Ivory House — Restaurant in Cincinnati

I ate dinner at the Ivory House last night as part of a group of six celebrating a wedding anniversary. My friend celebrating the anniversary said that she was asked about a special occasion when she made the reservation and a second time upon confirmation, but no mention was made of it the entire time that we were dining. The interior of the restaurant is very elegant, done in shades of gray. There were quite a few diners in the restaurant for a Sunday evening. We were greeted by a hostess and an owner who asked to take our temperature upon entering the restaurant as per Covid requirements. After our entire group was seated we were greeted by our server, Michael ,who was very thorough in answering any questions that we had and taking our drink orders. Many at our table ordered the tomato plate as a starter and while delicious ,the serving size appeared to be much smaller than the previous pictures on Yelp. My husband enjoyed the smoked carpaccio but felt that it was a little overwhelmed by all of the greens on top of the dish. Sliced bread basket and a dipping oil was also provided as part of our dinner. Again my husband did comment that the bread seemed a little dry and wondered when it may have been sliced. I ordered the filet which was presented very artistically on the plate ,but was served almost cold and the steak itself did not seem to be of good quality as it was very chewy. My husband ordered the bouillabaisse and he said that it was also served at a tepid, rather than hot, temperature and felt that the serving size was very small for the price since most of the items in the dish were in shells. Michael did warn us that the prawns in the bouillabaisse were served with the head on so eating this dish was a little messy. The chef & the owner both stopped by our table occasionally to check on us. The other diners at our table enjoyed their meals. The drinks seemed to be on the pricier side. One guest ordered a specific bourbon pour that cost $16.50. I would suggest listing the price of such Bourbons on the menu in advance. I started with the aperol Spritz which was very good and switched to a gin martini. I was excited when Michael asked if I wanted blue cheese olives because those are my favorite. When my martini came and I bit into the first olive I was unpleasantly surprised to find an onion inside rather than blue cheese. We were serenaded throughout our dinner by a musician playing the piano for all of the guests to enjoy. I realize that this restaurant has only been open about 12 days and so there will be some issues to work out. It is a nice restaurant for a special occasion but I hope that they can maintain a constant audience considering all of the price points for meals and cocktails. I gave my review four stars since the other guests at the table enjoyed their meals , without...

There are a lot of restaurants in Cincinnati where you can go to have an expensive meal, but very few where you are also getting an actual experience that matches your price point. Ivory House was able to meet a standard of service, food quality, ambience, and taste we did not expect to find outside of a Michelin star restaurant.

Small Plates: My husband and I split the Tomato and the Smoked Carpaccio plates to begin (and got a Rhinegeist beer/Lucky cocktail as well). The carpaccio was very good, but we are STILL talking about the tomato plate! There was something absolutely magical that made it more than the sum of it's parts, and you really can't go wrong with this one. My husband doesn't even like tomatoes, and I couldn't talk him out of any of his half of this!

Mains: I got the BBQ Louie'd Quail, which also came with a slaw and spoonbread. The quail was cooked perfectly, with just the right amount of char to make it sweet and smoky. The spoonbread was not what I expected - I was expecting more like a corn bread pudding consistency, but no! This light and airy corn bread side was a-maz-ing in its own right, and I could totally eat it for breakfast with some hollandaise. Disclaimer on the slaw - I am not a slaw person, so I am not the best judge, but I still thought it had a nice tartness to it. My husband got the filet and devoured it like a happy beast. He said the house made steak sauce made it epic, but the meat was also tasty and treated nicely. He also liked the potatoes underneath it.

Dessert: Decided to end the experience with the French pressed coffee (delicious!) and the chocolate torte. The torte was thick and had a nice hint of spiciness to it!

Staff, Location, etc.: The staff was all knowledgeable and welcoming, from the front of house to the water ninja who magically appeared at our table to refresh our glasses before we even thought about needing more. The space itself is beautiful, nicely done and decorated - I especially enjoyed the light fixture reflecting the design of the wall of the bar behind it. Rick and Frank, the owners, were very excited to share their vision about locally sourcing as many ingredients as possible, and providing a welcoming space for Westsiders to eat and celebrate. Parking was a bit odd, but was off the street, so awesome!

TL:DR. Go to Ivory House, order the Tomato plate (and whatever else catches your eye) and enjoy local, quality ingredients treated...

Great food terrible Service, My wife and I live in the Covedale area and love to patronize our local businesses, especially new ones. So, after a brief conversation with my wife I convinced her to try out your establishment last night for our 23rd Anniversary dinner. Initially everything was fine, love the décor, even the Covid separation walls, added some privacy. We both ordered drinks, glass of wine for my wife and a shot of tequila and a beer for me, then the eggplant appetizer. The app arrived, was great, I ordered another beer and we both ordered salads and dinner, Salmon for the wife and Sirloin for me. Within minutes the salads arrived, the app was barely eaten, but no beer. Somehow within another few minutes the entree’s arrived, we were both still working on our salads and app, kind of felt like we were at a Denny’s, no time between meals, as if we were cattle and being herded out. Still no beer, I then reminded the server, Ellen, but decided to get a glass of milk instead. The food was fantastic, compliments to the Chef, but then the weirdest thing happened, I chose to go have a smoke while my wife went to the restroom, upon her coming back to the table she found that it was cleared, no milk left and a full glass of wine removed, we should have just walked out at that point, but decided to stay and digest the meals we were served in 20 minutes. The manager was speaking to my wife about the situation and offered to bring us a “Free” round of drinks, which I found funny, as the meal should have been comped in my opinion. As my wife knows I can get a bit irate when these things occur, she asked that I stay mute, so to appease her I did, which is why I am writing this now. I can’t believe the experience that we had, I had thought this was a “fine dining” restaurant, apparently I was wrong. I will never come back and will be sure to tell all of my friends about the experience, many haven’t been yet and asked me to tell them my thoughts, and believe me I will. Thanks and have a great day, hope you plan on correcting this if you plan on staying in business, oh by the way, we went to Somm for drinks and desert afterward, which we were planning on doing at Ivory House, but when the table was cleared that basically told me you didn’t want our...