a table. I honestly couldn’t believe how embarrassing their staff were and how they couldn’t handle a totally normal situation.

Note: we’d also had 3 courses and drinks so it certainly wasn’t like we’d nursed a tap water and outstayed our welcome.

Explaining the situation the second staff member apologised, and I’m not really sure what the conclusion was but we asked for the bill anyway. She came back, and I mis-heard her say ‘I’ve taken the drinks off the bill’ which would have seemed mildly acceptable given how obscure and rude they had both been… on checking the bill she’d taken off £12.95, the hot drinks only. (They even left on the £15 service charge!).

What a cheap and frankly, offensive, offer! Of course those drinks should be free, you’ve not even let us drink them! An actual apology would have been a genuine admission of wrong doing and something much more substantial by way of actual apology. By that point I didn’t even argue, the first staff member was nowhere to be seen, and second staff member was just interrupting us and making everything more awkward… what a terrible end to an otherwise ok meal.

As we left, around 5.30pm, we collected bags and used bathroom etc… 5 mins after leaving table it was still not cleared, several tables nearby all still empty, and no one in the bar waiting for the table. What was all the fuss about? Awkward, embarrassing, unnecessary.

Won’t ever go to an Ivy again, would never waste my time or money if the staff are that poorly trained and the service so offensive.

And happy to be contacted directly by the restaurant if they read these reviews.